The stand of AMUCO has always been consistent.
That is no force on earth should try to compromise with the territorial integrity of the land.
What makes this stand more significant this time is the timing.
No one knows what the Framework Agreement entails but everyone has been given to understand that the ongoing political dialogue between the NSCN (IM) and the Government of India is at its final leg.
This is the reason why AMUCO took the pains to publicly reiterate its stand again, for the stand of the NSCN (IM) over the areas inhabited by the Naga people in Manipur is well known.
This may be to a lesser degree but it is also significant to note that AMUCO reiterated its stand just one day after news of the Churachandpur JAC and a host of civil society organisations from Mizoram lobbying in Delhi to put up a case championing a separate administrative mechanism for the tribal people of Manipur hit the newspapers published in Imphal.
Both entail threats to the territorial integrity of Manipur and it is amid this that AMUCO reminded its stand for all to hear and read once more.
This timing is significant and this is something which New Delhi cannot afford to look over.
If the pre-poll promise to the people of Manipur was anything to go by, then any final agreement inked between the NSCN (IM) and the Government will not infringe on the interest of Manipur and her people.
This is significant, but yet this cannot be the reason why the people should not be on the alert.
The BJP led Government in Manipur too must use its office to ensure that nothing inimical to the interest of Manipur is inked while striking a deal with the NSCN (IM).
The stand of AMUCO is clear and so is the stand of a number of other civil society organisations such as the UCM.
The people too have demonstrated where they stand as far as the territorial integrity of Manipur is concerned.
However one question that has never been satisfactorily answered is why there have emerged players keen to tear apart the understanding of Manipur as a geo-political reality.
Is it a case of only the people of the valley vouching for the integrity of Manipur with the hills displaying a fissiparous tendency ?
If the answer is yes, why is this so ?
Why hasn’t the idea of Manipur as a geo-political reality sunk into the heads of quite a number of people outside the valley ?
Or is Manipur understood only in the context of the valley ?
The answers to all the questions may give one an idea of how many identify themselves with Manipur.
This is a serious point for it should be clear to all that there is the need to accommodate everyone within the understanding of Manipur.
The idea of Manipur cannot be an exclusivist one and how successfully have the people of the valley area been in taking everyone along with the idea of a Manipur is a question worth pondering over.
Yes all should stand by the territorial integrity of Manipur, yet at the same time it is important to study the questions raised above.
This must be the bounden duty of everyone who stand by the idea of Manipur as a geo-political reality.
Source: The Sangai Express
