THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF THE NORTH EAST OF INDIA
AN ETHNIC GENOCIDE
http://www.halcyon.com/pub/FWDP/Eurasia/tribals.txt
"Love is the beginning of Wisdom and Love stems from Understanding.
One cannot Love blindly; he's got to understand first."
One has to understand the uniqueness of tribal culture,
in order to love them, to experience their warm hospitality,
simple ways of living yet a shrewd and sincere judgement of
opinions and why we demand our birthright to self-determine
our own destiny.
Presently numbering approximately 20 million people, we
have existed as a distinctive tribal community for thousands
of years, surviving wars, plagues and epidemics, man-made
and natural disasters, and we therefore owe allegiance to
our Land which have suffered with us, and have protected and
preserved us as a people through all these centuries,
comforting our dead, blessing and enriching the living.
With our unique tribal genius we have been able to live
in harmony with nature, possessing the inbuilt knowledge of
knowing the extent of development when to do it and how to
do it in the best capacity to incur lasting result for
benefiting the present and future generations. We take from
nature sufficient enough to keep ourselves fittest for
survival without disrupting the balance of natural
development, of man and his environment, adopting our ways
of living in conformity with the changes of the natural
environment.
Yes, we are sensitive to change, for we are able to
deeply feel and appreciate the goodness and wisdom of the
Creator in giving us this beautiful earth for man to live in
harmony and at peace with his fellow man and with mother
earth; to develop and not to destroy.
But with the beginning of the 20th century we have
witnessed an unprecedented flow of an alien community into
this region, indeed, more so after India got her
independence - alien in the sense that they are alien to the
ways of the indigenous people and an alien to nature. In the
name of development, he turns to be a greedy and 'take-all'
master, grasping everything that nature has; his
unquenchable appetite devouring the fertile earth slowly
turning it to an infertile barren wasteland endangering the
existence of man and beast. He pollutes not only the air be
breathes but the once pure water that sustains the life of
every living being, indifferent to the stench of pollution
that saps the life of everything around him, including he
himself.
And in the process of this mass silent population
invasion the political, economic, socio-cultural and
physical structure of the indigenous people is drastically
altered, and using the numerical advantage that he possess,
he brutally and forcibly subjugate the tribal population,
who more or less taken by surprise and being far
outnumbered, look on, but, not for long. The inbuilt
mechanism warns us of the danger ahead, and we are on the
defensive, defending justice - what has rightfully been ours
all through history's centuries.
In brief, the following are some of the exploitations
presently taking place in the region, which if left
unchecked, leaves us, our identity and our supremacy over
our own rights, in an uncertain future.
THE PROBLEM OF ILLEGAL FOREIGN INFLUX:
One of the main factors responsible for the present
explosive situation in the North East Region is the presence
of and incoming large number of illegal emigrants or
infiltrators from neighbouring countries particularly
Bangladesh and Nepal, which have caused immense social,
political, economic and ethnic imbalance in this region, and
the Indian Government's inability or reluctance to check
this unabated flow. These infiltrators who find easy access
to Government jobs, easy bank loans to set up business in
the region and constant exploitation of the region's vast
forest resources are not only politically exploited by the
national and regional parties for their vote-banks, but also
have political ambitions of their own as well.
Their political ambition is seen in the case of
Tripura, one of the seven tribal States of the region where,
once basically a Tribal State, the tribal population has now
been reduced to a minority of less than 25%, the government
and all key Government posts being run and held by these
illegal infiltrants. It is a travesty of universal
constitutional right and more important, a mockery of the
constitutional safeguard of the centre, upon which we in the
North East have so long been dependent.
Democracy, as the modern world have christianed the
political systems of today, is a birthright, a natural
phenomenon with the people of the N.E. region where there
exist an elected monarch and the city states run by a Local
Durbar or parliament and proceedings and issues of the State
are decided by the people through their various clan
representatives, were the individual is assured by his
rights, and the outsider though allowed to reside, there is
a check on his continuing influx.
