Indian Occupation Army's atrocities draws unique collective nudism protest by defiled Manipuri women against state-sponsored rape sanctioned under draconian laws - Nude protest a first in South Asia
Washington, D.C., Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - The current revival of insurgency in former British Protectorate (a la Bhutan) Manipur, in North Eastern India, against Indian misrule and occupation was triggered by the July 11, 2004, rape and killing of a local Christian woman by Assam Rifles personnel of India's Occupation Army. The atrocity sparked a unique protest against state-sponsored rape by naked Manipuri women not seen on this planet since some Doukhobor women (a small Southern Russian religious sect who after immigrating to Canada in 1898) started useing collective nudism, starting in 1907, in British Columbia, as a form of protest against unjust authority.According to the FRONTLINE, India's prestigious English language fortnightly (http://www.flonnet.com/fl2117/stories/20040827002903700.htm) a sister publication of THE HINDU newspaper, "the sentries guarding the headquarters of Assam Rifles at the historic Kangla Fort in Imphal (capital city of Manipur; population about 150, 000) on July 15 morning were left dumbstruck when scores of Manipuri women staging a demonstration near the fort suddenly decided to do away with their clothes. They were protesting against the alleged torture, rape and killing of 32-year-old Thangjam Manorama by the paramilitary force. The protesters then walked towards the gate of the fort holding up banners with the slogans 'Indian Army, rape us overtly' and 'Rape us the way you did Manorama' written on them."
Ramani Devi, secretary of the All Manipur Women's Social Promotion and Development Samaj, who led the protesters, told the media that the women took the extreme step as all previous protests against extra-judicial killings and molestation of women in Manipur had gone unheeded. Over a hundred thousand women have been raped by soldiers of the Indian occupation army. The naked protest came four days after Manorama's bullet-riddled body was found 4 km away from Ngariyan Mapao Maring village in Imphal East disrict, a few hours after she was picked up by personnel of the Assam Rifles on the suspicion of being a militant. According to Manorma's family an arrest warrant signed by a Havildar of Assam Rifles, which was handed over to the family, stated that she was being arrested on the suspicion of being a militant and that no incriminating evidence was found during a search of the house. According to media reports MANORAMA'S body bore bullet marks on the genitals, which lent credence to the public's perception that she was raped before being shot dead. Dr. Th Manglem, who conducted the second post-mortem examination of the body along with two other forensic experts, testified before the Justice P. Upendra Commission, constituted by the State government, and reported that because of the injuries in the lower part of the body no conclusive opinion could be passed on whether Manorama was raped or not. Some post-mortem!
Fresh violence has rocked Manipur since August 19, 2004, as agitators burnt a bridge, damaged an important road and blocked several streets, while the administration has imposed indefinite curfew in parts of Bishenpur district of Imphal. Rebels also set afire a major portion of the vital Lamlong bridge on the Imphal river in Imphal East district hours after the forcible cremation of the body of a student leader, Pebam Chitaranjan, who immolated himself a few days ago demanding complete withdrawal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act from Manipur. The authorities had rejected the agitators' demand for taking out the body in a procession and forcibly cremated it.
Emotions has been running high all over remote (and tiny) Manipur State (area; 22, 300 square Kilometers; population a little over two million; capital Imphal) as people have defiantly thronged curfew-bound streets, defying rubber bullets and tear gas shells, in protest against the atrocities committed by security forces. The demonstrations have been violent. Protesters set ablaze government offices, five youth attempted immolation, and a young man cut off one of his fingers. Protestors have been demanding the immediate withdrawal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA).
The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) which has been in operation in Manipur since September 8, 1980, and is also applicable to all the five north-eastern Indian States and two Union territories, allows any commissioned or non-commissioned officer or any other person of equivalent rank from the armed forces to enter and search any premises without a warrant, arrest without a warrant and even fire upon or otherwise use force, even to the extent of causing death, against any person acting in contravention of any law in the notified disturbed area. Some democracy - India!
