People from Kuki-zo tribal community stage a protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on July 22. (IANS Photo)
Kohima, July 22 (MExN): The Global Naga Forum (GNF) today called for recognising the urgent need for action in Manipur.
“The people need your help in demanding accountability from both the Manipur and the Central governments,” the forum urged in an appeal to all peace and justice minded individuals, political parties, civil society organisations, and leaders of democratic and public institutions in India, as well as international actors dedicated to the cause of human rights,
Normalcy must be restored without delay so that peace and the rule of law can prevail in Manipur and the victims can receive justice, it added.
The GNF is issuing this statement with indignation and grief as most members comes from the North East States of Manipur and Nagaland and are indignant witnesses to the relentless campaign of brutality and oppression unleashed upon the marginalised communities in Manipur, it said.
Neither the state nor the Indian government able to stem the violence for over two months, it added.
From the start, unspeakable forms of violence against women were part of the uncontrolled ethnic conflict between the Meitei and the Kuki, it further pointed out, citing the parading of two women on May 4 that surfaced recently as well as the killing of Naga woman on July 15.
“Public humiliation of women has become the tool of choice for enacting communal hatred and misplaced vengeance. Such acts of savagery have ignited new levels of collective fury among the people,” it asserted.
The GNF further noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to break his two-month long studied silence only after the video of May 4 incident went viral on social media recently.
“Till then, he had nothing to say to the nation about the daily loss of lives in Manipur or the wanton destruction of property including many churches,” it maintained, and accused the Prime Minister of being indifferent as well as showing “disdain for minorities of the region.”
Such attitude, outside of getting votes during elections, “is writ large in the duplicity with which his government has mishandled the negotiation for a peaceful resolution of the Indo-Naga political problem,” it added.
The forum also deemed the recent condemnations of violence against women by Prime Minister and Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh as “not only too little, too late” but hypocritical.
The Chief Justice of India’s recent intervention in seeking a response to the crisis in Manipur from the government highlights the gravity of the situation, it added.
In this connection, appealing for action without delay, the GNF demanded "immediate, impartial and complete investigation" into the violence and human rights abuses, including the killing of Maring Naga woman on July 15 and the public humiliation of May 4.
The perpetrators must be made to face the consequences of their crimes, and a long-term solution to the violence must be found, it stated.
“The people of the North East deserve a functioning Prime Minister and government in Delhi. Nagas need peace and justice, not unending iterations of AFSPA in our homeland from 1958 to date, it added.
It further pointed out that months before the problems occurred in Manipur, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) was extended in Nagaland and the Naga areas in Manipur, but not in the Imphal valley, where the violence started and continues.
