KYKL, KCP, NLFT call total shut down
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, October 13 2017: The proscribed KYKL, KCP and the National Liberation Front of Twipra (NLFT) have called a total shut down in Tripura and Manipur from October 14 midnight till 6 pm of October 15 as a show of resistance to the alleged Indian colonial rule which came into effect since October 15, 1949 .

A joint statement signed KYKL chairman N Oken, KCP president Laba Meitei and NLFT president D Yamrok asserted that refusal of Tripura Merger Agreement (TMA) and Manipur Merger Agreement (MMA) which were signed respectively on September 9 and September 21, 1949 have been at the very heart of people's struggle for freedom and change .

Making the people critically conscious of the treacherous and uncivilized ways through which the two agreements were concluded and came into force may be the long way round but the shortest way to freedom .

It is a fact that the king of Manipur refused to sign the pre-drafted Manipur Merger agreement being supplied to him by the agents of the dominion of India without consulting the Council of Ministers in whom the real sovereign power lies, for Manipur, at that time, had a democratically elected Government with a written Constitution adopted under the Manipur State Constitution Act, 1947 thereby reducing the king of Manipur to the status of a mere Constitutional head of the State .

Saying more specifically, the sovereign power once embedded in the body of the king had shifted to the body of the people after the first election held in March 1948 under the Manipur Constitution Act, 1947 on the basis of adult franchise.

Therefore Maharaja's signing of the agreement has gone beyond the legal authority he has been given under the constitution thus rendering the agreement legally invalid.

If a treaty is concluded by using threats or force, it will be taken as void and null as it has violated the principles of international law enshrined in the charter of the United Nations.

If one quickly looks up the episodes transpired there in Shillong during September 17-21, 1949, what could be evidently seen is how the Maharaja of Manipur had been subjected to psychological tortures, emotional blackmailing, prolonged detention and military threat in dominion India's two-faced attempts in order to get the agreement signed .

The strength of Jat Regiment, for instance, had been increased from one section to two sections intensifying surveillances over the king as he expressed his desire to return to Manipur to obtain the approval of the people without signing the document.

This is more than an indication of transacting the signing of the Manipur Merger Agreement under duress rendering it completely invalid and non-operative .

"Besides the final confirmation of an agreement needed to make it legally operational, which we call ratification, was never done with respect to the Manipur Merger Agreement, 1949 by the Manipur Legislative Assembly, which alone can claim the invalidity of MMA", reads the statement .

"The Manipur merger agreement through which India has been riding roughshod over us for more than 6 decades had never been subject to a plebiscite under the supervision of a neutral party like the United Nations, which has been a universally democratic norms to ascertain whether the people in a particular territory want to remain independent or join another country.

So we stand against the merger of Manipur with the dominion of India as no plebiscite was held seeking what the people in whose body lies the real sovereign authority have in their mind", it asserted .

Likewise, Tripura was merged into the Dominion of India with treacherous means and under questionable circumstances .

The independent-minded people of Tripura, however, stood against the merger.

Tens of thousands Borok people took to the street protesting the perfidious agreement, raising their voice that spoke the Borok spirit of independence and justice.

Unfortunately the Government of India suppressed the voice of the people sending many Borok leaders to prison .

A close observation will tell one that all the issues confronting Tripura in the post-merger period, beginning from politics, identity crisis, the unchecked influx of Bengali migrants, economy, arts and culture and even social mores, revolve around the contested agreement, it said .

"If we let them keep on riding on our necks for another 2/3 decades more, it is more than sure that we in the near future will become some archaic museum piece", said the rebel leaders.

This fate of National extinction is not exclusively for the Borok and the people residing in Kangleipak, but all the struggling communities inhabiting WESEA region.

To face this juggernaut of the alleged Indian colonialism that has slowly rubbed out all the Mongoloid people living in the region using both the soft and hard tools, unification of all the oppressed people of the region is highly called for .

The rebel outfits then appealed to all the subjugated people of Manipur and Tripura to show the unity and solidarity to the struggle for National emancipation against Indian colonial occupation .

The shut down will not cover essential services such as medical, water supply and religious activities, it added.

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