Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, October 10 2010:
The two covenants were adopted by the General Assembly on December 16, 1966 .
Soon Member States of the UN started ratifying all the articles of the two Covenants.
From January 3, 1976, it became a binding and forceful covenant.
But India has not yet ratified Article 1 of the two documents of the International Covenant on Human Rights which includes Right to Self-Determination as a provision.
Instead of ratifying it, the Government of India has been making bizarre comments.
India has been contending that Right to Self-Determination should be enforced only when a foreign power colonised another State, and that the same should not be implemented if this right would affect national integrity of a people or nation.
What is keeping away India from signing Article 1 of the two covenants which have been already accepted at international level ? India need not panic.
There would be certainly some reasons for India's worry, the outfit remarked.
Now Article 1 of the two covenants which guarantees, "All Peoples have theRight to Self-Determination.
By virtue of that right they freely determine their Political Status and Freely Pursue their Economic, Social and Cultural Development", has been accepted as peoples right within international law with due legal obligation.
Although the UN Charter, International Law and Declarations guarantee Right to Self Determination, there is all the need on the part of those fighting for right to self determination against foreign powers to intensify the war of liberation with a firm determination.
"Without collective and coordinated movement of the mass, we cannot achieve our right to self-determination", Nongdrenkhomba observed.
"We must recognise that the heightened tension between communities, inter-ethnic conflicts and raising number of anti-social elements are all offshoots of the colonial rule.
Keeping this in mind, we need to retract one footstep backward and march two footsteps forward jointly.
We propose that all fraternal revolutionary groups take a collective pledge towards unity", the Vice Chairman proposed.
He further called upon all the people of both the hills and valley to join hands and build up collective strength.
"Let's make our way for future on the principle of mutual respect, equal status and co-existence", he suggested.