The violence in Manipur erupts an escalating protest in New Delhi where tribal people from the north eastern state came out opposing the three legislations cleared by the assembly on Monday.
Under the banner of the Manipur Tribals Forum in New Delhi, the tribal people thronged the Jantar Mantar in the afternoon where they staged the dharna demanding prime minister’s intervention. They further threatened to launch a massive agitation if their grievances are not redressed.
The dharna ended in the evening after they sent the memorandum to prime minister’s office. Heres' the memorandum the sent to the Prime Minister at the end of the darna on Wednesday.
New Delhi, Dated 2nd September, 2015
To,
The Hon’ble Prime Minister,
Government of India
Subject: Request for immediate intervention on the atrocities perpetrated on the tribal people in Manipur.
Hon’ble Sir,
The Manipur Tribals Forum, Delhi like to bring the following facts for your kind perusal and necessary action.
1. That, on 31 August, 2015, the Manipur Assembly passed three bills following sustained protests in the Manipur valley districts demanding the implementation of Inner Line Permit (ILP) system for the State. The three bills, taken together, will directly undermine the existing safeguards for the tribal ‘hill areas’ regarding land-ownership and population influx as the primary threat for the tribal people comes not from outside the state but the valley Meitei people itself. The tribal people have made their opposition to the Meitei demands clear. But, the tribal people were never consulted by the ‘Joint Committee’ which have been spearheading the demands, nor the Manipur Government which accepts them. The tribal MLAs in the Assembly, fearing for their lives, dare not oppose the Bills when the Bills were introduced and passed in the Assembly.
2. That, the Hill Areas Committee (HAC), comprising of all tribal MLAs, which was set up under Article 371C of the Constitution to protect tribal interests and whose concurrence is mandatory for all legislation affecting tribal areas, was summarily brushed aside.
3. That, this instance has sparked off a strong opposition from all the tribal people of Manipur across the state. It flared up emotion into violent reaction against their representative tribal MLAs. The state government, instead of explaining the contents of the amendment and pacifying the agitators used its naked forces to suppress the tribals causing widespread atrocities, untold miseries, and uncontrolled human rights violation across the hills.
4. That, the brutal reaction of the state forces against the peaceful mass agitation has caused the loss of precious lives of eight people and several number of the agitators were left with serious injury. In a clear case of daylight repression the state forces used real bullets to disperse the protesters. Your Honour might have seen various reports in the national media and social media networks testifying to the brutality of the state forces in dealing with the situation.
5. That, the incident of passing the Bill and its brutal suppression of the tribal agitators, State Government has shown its real intention to grab the lands of the tribal people which has been so far protected by the Constitution of India. It also shows a clear case of the present Ibobi government’s incompetency to govern the state.
We, the Manipur Tribals Forum, Delhi, therefore demand from the Government of India:
i). To immediately impose President’s Rule in Manipur
ii). To punish those state security forces involved in the brutal killing of the agitators.
iii). To immediately withdraw the Manipur Police commandos from all tribal areas and if need be, deploy central forces.
iv). Restoration of all villages transferred to valley district to their original hill districts.
v). To expeditiously act on the demands for ‘separate administration’ for the tribal areas of Manipur. This is a proof, if any more are needed, that the hill tribals and the plain Meiteis cannot live together under one administration.
Yours Sincerely,
On behalf of the Manipur Tribals Forum, Delhi
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