The lush-green North East Christian or Tribal-majority region of India - it contains most of India's oil - is the most varied and at the same time the least visited part of India and is connected to India through a narrow strip of territory separating Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan from Bangladesh - called the Siliguri corridor - gifted to India by Earl Mountbatten the British Viceroy who amended the Radcliffe Boundary award on August 16, 1947 one day after India's independence in tribute to his wife's intimate 'friendship' with Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, India's first Prime minister. Before August 15, 1947, when Imperial Britain left the subcontinent, the whole region was known as Assam province. Muslim-majority Sylhet district of Assam elected to join Pakistan (now Bangladesh) after a 1947 referendum. The remaining part of Assam was split in the 1970's into five tiny separate states (Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland & Tripura) and two union territories (Mizoram & Arunchal Pradesh) whose mostly Christian & tribal inhabitants, most of them descendants of tribes who migrated from the Yunan region of South China centuries ago. As a reaction to the high handed draconian policies of the central government carried out by an Indian army of occupation the North East has been the scene of whole series of riots, strikes, violance and armed insurgency.
The half century old armed rebellion for an independent Christian-majority buffer state of Nagalim (which declared its independence on August 14, 1947 under the renowned Dr. Phizo: http://www.nagalim.nl/) which is located between Myanmar, India and Bangladesh, is well known. But the fact that the 'fire' for an independent buffer state also burns with as much intensity in many a heart in Manipur is less known. Manipur, like Nagalim, borders Myanmar (Burma) and is located South of Nagaland, and North of the Mizoram Union territory and is about a hundred miles as the crow flies from Bangladesh and four hundred miles South of China.
Way back in December 1968 a pan-Manipuri Youth League was formed which functioned as an overground body for the United National Liberation Front (UNLF). Later, differences within the outfit surfaced over the issue of strategies to be adopted to achieve the final goal of independence. While Samrendra Singh sought to spread ideological consciousness before launching an armed struggle, the more radical leader Oinam Sudhir Kumar established a Revolutionary Government of Manipur (RGM). Samarendra Singh was assassinated by agents of the Indian occupation army in Imphal on June 10, 2001. In the seventies and eighties, the UNLF concentrated mainly on mobilisation and recruitment. In 1990, it decided to launch an armed struggle for the ‘liberation’ of Manipur from India. In the same year, it formed an armed wing called Manipur People’s Army (MPA) which is now the standard bearer for an independent buffer state of Manipur.
According to our sources Rajkumar Meghen alias Sana Yaima is the current Chairman of UNLF while other important leaders include ‘General Secretary’ Th Sanachou; ‘Secretary of Defence’ A Wangpa; ‘Secretary of Organisation’ M Nongyai; and ‘Secretary of Publicity’ N Thabal. The Women’s wing Chief is Nganbi Devi; Deputy Women’s wing Chief: Banti Devi. The then UNLF Chairman, in the 1990's Namuizum Okendra was arrested by the Indian army on May 19, 1993 and is incarcerated incommunicado in some Indian jail or has been murdered. The Manorma rape and murder in July has infused new life into the Manipur insurgency which is currently enjoying near unanimous support in the remote state.
We Sikhs have sympathy, nay empathy, for the just cause of the Manipur people who want an independent buffer state just as we have empathy for the just Nagalim cause. Please read the Khalistan Callling columns, (dated January 29, 2003 & July 05, 2001) in which we have broadcast the unconditional and sincere support of the three million strong FREE Sikh diaspora for the Naga struggle for their independent buffer state of Nagalim, by clicking on the following links at: home/khalistancalling/2003/january29.aspx and home/khalistancalling/2001/july05.aspx and home/khalistancalling/2003/february05.aspx.
Manipur currently living under brutal Indian Army occupation and misruled with draconian laws, where rape is the order of the day, can, and should be, be a land-locked buffer state between India, Bangladesh, Nagalim and Myanmar (Burma), like the land-locked buffer states of Austria, Belarus, Czeck Republic, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Moldova, San Marino, Slovakia, Switzerland, Vatican City in EUROPE; Bolivia, Paraguay in SOUTH AMERICA; Botswana, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Lesotho, Mali, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe in AFRICA; and Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Kazakistan, Krygystan, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, Sikkim,Tajikistan, Turkmennstan, Uzbekistan and Khalistan in ASIA.
The Sikh support for the cause of an independent Christian buffer states of Manipur and Nagalim in Eastern India runs parallel with our demand for an independent democratic buffer state of Khalistan, in the West, which will be located East of the Pakistan border, West of the Jumna river, South of Kashmir and South West of China and will act as a bridge of commerce and prosperity between Central and South Asia. It is about time Nagalim, Manipur and Khalistan joined hands.