အိႏၵိယဗမာနယ္ျခားေဒသဌာေနတိုင္ရင္းသားမ်ား`၏သေဘာထားေက်ညာခ်က္

အိႏၵိယဗမာနယ္ျခားေဒသဌာေနတိုင္းရင္းသားမ်ား`၏သေဘာထားေက်ညာခ်က္

   For immediate Press Release

 

OPEN LETTER written by Pu Holkhomang Haokip, Thumop (Advisor) to Kuki Inpis, Ex. Minister, Govt. of Manipur, Member of Parliament (LS) and Pu Dr. T. Lunkim, Chairman Kuki Movement for Human Rights, registered name Kuki Organization for Human Rights

to

Her Excellency the President of India Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi, India

on 9 April 2012

 

Her Excellency,

 

            With the highest respect and in lowest humility, the following points of prolong observations, consequential developments and possible solutions are briefly outlined for ushering peace and normalcy life in the "Independent Hill Country," which lied in between India in the West, and Burma in the East, lest the Indigenous people will totally perish.

 

            The Kuki Inpi, the original Ruler of the so-named by writers as "Independent Hill Country," in between India in the West and Burma in the East, has prolong observation comparatively for the last six decades to that of peaceful life before the Independence of India and Burma, as to how the two countries had been in good relation with the Hill Country. The British colonized India and Burma but unabled to colonize the Hill Country. Therefore the writer called it as "Independent Hill Country." The British granted political Independence to their colonized countries – India of the West in 1947 and Burma of the East in 1948 but left the Hill Country as Independent. No question was asked nor answer given to whether or not the Indigenous people numbering around 30 million to join either one or the two neighbouring countries. The British Colonial Governments in India and Burma had wisely made a legal fencing for the "Independent Hill Country," called, "Innerline Permit," required by non-residents in the Hill Country, such as Indians and Burmese, under "Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act," in 1873, to take permission for entry into the "Independent Hill Country."

 

1. The Chronological developments badly affected the "Independent Hill Country."

 

(1)    The first harmful affect to the Hill Country, was the boundary partition of Colonized India into Hindustan (India) and Pakistan. Because part of the "Independent Hill Country," fenced with the, "Innerline Permit," was, without the knowledge of the Indigenous people, living in the then "East Pakistan."

 

(2)    The next worse affect to the Hill Country was the secret inclusion of half of the remaining geographical area of the "Independent Hill Country," to India in the West and another half of the same country to Burma in the East without the knowledge and consent of the indigenous rulers, and other indigenous owners of the land. The secret amendment of "Innerline Permit," to "Protected Area Permit" without the knowledge of the indigenous people of the Hill Country was the next worse affect to the Hill Country.

 

(3)    Although the indigenous rulers and the people were not informed or nor taken their consents, silent observation was kept hoping the neighbouring countries who wanted to rule in the Hill Country, ought to be good custodians by respecting the Indigenous rulers and protecting their Customary & traditional Laws, and land heritage safe under their new Governments. But the expectation became on the contrary.

 

2. More than 6 decades observation and hope shattered.

 

(1)    While the "Independent Hill Country," peacefully and hopefully remained silent under the protection of "Innerline Permit," Tripura and Manipur the two valley Kingdoms, and while traditional governances were still flourishing in the Hill Country, the Government of India from the West, made the two valley Kingdoms signed merger agreements to India on 15 October 1949, totally ignoring democratically elected Governments.

 

(2)    The worse still went on that by the illegal signatures of Manipur & Tripura against the "Innerline Permit," the valley kingdoms were thought inclusive of the "Independent Hill Country." Then a secret policy was planned to take over the land of the Hill Country by piece meal. Mr. (L) Phizo Angami and some Naga people realized the secret plan, and started defending "Independent Hill Country." The fight is now known worldwide.

 

(3)    Mr. Laldenga and his party, "Mizo National Front," did also start defending the Independent Hill Country. The fight and its ending become well known fact worldwide. Added with these two land defending wars, four more states created by military power, and introduced occupational law known as AFSP Acts which has faced worldwide criticisms including United Nations now.

 

(4)    Thus the creation of this seven sister states has not brought about peace; because the main purpose of the creation of seven sister states is to grab the land of Hill Country. Those who were not informed of the secret land grabbing policy, who remained as good citizens, have now come to know that their ancestral lands are to be taken over by means of secret policies. These good citizens then pick up anything, they believe atleast to be the means, for defending their land. But most of them are killed in defending their land. The fight is going on non-stop. The Hill Country in between India and Burma has now become a killing field! Even the highest body "United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues," has come to know the killings and visited the Hill Country.   

 

3. Possible solution to usher in peace and normal life in "Independent Hill Country."

 

What is very highly to be appreciated are the tremendous efforts of the neighbouring Governments for restoration of peace and normal life in the Hill Country. Yes, the efforts are dialogues with the defenders of their ancestral land heritage, enforcing security personnel in Battalions and Brigades, establishing Army Headquarters in every corner of the Independent Hills, towns, cities within and without are the naked admission of the killings, genocides and destructions are going on in the land.

 

(1)    The creation of administrative units such as states, districts, in the communal names eg. Nagaland, Mizoram to bring about peace and normal life has become rather the cause of ethnic wars to kill each other. Because in the newly created communal states, many other minority communities, have been marginalized by the communities in whose name the states have been created. Similarly peace dialogues with one faction of the land defenders results to daily factional fights. Therefore the good affords of the Government become a failure.

 

(2)    The reason of failing the good efforts is to be thoroughly introspected by the Governments, and investigated from the Chiefs of thousands of the villages which composed the "Independent Hill Country." The effort is to be made tirelessly on diplomatical approach. As it requires, the Chiefs have to be entrusted to bring out the possible plan for solution to usher in peace and normal life in the Hill Country. They are leaders, who could rule peacefully in past generations without outside interference they can also find out the way for peace and tranquility in the land without interference of non-residents of the Hill Country protected by the "Innerline Permit."

 

(3)    Traditionally the village Chiefs are the rulers of the people, some are Chiefs by heredity, and some others are democratically elected by the villagers for the Governance of their villages. The authority lies in the village Chiefs and then to the Community leaders who are traditionally and democratically elected. The rulers in the villages and communities can never be ignored or bypassed for lasting peace and normal life in the land, lest the indigenous people may totally perish.

 

4. The Indigenous people, defenders of the Hill Country, are also fervently requested to realize that they are united in defence of their ancestral land. Therefore kindly stop ethnic and factional fights resulting to killing brothers by brothers like American Civil War. Instead try to come to a negotiating table without the interference of outsiders (non-residents of "Independent Hill Country,") and settle all differences, (might be the differences are instigated by outsiders illegally entered in the land), try to live peacefully in your own land like that of the pre-British period and pre-Independence of India and Burma. If your ancestors could live peacefully in the past you can also now live peacefully without the interference from outside.

 

The above brief outlines are just to begin with for stopping killings of those rightfully defending their ancestral land heritage. Your Excellency the President of India is fervently requested to graciously advise the Rulers of India to act immediately, to save thousands of human lives and to avoid destructions of valuable properties beyond compensation.