NE conference moots united front
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, April 02 2019:
The North East People's Conference 2019 held today at City Convention Centre here under the aegis of Manipur People Against Citizenship Amendment Bill (MANPAC) deliberated on setting up a united front of all the North Eastern States in order to fight common issues and problems of the region collectively.
The conference attended by a number of civil society organisations based in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura also discussed on fighting all common issues including CAB collectively.
MANPAC convenor Yumnamcha Dilipkumar, NEIMPCO Tripura general secretary Powor Twiprasa, Tripura People's Front president Payal Koina, JCPII Nagaland advisor Theja Theri, COMSO Meghalaya chairman Robert June Kharjahrin, social activist Ruatliana Fanai from Mizoram, All Assam Deori Students' Union president Pranjal Deori and NIPP Assam convenor Wangkhem Sarat attended the inaugural session of the conference as presidium members.
Giving key-note address of the conference, Yumnamcha Dilipkumar said that most of the problems and issues faced by different North Eastern States are homogenous in nature whether they are political, economic or socio-cultural problems.
The root cause of these problems is the step-motherly and discriminatory treatment of the Government of India towards the North Eastern people, he said.
Even though the NE States are contiguous geographically, the States are unable to unite on account of poor connectivity and communication infrastructure, Dilipkumar said.
"We could not work together, we could not fight together even for a specific common cause against the Government of India", he said.
He said that AFSPA and basic human rights violation in the name of tackling insurgency have been serious common problems in the region.
One common demand of the whole region is total repeal of the draconian Act.
Another major issue threatening the entire region is the issue of influx.
Only Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh have some sort of protection from influx in the form of Inner Line Permit System but other States of the region do not enjoy any kind of protection, Dilipkumar pointed out.
The then Chief Commissioner of Manipur Himmat Singh abolished Pass and Permit System on November 18, 1950.Since then, the people of Manipur have been shouting for re-introduction of the permit system or a similar mechanism.
After sustained mass struggle, the Manipur Legislative Assembly passed the Manipur People Bill 2018 on July 23 last year but the Bill has not been approved by the President till date.
It was at this juncture that the Central Government brought out CAB 2016.As indicated by what BJP president Amit Shah said during a public rally held North Lakhimpur, Assam, the battle against CAB is not over yet, Dilipkumar asserted.
He said that MANPAC was hosting the conference with a vision to form a united front of all the North East States in order to fight collectively all common issues including CAB 2016.COMSO functionary Roy Kupar remarked that CAB has turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the people of North East even though it was intended to devastate the whole region.
CAB gave a rare opportunity to all the people of the region to unite for the first time, he said.
"People of the North East must protect the region for others will never bother to protect the region.
For this, we need to unite", Roy Kupar said.
NEIMPCO Tripura general secretary Pohor Twiprasa said that the problems faced by the indigenous people of Tripura are different from the problems being faced by indigenous peoples of other NE States.
Identity, resources and rights of the indigenous people of Tripura have been forfeited even before CAB has been implemented.
"Outsiders have taken control of our politics and economy and we the indigenous people have been living a wretched life", Pohor said.
He also expressed keen desire for minute deliberation on the issues and problems faced by indigenous people of Tripura at the conference and adopt a resolution to fight the issues collectively.
MANPAC co-convenor Ningthouja Lancha gave an account of his visits to different States of the North East with a powerpoint presentation.
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