IMPHAL, November 24: The UNLF has sent out its annual yearly report along with its greetings commemorating its 48th anniversary.
The annual report has said, “63 years of Manipur-India conflict had passed since Manipur was forcibly annexed to India. And 48 years had passed since UNLF started to fight for the restoration of the sovereignty and independence of our Manipuri Nation that was bequeathed to us by our gracious forefathers, and we are striving all the more to provide for our future generation a liberated, emancipated and transformed life world to enable our people to share the global processes of peace and progress”.
In its introduction, the annual report stated, “It is a retrospection of all the previous issues that UNLF placed to our people time to time; to do a critical deliberation again that how far it had become relevant and true with the changing times of our struggle”.
“Our main agenda which we have constantly put before our people is that the forced annexation of Manipur by India in 1949 is the crux of the matter i.e. the genesis of the national contradiction between Manipur and India.” It said, “The conflict that had developed between India and Manipur could only be resolved with the restoration of Manipur’s sovereignty and Independence which cannot be compromised at all. This is the question of survival or extinction of all the indigenous people of our Manipuri nation”. “For the GoI, their solution is to assimilate all the indigenous people of our region into their vast population, thereby obliterating our distinct ethnic identities and character. To serve this purpose and to subjugate us, they are using the massive Indian military machine, and at the same time the technique of ‘Peace talk’ to ensnare us into submission as a policy of “Hammer and Tongs”. And this speaks why UNLF refuses to Indian sponsored ‘peace talks’.”
“If the goal of restoring our Sovereignty and independence is not achieved, our unique identities of ethnic nationalities will go into extinction. And our common destiny of peaceful co-existence and co-development will be derailed by the evil design of India’s policy of ‘Divide and Destroy”.”
“The socio-economic development as well as our human resource development will be simply futile under the failed Indian state. We the UNLF would like put this before our people for careful deliberation”, it said.
“Therefore, from the perspective of our freedom struggle UNLF appeals to our compatriots, to kindly introspect and accept the truth of the existential system which newly changing dimensions of our socio-economic life had made more clear and succinct, which our organization had placed before our people long since, that we had been forced into a colonial existence by India.”
It continued, “So far, India is keeping Manipur India conflict under wraps; talking it as a law and order problem for the past many years. But today India’s NIA (National Investigation Agency) Court is compelled to accept the truth that UNLF chairman Sanayaima, and other leaders of UNLF is fighting for the restoration of sovereignty of Manipur”.
“This has become precedence in the revolutionary history of our Manipuri nation. The tireless collective effort of UNLF with other fraternal revolutionary parties make this happen. Now from the eyes of international law the struggle by the revolutionary groups of Manipur are no longer a simple law and order problem but it is a struggle for independence by the revolutionary groups of Manipur. Therefore by building up a solid unity amongst ourselves we shall enhance our struggle and restore the lost independence of the people and the state and the UNLF has strong faith in the task.”
“The UNLF shall devote in the collective struggle envisaged by CORCOM, and we therefore pledge before our people our faith in CORCOM and united strength of our people.”
“Though the indigenous peoples of WESIA (Western Southeast Asia) have superficial and temporary issues of difference and petty contradictions, these people share the same social systems, long historical journey together, and mutually interdependent economic systems, and also from sheer topographic and physical geographical features which could not separate one from another, and our close kin settlements make us inseparable, and this strand of a collective life, we are now facing the urge to be united together, and we are experiencing this necessity all the more. Amongst the indigenous peoples, the differences in language, systems of worship and customary laws, may be obvious, but collectively all of us are facing the ‘divide and rule’ policy of the Indian colonial rule, and their capitalist systems of developmental violence which had brought about the conflict amongst the indigenous peoples, which the UNLF regards as the sole reason for our internal conflicts.”
“Therefore as we envision our future, all indigenous peoples of Western Southeast Asia, we have entered an age where we cannot but see things collectively, in our future historical development.”
“From the nature of the emerging and ensuing unity of the revolutionary groups of these regions, India had realized the necessity to suppress the revolutionary groups all the more in order to meet the supposed threat of Chinese expansion in the Northeast. Now China had used the ‘String of Pearls Theory’ to surround India on all fronts, and the fact of the non ending nature of the independence struggles, which they came to see in the Northeast, they are therefore attempting to make Northeast a permanent fortress of occupation in this WESIA.”
