IMPHAL, Nov 4: A national convention on the legal and political implication of the abduction of RK Sanayaima alias RK Meghen organized jointly by different human rights organizations and civil organizations of the Manipur and participated by people in different professions and walks of life including journalists, and professors, after a thread-bare discussion drew up four resolutions.
It resolved to appeal to the international community and non government organizations to denounce the ‘abduction’ of RK Sanayaima alias RK Meghen leader of the UNLF and fighting for self determination for the people of Manipur.
The UNLF had called for the right of the people of Manipur to hold a free and fair plebiscite under the aegis of the United Nations whether the people of Manipur would like to part of the Indian Union or not.
It also resolved that RK Sanayaima be produced in person before a court of law immediately and the charges against him be prompt informed to him.
It said he should be brought to a fair trial within a reasonable time after giving him the right to defend himself. If such legally tenable charges are not available, he should be released.
The third resolution of convention said that over fifty years Manipur-India Political Conflict has deeply and tragically affected the people of Manipur and every sphere of public life.
Therefore it said the conflict should explore and seek a peaceful and just solution in accordance with democratic norms established under international law.
The last resolution said that this resolution be transmitted to all concerned authorities, national and international, including the civil societies of the world for their solidarity and support.
Among those who endorsed the resolution are the Centre for Organisation Research and Education (CORE), Human Rights Alert (HRA), Human Rights Initiative (HRI) and Threatened Indigenous Peoples` Society (TIPS) are jointly organizing this public assembly, a National Convention on Legal and Political Implications of the abduction of Sanayaima alias RK Meghen today at the MDU hall Imphal.
Kaka D Aralu, freelance journalist and writer, also spoke on the AFSPA.
The objective of the convention is to draw the urgent attention of the International and other Concerned Bodies, government and non-Government, to kindly appeal to New Delhi and Dhaka to respect the provisions of the International Humanitarian law. International Human Right Law and Domestic Legislation to deal with the ease accordingly, and to guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Sanayaima.
More than a month has lapsed since the reported involuntary disappearance of Sanayaima, the note accompanying the resolution said.
The silence of the Government of India and Government of Bangladesh on the physical and mental integrity of an outstanding leader of the people of Manipur who had led a struggle for self determination is a blatant violation of the universal rights of the human being to be produced before the court of law if he is arrested by the Government authorities within a reasonable time after his reported arrest, it said.
If the reports are taken to be true, there are reasonable grounds to assume that there may be a sinister collusion between the Governments of India and Bangladesh on the issue of the involuntary disappearance of Sanayaima, it added.
The question of legal implications of his reported `abduction` by the agents of the Governments of Bangladesh and India is a subject matter of utmost importance on issues of human rights violation for the people of the Northeast and the people of Manipur in particular by two South Asian Stills who are member of the United Nations, it said.
The recent disappearances of the important representative of the NSCN-IM Mr. Anthony Shimray from Kathmandu airport in Nepal, and of Mr. Ranjan Hojai Jewell of the proscribed the Alt Tripura Tiger Forces from the soil of Bangladesh are cases which blatantly confirms the duplicity of the concerned governments, who claim high moral principles of democracy and respect for international human right? but who, in silent collusion, are planning the physical and intellectual elimination of political dissidents in the Northeast region of India, it opined.
Though the convention was not meant to discuss the political ideologies or actions of the antagonists in this critical juncture, we are yet bound by questions of sheer humanitarian and human rights issues of universal validity to question the legal implications of this reported forcible abduction and enforced disappearance of a human person from the soil of Bangladesh by the alleged Secret Agents of the Government of India. Both the Governments should be internationally challenged regarding their commitment to human rights principles and law, it further said.
Bangladesh and India are both members of the United Nations and State Parties of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) it said.
This being the case, the international community has an obligation to censure these two governments, and to use their good offices to reveal the whereabouts of Mr. RK. Meghen, Chairman of the United National Liberation Front (UNLF). If there are any formal charges against Sanayaima, the concerned government of Bangladesh in whose soil he was last seen, should have speedily produced him before a legitimate court of law. Article 2 of the ICCPR clearly places the obligation on its State Parties to uphold the rule of law and to respect and to ensure to all individuals within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction the rights recognized in the Covenant, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
The people of Manipur and the region as well as the government of India are long aware of the nature of the conflict that has been waging between the state and the armed opposition groups, including the UNLF. The long standing situation of Manipur, culminating now in the present scenario of the reported arrest of Sanayaima in Bangladesh and his consequent disappearance, is a serious matter that has occupied the minds and touched the lives of every citizen of Manipur, it said.
Conflicts of this nature are also under the jurisprudence of international law, and the call for a political settlement has been heard from every direction including the concerned conflicting parties, it added.
In conclusion, it may be appropriate and right to assert that the legal implications and the political dimensions of the reported abduction of Mr. Sanayaima are indeed complicated, it said.
Abduction and enforced or involuntary disappearances are violent acts that have no place in a democratic world. Violence begets violence, the respect and protection of the human fights of every individual and the conduct of States in accordance to the principles proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world, it noted.