Staff Reporter

Shillong, Nov 9: The North East Students’ Organization (NESO) has strongly demanded the Centre to immediately invite all parties for a dialogue and come up with a permanent solution to end the ongoing violence in the state of Manipur.

Along with the rest of the North East region, a sit-in-demonstration was held in Shillong to condemn the central government’s failure to resolve the Manipur violence despite six months have lapsed.

The protest saw participation of activists from the KSU, HITO, GSU, FKJGP, HNYF, RBYF, Shillong Manipuri Students’ Union, Kuki Students’ Organisation Shillong, Naga Students’ Union Shillong, Shillong Socio-Cultural Assamese Students’ Association,Mizo Students’ Union Shillong, Twipra Students’ Federation Shillong, Arunachal Students Union Shillong, Mara Students’ Organisation bad Lai Students’ Association.

Some of the placards on display at the venue read: “stop playing politics over human lives”, “We demand permanent peace in Manipur”, “Government of India your inaction shows your attitude towards the North East” “dear Indian Government, leave politics behind”.

Addressing the protesters, NESO chairman Samuel B Jyrwa said, “With the support of all concerned organizations, NESO is demanding that the Government of India should take initiative to bring about a permanent peace in the state of Manipur. It should call all the parties to the negotiating table to start a dialogue so that an early solution which is agreeable to the stakeholders of the state of Manipur can be reached so that peace can once again prevail in the state of Manipur.”

“And if the Government of India still delays to take the initiative it only proves that the Government of India is not interested in the welfare of the indigenous people of the NE and the indigenous people of Manipur in particular but is only interested in its land and resources,” he said while also added “This is a warning to the Government of India that if they want alienate more the people of the NE from mainland India, the ball is in the court of Government of India, they should act now or the time maybe too late.”

Stating that the NE region has been facing political injustices for past many years, Jyrwa said, “We have been saying this again and again, time after time, generation after generation that the government of India only gives us political injustice but successive central governments have denied that they are giving us political injustices.”

“There are many instances when we think of the NE region, we are being made to merge with India. Manipur by force was made to merge with India, Meghalaya through the Instrument of Accession was made to annex or to accede with India and many other princely states and autonomous areas were made to merge with India,” he said.

According to him, the Government of India is using the draconian law, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) against the indigenous people of the North East region. Security forces have committed atrocities in the different states of the NE region in the name of fighting insurgency.

The NESO chairman said that the Government of India has done another political injustice by flooding the NE region with illegal migrants from Bangladesh and had even passed the Citizenship Amendment Act in 2019, in order to give citizenship to illegal migrants from Bangladesh.

He further termed the inaction on the part of the Government of India with regards to the situation and crisis in Manipur as another political injustice.

“…we have consulted with all the stakeholders of Manipur and different personalities in Manipur, they were saying and alleging that there is something more sinister to what that meets the eye. This is a very dangerous trend, this is a very unfortunate incident that happened in Manipur and as NESO we feel that the Government of India has failed terribly to address this situation in Manipur,” he added.

KSU chief Lambokstarwell Marngar said the lackadaisical attitude of the Government of India only forced us to believe that it has a hidden agenda to wipe out the indigenous people of the North East.

He said that the Centre had deployed thousands of paramilitary forces to Manipur just to be mere spectators of the drama without doing anything to stop the violence. “This makes me suspect that the BJP at the Centre have a hidden motive to instigate bloodshed among the indigenous people in the NE region,” Marngar said.

“Therefore, the KSU sends a clear message to the Centre to immediately take steps to resolve the Manipur situation once and for all,” he added.

KSU general secretary Donald V Thabah also slammed the MPs of the NE region for their failure to bring peace in Manipur. “It is highly condemnable that while the people are suffering, our MPs are not doing anything about it,” he said.

HNYF president Sadon K Blah said, “It is sad to say that ethnic clashes in Manipur is a recurring phenomena and the previous government, be it state government or central, has handled the situation in the most appropriate way. But as of now the current dispensation be it the state or the central government has not really take the necessary measure to subside the situation in Manipur and on the contrary it seem that there is a bigger so to say communal gain and communal politics being played by the institution who are having the power to control the situation in Manipur.”

He also questioned how the conflict in Manipur can continue for so long.

“Had this conflict not been supported by this group or that group, it cannot go on like this and it cannot sustain in such degree and intensity.

So there is a plan and hidden agenda by the political master and political parties in the situation of Manipur that might be from the state of Manipur or from the central government,” he alleged.