Though the old democratic system still exists today, it
exists only in name, and the modern democratic set up is
being imposed on the region with its volumes text on human
rights and freedom. But in reality the provisions specially
provided to protect the rights and interest of the national
minorities, are only theatrical, whereas continuing
violations of these provisions have put the existence of us
tribal in a very critical and dangerous position today,
leaving us a subjected race, subject to the whims and
fantasies of the majority community.
The entry of Foreign Nationals from the two
neighbouring countries i.e. Bangladesh and Nepal, had
existed since India's Independence and has been more
pronounced since the liberation of Bangladesh. Even after
more than 30 years of independence a regrettable feature of
centre negligence is that the Indo-Bangladesh border still
remains to be demarcated, and to add to the problem no steps
whatsoever are taken to check this increasing influx. Rather
the hundreds of thousands military and para-military forces
that could be used to patrol the border are in fact
stationed inside the region to reign terror and death upon
the tribal people who are fighting and demanding that these
infiltrators should be driven out from India soil and all
'black laws' be withdrawn immediately.
WHAT THESE ILLEGAL INFILTRATORS DO WHEN
THEY LAND IN OUR SOIL?
The infiltrators numbering approximately 1 lakh 50
thousand in Meglialaya, 23 lakhs in Assam, 1 lakh in Manipur
(mostly from Nepal) 30 thousand in Mizoram, and 75% of the
total population of Tripura, give themselves to be
politically exploited by this national and regional parties
of India, who help them registered as voters without having
to go to the formalities of getting Indian citizenship. And
through their party affiliations and helped by their kith
and kin who had already crossed earlier to the region in the
pre- and post independent period, they through underhand
manipulations manage to get government jobs thereby,
depriving the local indigenous people, easy bank loans,
(since most of their people are in control of the bank
management) to set up business while the tribal people are
deprived of the loans by strict formalities and red-tapism.
In this way they manage to control the economy and also
the administration.
When they find that they have sufficient number of
their own people registered as voters, they set up their own
candidates to the State legislature and in later years when
they are in the majority, they form a government which
amends all the laws that protect tribal rights and lands,
placing them more or less in the reservations. As for
example, in Tripura, the Land Transfer Act that prohibits
the sale of land to non-tribal was amended to give the non-
tribals the right to acquire as much land as required.
The important feature to note there is that most tribal
acquire land freely and need not have any paper or documents
to prove their ownership. The infiltrators take this
opportunity through manipulation with their own people in
the government to get hold of as much of tribal lands as
they require with 'documents' to prove that they are the
rightful owners of the land.
WHAT IS THE RESPONSE OF THE TRIBALS NOW:
TRIPURA: In Tripura, the tribals though having waken up
rather late, have taken up this issue with the Central
Government but finding a negative response and no protection
from the Indian Constitution, have sought the only
alternative left, and that is to fight for independence
where they hope to solve the problem by themselves.
In the other states where this problem of infiltration
exist, having seen the tragedy in Tripura facing a
repetition of the same in their own States in the near
future because of the increasing unchecked infiltration have
launched a peaceful democratic movement demanding that the
Government put a stop to this infiltration by completely
sealing the border, and deporting all the infiltrators from
the region, and effectively implementing the constitutional
provisions that protect the rights and lands of the tribal
of the region. But not only is the response from the
government negative, they have instead sent more and more
military and para-military forces to brutally suppress the
movement at any cost, and have sealed the region from any
legal foreigners entering and reporting the movement and
anti-movement activities of the government to the world.
Therefore because of the injustices meted out towards
the indigenous people of the region by the Indian
Government, the tribals find no alternative but to join
hands with the other tribals who are fighting for
independence so the problem can be solved by their own
Constitution.
MIZORAM: In Mizoram, apart from the presence of a large
number of infiltrators, the tribals have been completely
neglected by the government in terms of development since
independence such that, when a plague occurred that took the
lives of many tribals, there were no adequate medical
facilities, and since their existed no proper roads and
transport to bring aid from outside the State, (at this
juncture also, the government barely responded to this major
disaster) many more tied. Angered at this total neglect and
unable to protect tribal rights, the Mizo too realised that
only an independent State can give any real kind of aid and
development to their people.
