Annexation of Manipur open violation of UDHR: CorCom
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, December 09 2022: On the eve of 74th International Human Rights Day to be observed on December 10 under the theme 'Dignity, Freedom, and Justice for All', the proscribed Coordination Committee (CorCom) has extended revolutionary salute and greetings to all the people of Manipur.

The coming of December 10 reminds the people of Manipur (Kangleipak), who have been living as slaves under imperialist India and unable to dream for an egalitarian society, about the need to take a collective decision to free from suppressive regime, a CorCom statement said.

According to the CorCom statement issued by its publicity committee, Manipur (Kangleipak) existed as an independent nation in WESEA region but the erstwhile powerful nation is now under alien rule and dependent.

Manipur regained its sovereign status in 1947 but imperialist India forcibly annexed the sovereign nation in 1949 while sidelining all international norms.

India's annexation of Manipur was an open violation of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), 1948.The Article says that 'All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights' but this clause continues to be kept far aside from the Kanglei people has been exemplified with the present situation of Manipur.

Even though different communities lived together with harmony in the independent Manipur for a long time, attempts have been made to distort Manipur's integrity ever since India's annexation.

Despite such repeated attempts, indigenous people of Manipur managed to escape from conflict among ethnic communities, the CorCom said.

The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) clearly mentions about saving indigenous peoples across the globe but India is trying to uproot all indigenes of WESEA region by sending scores of mainland Indians while falsely terming all people living in the country as indigenous people.

Apart from this, India is still declining to approve the word 'indigenous' in its own Constitution despite being a signatory to UNDRIP.

The conglomerate of underground groups further said that one unjust act of India has been its attempt to wrongly portray armed movement being launched for regaining Manipur's lost sovereignty as terrorist/terrorism to the global people.

It said that the Right to Self Determination (RSD) as guaranteed in the UN Charter and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), 1966 is the 'Right of all Peoples' across the globe.

Article 1 of ICCPR clearly mentions that 'All Peoples have the Right of Self-Determination.

By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and pursue their econormic, social and cultural development' thereby granting the RSD to all the oppressed people across the globe.

India had ratified CCPR which endorses RSD on April 10, 1979 and should honour RSD norms being signatory of the UN Charter, maintained the statement.

The CorCom further said that there had been statements regarding Manipur (Kangleipak) and Jammu and Kashmir at the UN platform from time to time.

By dividing the RSD matter into internal and external self-determination, India has been trying to wrongly portray Manipur's sovereignty issue as 'law and order' or 'internal' matter to the global people.

All the indigenous communities of the globe have the right to self-determination as mentioned in the first Articles of ICCPR and ICESCR, both the treaties of the UN, and it is the bounden responsibility of all the member nations of the UN to honour the rights.

However, government of India has been putting reservation on the rights from the year 1979 till date.

Contrary to international norms, India accepts internal right to self-determination but puts reservation (ban) on external right to self-determination.

While all the countries of the world ask India to remove the ban imposed on first Article of both the Covenants, some countries like France, Germany, Sweden and Pakistan put intense pressure on India to lift the ban.

Fearing that WE-SEA region including Manipur (Kangleipak) and Kashmir would be separated from the country as independent nations if the ban is lifted, India is declining to hear voices of the global people despite intense pressure and snatching RSD of the people who have every right to live independently .By wrongly portraying Manipur's sovereignty issue as its 'internal' matter to global people despite Manipur being never part of colonial British India, India has been snatching RSD of the Kanglei people and suppressing their rights.

It is well known among the global people that thousands of people have lost their lives in the ongoing India-Manipur conflict while more than 1528 people have been killed by Indian forces in fake encounters.

In its time-to-time report to Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of UN Human Rights Council, Government of India submitted in 2017 that AFSPA-1958 is being imposed in specific areas like Manipur (Kangleipak).

This means that India has been denying basic fundamental rights to Manipur (Kangleipak) and WESEA people by imposing martial law (AFSPA) from the year 1958.Voices of intellectuals, writers, journalists and civilians who think and stand for Manipur (Kangleipak) are being muzzled by arresting them under NSA and UAPA, 1964 by both Delhi 'bandit' and its puppet government in Manipur.

Apart from this, sovereignty movement being launched by the people with their life at stake is being wrongly portrayed to the global people as 'terrorism', the CorCom statement said and stressed the need for highlighting atrocities of Indian forces against innocent civilians of Manipur including rape and torture of youth to the global people.

According to the CorCom, five countries namely Germany, United States, Norway, Belgium and Pakistan quizzed India on AFSPA during the Universal Periodic Review held under the aegis of the UNHRC on November 10, 2022 in Geneva.

Many countries which attended the meet raised issues like human rights violation, gender-based violence, suppression of freedom of speech and expression, suppression of civil society, custodial torture and protection of human rights defenders in India, the CorCom statement recalled.

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