“Eight Indian military divisions are spread in the mountain topography of Arunachal Pradesh, more are ready to be reinforced. The Arunachalis had been made into India’s defence scouts. Manipur also had been transformed into another fortress, like the ones during the Second World War, and more than those of the early times a political-military complex had been established at Tipaimukh. The small Imphal Airport had been enlarged beyond necessity by driving out innocent villagers nearby. In the name of an International Airport the area had been made into a defence zone.”
“In all the nook and corners of the hills and villages in Manipur, military and police outposts had been placed. In order to identify and monitor the people of this region, “Unique Identification Systems” had been introduced, that can make them check exactly what these indigenous peoples are doing.”
“In the so called military civic action programmes all our academic persons, the people in the media and our Imas are being wooed to become their pawns in this conflict propaganda. The culture of Leimakhong had infiltrated the Manipur University.”
All these influences and intrusions, the people may kindly discuss these issues and prepare for safeguarding our peoples identity, integrity and lives.
“For the oppressed peoples throughout the world, the oppressed can take up arms to fight for their right to self-determination, and this had been the accepted international law. From India’s increasing influence, today’s state government is such that will suppress the rise of the peoples energy and power independently and the struggle for self-determination which they evoke would be subjugated, and a false image of development would be built in the processes of peoples lives, where there would be more differences between the rich and the poor, and a few of the nouveau-riches would be foisted upon the people as rulers of the land.”
“There had been a non-stopping influx of outsiders which had become a demographic and economic threat to the existence of the indigenous peoples. This syndrome is affecting not only Manipur but the whole Western Southeast Asia (WESIA). This has become a life or death matter of the indigenous peoples.”
“India’s colonial system had turned the indigenous peoples into morally degenerate beings, and the influence of drugs, SP tablets had produced an opiate category of youths. Violence against women and children is increasing day in and day out, and a shameless category of law makers are spawned upon the people, and this system must be fought intensely by the people. In this context, all able educated and rational citizens, peasants and workers, and other citizens who are little-known in the public sphere but who love the state truly and honestly must come forward to help the liberation struggle and dedicate their lives to the people’s cause.”
“It has been the human history that the nations and peoples could live with dignity and freedom, overcoming difficulties and dangers in their history, and nations and countries are thus established in their territories.”
“The indigenous peoples of this land had been interdependent, with common origins, common ancestry, and they shared this region and habitat. There may be petty squabbles amongst them, but they had lived as inseparable communities so far.”
“India has utilized the divide and rule policy and helped develop the idea of ethnic exclusivism to make the ethnics think and act for their own self alone. This small and harmful ideology was encouraged to be practiced by the NSCN (IM) so as to increase the animosity and rivalry among the ethnics, which must be fought tooth and nail by the collective will of all indigenous peoples.”
“Therefore, the territorial integrity of a land must be understood as the relationship between the territory and the population, that the land and people are linked with an inseparable connection…”
“So when the GoI wants to settle their negotiations with NSCN (IM), they should not disturb the relationship of Manipur territory and its people”.
“The UNLF and the revolutionary groups of Manipur and the people of Manipur shall resist with all their might attempts to disturb the integrity of the state.”
“The nature of the organic environment of the Hills and Plains had necessitated the pluralistic sharing of the habitat by the highlanders and the lowlanders since time immemorial.”
“Firstly, the conversion of the majority of the valley populations into the world of Hinduism had accentuated the divide amongst the peoples because of the notions of purity and pollution introduced by Hindu philosophy.”
“Secondly, the advent of the colonial empire of the British and division of rule between the hills and plains as separate entities in order to weaken the collective life of the indigenes had ushered in the ethnic divisions of today. However the organic relationship between the indigenous peoples are strong in the grassroots, whose voices had been marginalized by the use of threat and force now being encouraged by the Indian state in order to self-perpetuate its rule in the Northeast.”
“Thirdly in 1949 India annexed Manipur through the use of force and deceit and continued the British rule through more sophisticated use of Indian cunning and diplomacy. They built up wedges between the indigenous communities, encouraged division of the people in ethnic lines.”
“The Indian constitution helps to provide this division, through the scheduling of tribes and other communities as ST, SC, OBC and others within the framework of this constitution”.
“In order to repress the indigenous peoples collective consciousness, and in order to destroy the identity and united vision of the indigenous peoples of Manipur, the most important step of India is to control and subordinate the economic livelihood of Manipur people. Instead of releasing the creative productive forces of the indigenes of the state, India had turned the lakhs of indigenous peoples into consumers of goods produced elsewhere in India and make Manipur a captive market. Manipur people had no choice to produce local economic goods, but had to consume whatever India provides.”