After the Mizo and other tribes have taken up arms
against the Government, it has speeded up the construction
of roads, and this too mainly to make it easier to transport
the arm forces to counter the insurgency, and not really to
develop the region.
NAGALAND: The Nagas were in fact the first from among
the tribals, to demand independence from India. Being an
independent nation even during the British rule, they
demanded from the British that after they left India, the
Nagas would be given back their former independent States.
Mahatma Gandhi, leader of the Indian independent movement
also assured the Naga, that when India achieved its
independence, the Nagas would have theirs too. But
unfortunately, immediately after independence Gandhi was
assassinated, and the Indian Government instead of
fulfilling Gandhi's promise, refused their demands and
immediately cent in the army to crush the movement and in
the process, countless mass killing, torture, rape and daily
harassment of the innocent people was committed.
WHAT IS INDIA'S RESPONSE TO THEIR DEMANDS
The Indian Government being a country that have
acknowledged the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights, have
since the movement for freedom by the tribals of the North
East began, barred any foreigner (except illegal foreigner
from Bangladesh and Nepal for political purpose and that is
to annex the two countries in future to its mainland as had
happened with the State of Sikhem) from knowing and
reporting the innumerable human rights violations that it
has committed upon the tribal people to the rest of the
world. Black Laws are being imposed time and time again on
the people when they have declare areas as Disturbed Areas
such as the Armed forces (special powers) regulations of
1958, North East Armed forces special powers Act, 1972, etc,
which empowers an army Havildor or Corporal to shoot to kill
or cause the death of any person in the name of maintaining
law and order, even if there is no facts to prove that the
person is breaking the law, only on mere suspicion, without
being questioned in any court of law.
Special Ordinances are promulgated from time to time
that can imprison any individual for a period between 6
months to one year without trial.
The present number of military and para-military forces
that are stationed in the region to suppress the tribals in
more than 500,000 men, with more special mountaineering
divisions to be permanently stationed in the near future
(their permanent camps are now under construction).
Apart from these injustices and exploitations that are
being done on the tribals we also face economic
exploitations. As for example, Industries that are set up in
the region like the plywood industry, paper industry, oil
industries etc. are merely 'fronts' to exploit the natural
resources of the tribal region without benefiting or
developing the region in any way. The profit and riches
acquired from the industries are being increasingly drained
off day by day leaving us not better off than what we were,
and turning our rich fertile soil barren and wastelands.
Bank Loans are being made easy to the non-tribals to
set up business in the region, while formalities and red-
tape prevent the tribals from acquiring these loans.
Although 79% of India's crude oil is fount in Assam, it
is being pumped and refined outside the region, thereby
benefiting the other States other than the North Eastern
States.
Finally, unable to suppress the tribals' demand for
freedom and justice they have adopted another inhuman policy
of moral and physical genocide. They are now flooding the
region with money and alcohol; money to buy off tribal
lands, and to buy tribals into betraying their brother
tribals, thus creating all round suspicion and distrust so
as to disorganize the movement, and alcohol to corrupt the
morality of the youth and thereby killing their inherent
right to freedom and justice and drugs to put the final nail
on the tribals coffin.
To the privileged people of the World who now live in
comfort and security enjoying every freedom and rights, man
should enjoy, we place before you, the facts and figures,
without emotions and without lies, to judge for yourself if
our movement for justice is justified. We have tried both
the violent and non-violent methods in trying to achieve
justice, but the result is suppression, brutal inhuman
suppression. We have been fighting in isolation, unknown to
the world that we exist, and that as human beings we are
living in an inhuman environment.
We therefore put before you our case, that if you feel
justified, do in any capacity that you can, to help us find
the justice and freedom that every man is entitled to. But
as our message gets through to you, know that we will
continue in our fight, not waiting for when help shall come,
for waiting means, another tribal murdered.
God made man to be free - He did not charge anything
when he gave us this land. Let no man them enslave his
fellow man, for then he would be violating God's Given Law.
Basic Facts that further endanger tribal population
being swamped out
India's present population - More than 650 million
Annual Increase of 13 to 13 million at the rate of 1.4
sec - 1 Indian is born.
and they continually come to our region in large
numbers and therefore together with the Foreign
Nationals there is an imbalance in the population
structure in favour of this outside community, who
therefore possess all the political, social and
economic advantages.
Number of Foreign Nationals (F.N.) registered in the
electoral rolls till 1979
ASSAM - 13 lakhs, though officially it is put at 6 lakhs
showing that the government acknowledges their
presence and their inclusion in the electoral
rolls.
Assam's Indigenous population - 19.5 million
(Plain and Hill tribals)
Presence of F.N. in Assam - 2.3 million
MEGHALAYA - 39 thousand
Meghalaya's Indigenous population - 1.3 million
(3 tribes combined)
Presence of F.N. in Meghalaya: 1.5 lakhs
MANIPUR - inclusion of F.N. in electoral rolls - no
specific figure yet
Manipur's Indigenous population - 1.4 million (2
major tribes)
Presence of F.N. in Manipur - 1 lakhs
NAGALAND - negligible number of F.N. because of strict
regulations of entry - mostly under 'Disturbed
Areas'.
Total Tribal population - 0.7 million
TRIPURA - 3/4 of total State Population is F.N.
Tribal population - 1.7 million
MIZORAM - 30,000 number of F.N. mostly Chakmas from
Bangladesh.
Total Tribal population - 0.4 million F.N. mostly
Chakmas and Tibetan refugees.
Total Tribal population - 0.5 million
Some of the major demands of the Indigenous tribals of
the North East were:
(i) Taking the constitutional provision that all persons
entering India after 1951 and who have not registered
themselves as Indian citizens shall be treated as
Foreigners and be deported forthwith, the people
demanded that all Foreign Nationals (F.N) residing in
the North East Region (N.E.R.) from 1951 are to be
deported immediately, consulting the National
Register of Citizen of 1951 and Electoral Rolls of
1952.
(ii) A fresh and correct electoral roll must be prepared
before the elections are held after all F.N. are
deleted from Electoral Role and deported from the
region.
(iii) The Indo-Bangladesh border should be demarcated
clearly and completely sealed.
Humanitarian considerations for the F.N. will be
considered if the rest of India is prepared to share the
border, but the majority of F.N. who have infiltrated into
the region not because of any persecution in their home
country but because of political motives, must be deported.
(iv) Immediate and permanent withdrawal of the military
and para-military forces from the civilians areas
particularly from the villages of the N.E.R.
(v) Repeal of black laws such as:
(a) Assam maintenance of public order (Autonomous
District) Act of 1953
(b) Armed forces (Special powers) regulation of
1958
(c) North East Armed forces special powers Act,
1972, etc.
(vi) Thorough investigation of the black deeds of the
military on the innocent tribal people by an
independently based commission of enquiry, or on
International Human rights organisation.
OUR APPEAL TO INDIGENOUS TRIBALS OF THE WORLD:
We know that the Indigenous people of the World today
are facing genocide of different nature and magnitude in
their respective countries. Each of us know the kind of
problems that we are facing throughout the countries and
even today in the 80 called civilized World. But let us not
indulge too long in self pity. Feeling sorry for ourselves
will not help us nor remove the injustices we face. Rather,
let us sit together and pool-in our tribal genius to find a
solution, a strategy of how to combat this colonial
imperialism that force us to live as a subjected race,
second-class citizens. Let us come out of our shells, learn
the problems of other indigenous tribes, and in a united
international platform help one another to fight for an
environment of equality and justice, that our generations to
come will live as free men, freely in their own land.
OUR REQUEST TO THE WORLD COUNCIL OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES:
The Indigenous tribals of the North East of India would
like to put forward the following request to the W.C.I.P.,
to put pressure on the Government of India to implement the
following demand;
(i) To deport all Foreign Nationals from the North
East Region who have come since the year 1951.
(This base year is constitutionally provided in
the Indian Constitution).
(ii) To repeal all Black Laws which are used as
repressive measures against the Indigenous
tribals of the North East.
(iii) To remove all military and para-military forces
from all civilian areas especially from the
villages.