“So far whatever natural resources the people had, had been extracted by the Indian government without benefit to the owners of the soil.”
“Corruption and scandals had erupted to signal to the people that they must strengthen their collective will to develop their own resources their own way.”
It continued, “That the Tipaimukh Dam shall generate 60,000 megawatts of power is a blatant lie. More than eighty thousand precious timber shall be uprooted, some 3,500 square kilometres of dry land shall be submerged under the water. Many indigenous natives shall be displaced from their homes. New outsider colonies of labourers, protected by Indian military shall mushroom up engulfing the Jiri valley”.
“Complete environmental disaster envisaged by our indigenous mystics and wisdom teachers like Chingoo Khongnangthaba shall come true. It has already come true.”
“Economic development of our land had never been the agenda of the India.” “In the twelfth five year plan, no proposals are envisaged. For the last sixty years all plans that are decided at the centre, are being implemented on paper at the local government level.”
“Apart from the production economy based on agriculture, we have no other worthy industrial enterprises.”
“In order to provide some relive to this state of affairs of deprivation, the UNLF had started the Phunga Marup, a sort of indigenous micro-financing systems to help the poor.”
“This measure is to enable the deprived families of both valley and hills and their womenfolk especially to engage in productive activities to support the families’ income. The UNLF promises to help out every section of our plural society under this scheme”, it said.
“Also the UNLF’s declared policy of ‘Chinjakta Meepan Tangdaba’ is an attempt to have self-sufficiency with regards to food, and this movement for self-reliance and self-liberation from this dependency syndrome is for creation of a free, independent spirit amongst the people”.
“One silver lining in this gloomy situation is the honest sacrifice of the sons of the soil who had worked outside Manipur coming back home and starting a software development company and its related IT enabled services in Medical Transcription (MT), Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and other job oriented enterprises to help the native economy to grow.”
“Under India’s rule, the deep malaise which the people is experiencing is the anarchic system of education. In fact the National Education Policy of the Indian state and its relevance with the conditions of Manipur should be questioned. Under this system, there is nothing suitable for the conditions of Manipur. There is no possibility for development of Manipur human resources under these conditions.”
“After the takeover of the best private schools and colleges by the government which were earlier regarded as models of learning institutions, which had produced good students in the past, those very institutions became the home of corruption and sleaze. Nowadays thousands and thousands of teachers are there in the schools, but no students are there. In the condition of the schools, private systems of teaching and running of private schools had become the norm, and those who cannot afford to pay fees are no longer in the process of study. In the college levels, the parents who are well off can afford to send their children outside. Those who do not have the means are now becoming astray, unable to have appropriate resources for further education.”
“As for the hill region, school premises are rare, few and far between. But even these few schools had become the abode of the Indian occupation forces. The unfortunate parents of the children had made alternative arrangements to have rickety rooms for their children’s education, unable to oppose such forces as the Assam Rifles.”
“Along with the introduction of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and the changes through the digital revolution, peoples lives had changed, since the world had turned into a global village.”
“India’s much hyped ‘Look East Policy’ is still a wish list and the general perception is that India should use the land bridge of the Northeast to effect connectivity and trade with the East Asian and Southeast Asian countries.” “Three things are essential for the victory to our struggle for independence. (a) To enhance our own peoples strength, (b) India’s own internal contradictions and (c) To let the International Community Support our Struggle. UNLF had placed these before the people. Again this auspicious day we are renewing our pledge before the people, for them to discuss it again and again.”
“The Party and MPA are filled with pride by the firm stand being taken together by our honorable Chairman and other functionaries who are now in Indian prison by bringing the ideals of our freedom at great levels by their unanimous and collective stand for the cause of our freedom.”
“In our long revolutionary struggle the Indian Forces had killed many of our comrades. But the unfortunate development is that the number of our people killed by the state police commandos are more than the number killed by the IOF. The reports by the Civil Society Coalition for Human Rights in Manipur had established documentation for extra-judicial executions of innocent people from 1979 to 2012. More are about to be added to the list. There are some 31 women and 98 children. Out the reported number the Indian occupation forces had killed 419, and the Manipur state forces had killed 481.”
“At last, our greetings and happy messages to the indigenous peoples of Manipur – is Independence and Autonomy at all levels, and to create a democratic system in tune with our native genius, a respect for identities and traditions, and respectful co-existence of all communities, and to prosper together in equality, justice and freedom shall be our motto and let us all work together towards this end”, it said.