(iv) To give the Indigenous people of the North East
Region more autonomy to rule over their own
States.
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"Love is the beginning of Wisdom and Love stems from Understanding.
One cannot Love blindly; he's got to understand first."
One has to understand the uniqueness of tribal culture,
in order to love them, to experience their warm hospitality,
simple ways of living yet a shrewd and sincere judgement of
opinions and why we demand our birthright to self-determine
our own destiny.
Presently numbering approximately 20 million people, we
have existed as a distinctive tribal community for thousands
of years, surviving wars, plagues and epidemics, man-made
and natural disasters, and we therefore owe allegiance to
our Land which have suffered with us, and have protected and
preserved us as a people through all these centuries,
comforting our dead, blessing and enriching the living.
With our unique tribal genius we have been able to live
in harmony with nature, possessing the inbuilt knowledge of
knowing the extent of development when to do it and how to
do it in the best capacity to incur lasting result for
benefiting the present and future generations. We take from
nature sufficient enough to keep ourselves fittest for
survival without disrupting the balance of natural
development, of man and his environment, adopting our ways
of living in conformity with the changes of the natural
environment.
Yes, we are sensitive to change, for we are able to
deeply feel and appreciate the goodness and wisdom of the
Creator in giving us this beautiful earth for man to live in
harmony and at peace with his fellow man and with mother
earth; to develop and not to destroy.
But with the beginning of the 20th century we have
witnessed an unprecedented flow of an alien community into
this region, indeed, more so after India got her
independence - alien in the sense that they are alien to the
ways of the indigenous people and an alien to nature. In the
name of development, he turns to be a greedy and 'take-all'
master, grasping everything that nature has; his
unquenchable appetite devouring the fertile earth slowly
turning it to an infertile barren wasteland endangering the
existence of man and beast. He pollutes not only the air be
breathes but the once pure water that sustains the life of
every living being, indifferent to the stench of pollution
that saps the life of everything around him, including he
himself.
And in the process of this mass silent population
invasion the political, economic, socio-cultural and
physical structure of the indigenous people is drastically
altered, and using the numerical advantage that he possess,
he brutally and forcibly subjugate the tribal population,
who more or less taken by surprise and being far
outnumbered, look on, but, not for long. The inbuilt
mechanism warns us of the danger ahead, and we are on the
defensive, defending justice - what has rightfully been ours
all through history's centuries.
In brief, the following are some of the exploitations
presently taking place in the region, which if left
unchecked, leaves us, our identity and our supremacy over
our own rights, in an uncertain future.
THE PROBLEM OF ILLEGAL FOREIGN INFLUX:
One of the main factors responsible for the present
explosive situation in the North East Region is the presence
of and incoming large number of illegal emigrants or
infiltrators from neighbouring countries particularly
Bangladesh and Nepal, which have caused immense social,
political, economic and ethnic imbalance in this region, and
the Indian Government's inability or reluctance to check
this unabated flow. These infiltrators who find easy access
to Government jobs, easy bank loans to set up business in
the region and constant exploitation of the region's vast
forest resources are not only politically exploited by the
national and regional parties for their vote-banks, but also
have political ambitions of their own as well.
Their political ambition is seen in the case of
Tripura, one of the seven tribal States of the region where,
once basically a Tribal State, the tribal population has now
been reduced to a minority of less than 25%, the government
and all key Government posts being run and held by these
illegal infiltrants. It is a travesty of universal
constitutional right and more important, a mockery of the
constitutional safeguard of the centre, upon which we in the
North East have so long been dependent.
Democracy, as the modern world have christianed the
political systems of today, is a birthright, a natural
phenomenon with the people of the N.E. region where there
exist an elected monarch and the city states run by a Local
Durbar or parliament and proceedings and issues of the State
are decided by the people through their various clan
representatives, were the individual is assured by his
rights, and the outsider though allowed to reside, there is
a check on his continuing influx.
Though the old democratic system still exists today, it
exists only in name, and the modern democratic set up is
being imposed on the region with its volumes text on human
rights and freedom. But in reality the provisions specially
provided to protect the rights and interest of the national
minorities, are only theatrical, whereas continuing
violations of these provisions have put the existence of us
tribal in a very critical and dangerous position today,
leaving us a subjected race, subject to the whims and
fantasies of the majority community.
The entry of Foreign Nationals from the two
neighbouring countries i.e. Bangladesh and Nepal, had
existed since India's Independence and has been more
pronounced since the liberation of Bangladesh. Even after
more than 30 years of independence a regrettable feature of
centre negligence is that the Indo-Bangladesh border still
remains to be demarcated, and to add to the problem no steps
whatsoever are taken to check this increasing influx. Rather
the hundreds of thousands military and para-military forces
that could be used to patrol the border are in fact
stationed inside the region to reign terror and death upon
the tribal people who are fighting and demanding that these
infiltrators should be driven out from India soil and all
'black laws' be withdrawn immediately.
WHAT THESE ILLEGAL INFILTRATORS DO WHEN
THEY LAND IN OUR SOIL?
The infiltrators numbering approximately 1 lakh 50
thousand in Meglialaya, 23 lakhs in Assam, 1 lakh in Manipur
(mostly from Nepal) 30 thousand in Mizoram, and 75% of the
total population of Tripura, give themselves to be
politically exploited by this national and regional parties
of India, who help them registered as voters without having
to go to the formalities of getting Indian citizenship. And
through their party affiliations and helped by their kith
and kin who had already crossed earlier to the region in the
pre- and post independent period, they through underhand
manipulations manage to get government jobs thereby,
depriving the local indigenous people, easy bank loans,
(since most of their people are in control of the bank
management) to set up business while the tribal people are
deprived of the loans by strict formalities and red-tapism.
In this way they manage to control the economy and also
the administration.
When they find that they have sufficient number of
their own people registered as voters, they set up their own
candidates to the State legislature and in later years when
they are in the majority, they form a government which
amends all the laws that protect tribal rights and lands,
placing them more or less in the reservations. As for
example, in Tripura, the Land Transfer Act that prohibits
the sale of land to non-tribal was amended to give the non-
tribals the right to acquire as much land as required.
The important feature to note there is that most tribal
acquire land freely and need not have any paper or documents
to prove their ownership. The infiltrators take this
opportunity through manipulation with their own people in
the government to get hold of as much of tribal lands as
they require with 'documents' to prove that they are the
rightful owners of the land.
WHAT IS THE RESPONSE OF THE TRIBALS NOW:
TRIPURA: In Tripura, the tribals though having waken up
rather late, have taken up this issue with the Central
Government but finding a negative response and no protection
from the Indian Constitution, have sought the only
alternative left, and that is to fight for independence
where they hope to solve the problem by themselves.
In the other states where this problem of infiltration
exist, having seen the tragedy in Tripura facing a
repetition of the same in their own States in the near
future because of the increasing unchecked infiltration have
launched a peaceful democratic movement demanding that the
Government put a stop to this infiltration by completely
sealing the border, and deporting all the infiltrators from
the region, and effectively implementing the constitutional
provisions that protect the rights and lands of the tribal
of the region. But not only is the response from the
government negative, they have instead sent more and more
military and para-military forces to brutally suppress the
movement at any cost, and have sealed the region from any
legal foreigners entering and reporting the movement and
anti-movement activities of the government to the world.
Therefore because of the injustices meted out towards
the indigenous people of the region by the Indian
Government, the tribals find no alternative but to join
hands with the other tribals who are fighting for
independence so the problem can be solved by their own
Constitution.
MIZORAM: In Mizoram, apart from the presence of a large
number of infiltrators, the tribals have been completely
neglected by the government in terms of development since
independence such that, when a plague occurred that took the
lives of many tribals, there were no adequate medical
facilities, and since their existed no proper roads and
transport to bring aid from outside the State, (at this
juncture also, the government barely responded to this major
disaster) many more tied. Angered at this total neglect and
unable to protect tribal rights, the Mizo too realised that
only an independent State can give any real kind of aid and
development to their people.
After the Mizo and other tribes have taken up arms
against the Government, it has speeded up the construction
of roads, and this too mainly to make it easier to transport
the arm forces to counter the insurgency, and not really to
develop the region.
NAGALAND: The Nagas were in fact the first from among
the tribals, to demand independence from India. Being an
independent nation even during the British rule, they
demanded from the British that after they left India, the
Nagas would be given back their former independent States.
Mahatma Gandhi, leader of the Indian independent movement
also assured the Naga, that when India achieved its
independence, the Nagas would have theirs too. But
unfortunately, immediately after independence Gandhi was
assassinated, and the Indian Government instead of
fulfilling Gandhi's promise, refused their demands and
immediately cent in the army to crush the movement and in
the process, countless mass killing, torture, rape and daily
harassment of the innocent people was committed.
WHAT IS INDIA'S RESPONSE TO THEIR DEMANDS
The Indian Government being a country that have
acknowledged the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights, have
since the movement for freedom by the tribals of the North
East began, barred any foreigner (except illegal foreigner
from Bangladesh and Nepal for political purpose and that is
to annex the two countries in future to its mainland as had
happened with the State of Sikhem) from knowing and
reporting the innumerable human rights violations that it
has committed upon the tribal people to the rest of the
world. Black Laws are being imposed time and time again on
the people when they have declare areas as Disturbed Areas
such as the Armed forces (special powers) regulations of
1958, North East Armed forces special powers Act, 1972, etc,
which empowers an army Havildor or Corporal to shoot to kill
or cause the death of any person in the name of maintaining
law and order, even if there is no facts to prove that the
person is breaking the law, only on mere suspicion, without
being questioned in any court of law.
Special Ordinances are promulgated from time to time
that can imprison any individual for a period between 6
months to one year without trial.
The present number of military and para-military forces
that are stationed in the region to suppress the tribals in
more than 500,000 men, with more special mountaineering
divisions to be permanently stationed in the near future
(their permanent camps are now under construction).
Apart from these injustices and exploitations that are
being done on the tribals we also face economic
exploitations. As for example, Industries that are set up in
the region like the plywood industry, paper industry, oil
industries etc. are merely 'fronts' to exploit the natural
resources of the tribal region without benefiting or
developing the region in any way. The profit and riches
acquired from the industries are being increasingly drained
off day by day leaving us not better off than what we were,
and turning our rich fertile soil barren and wastelands.
Bank Loans are being made easy to the non-tribals to
set up business in the region, while formalities and red-
tape prevent the tribals from acquiring these loans.
Although 79% of India's crude oil is fount in Assam, it
is being pumped and refined outside the region, thereby
benefiting the other States other than the North Eastern
States.
Finally, unable to suppress the tribals' demand for
freedom and justice they have adopted another inhuman policy
of moral and physical genocide. They are now flooding the
region with money and alcohol; money to buy off tribal
lands, and to buy tribals into betraying their brother
tribals, thus creating all round suspicion and distrust so
as to disorganize the movement, and alcohol to corrupt the
morality of the youth and thereby killing their inherent
right to freedom and justice and drugs to put the final nail
on the tribals coffin.
To the privileged people of the World who now live in
comfort and security enjoying every freedom and rights, man
should enjoy, we place before you, the facts and figures,
without emotions and without lies, to judge for yourself if
our movement for justice is justified. We have tried both
the violent and non-violent methods in trying to achieve
justice, but the result is suppression, brutal inhuman
suppression. We have been fighting in isolation, unknown to
the world that we exist, and that as human beings we are
living in an inhuman environment.
We therefore put before you our case, that if you feel
justified, do in any capacity that you can, to help us find
the justice and freedom that every man is entitled to. But
as our message gets through to you, know that we will
continue in our fight, not waiting for when help shall come,
for waiting means, another tribal murdered.
God made man to be free - He did not charge anything
when he gave us this land. Let no man them enslave his
fellow man, for then he would be violating God's Given Law.
Basic Facts that further endanger tribal population
being swamped out
India's present population - More than 650 million
Annual Increase of 13 to 13 million at the rate of 1.4
sec - 1 Indian is born.
and they continually come to our region in large
numbers and therefore together with the Foreign
Nationals there is an imbalance in the population
structure in favour of this outside community, who
therefore possess all the political, social and
economic advantages.
Number of Foreign Nationals (F.N.) registered in the
electoral rolls till 1979
ASSAM - 13 lakhs, though officially it is put at 6 lakhs
showing that the government acknowledges their
presence and their inclusion in the electoral
rolls.
Assam's Indigenous population - 19.5 million
(Plain and Hill tribals)
Presence of F.N. in Assam - 2.3 million
MEGHALAYA - 39 thousand
Meghalaya's Indigenous population - 1.3 million
(3 tribes combined)
Presence of F.N. in Meghalaya: 1.5 lakhs
MANIPUR - inclusion of F.N. in electoral rolls - no
specific figure yet
Manipur's Indigenous population - 1.4 million (2
major tribes)
Presence of F.N. in Manipur - 1 lakhs
NAGALAND - negligible number of F.N. because of strict
regulations of entry - mostly under 'Disturbed
Areas'.
Total Tribal population - 0.7 million
TRIPURA - 3/4 of total State Population is F.N.
Tribal population - 1.7 million
MIZORAM - 30,000 number of F.N. mostly Chakmas from
Bangladesh.
Total Tribal population - 0.4 million F.N. mostly
Chakmas and Tibetan refugees.
Total Tribal population - 0.5 million
Some of the major demands of the Indigenous tribals of
the North East were:
(i) Taking the constitutional provision that all persons
entering India after 1951 and who have not registered
themselves as Indian citizens shall be treated as
Foreigners and be deported forthwith, the people
demanded that all Foreign Nationals (F.N) residing in
the North East Region (N.E.R.) from 1951 are to be
deported immediately, consulting the National
Register of Citizen of 1951 and Electoral Rolls of
1952.
(ii) A fresh and correct electoral roll must be prepared
before the elections are held after all F.N. are
deleted from Electoral Role and deported from the
region.
(iii) The Indo-Bangladesh border should be demarcated
clearly and completely sealed.
Humanitarian considerations for the F.N. will be
considered if the rest of India is prepared to share the
border, but the majority of F.N. who have infiltrated into
the region not because of any persecution in their home
country but because of political motives, must be deported.
(iv) Immediate and permanent withdrawal of the military
and para-military forces from the civilians areas
particularly from the villages of the N.E.R.
(v) Repeal of black laws such as:
(a) Assam maintenance of public order (Autonomous
District) Act of 1953
(b) Armed forces (Special powers) regulation of
1958
(c) North East Armed forces special powers Act,
1972, etc.
(vi) Thorough investigation of the black deeds of the
military on the innocent tribal people by an
independently based commission of enquiry, or on
International Human rights organisation.
OUR APPEAL TO INDIGENOUS TRIBALS OF THE WORLD:
We know that the Indigenous people of the World today
are facing genocide of different nature and magnitude in
their respective countries. Each of us know the kind of
problems that we are facing throughout the countries and
even today in the 80 called civilized World. But let us not
indulge too long in self pity. Feeling sorry for ourselves
will not help us nor remove the injustices we face. Rather,
let us sit together and pool-in our tribal genius to find a
solution, a strategy of how to combat this colonial
imperialism that force us to live as a subjected race,
second-class citizens. Let us come out of our shells, learn
the problems of other indigenous tribes, and in a united
international platform help one another to fight for an
environment of equality and justice, that our generations to
come will live as free men, freely in their own land.
OUR REQUEST TO THE WORLD COUNCIL OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES:
The Indigenous tribals of the North East of India would
like to put forward the following request to the W.C.I.P.,
to put pressure on the Government of India to implement the
following demand;
(i) To deport all Foreign Nationals from the North
East Region who have come since the year 1951.
(This base year is constitutionally provided in
the Indian Constitution).
(ii) To repeal all Black Laws which are used as
repressive measures against the Indigenous
tribals of the North East.
(iii) To remove all military and para-military forces
from all civilian areas especially from the
villages.
(iv) To give the Indigenous people of the North East
Region more autonomy to rule over their own
States.
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