Foundation Day of UNLF
The Unlf observed its foundation day today. A statement of UNLF said, November 24, 2011 marks the 47th birth anniversary of the United National Liberation Front (UNLF), Manipur. On this day, the Central Committee of the UNLF salutes our compatriots who have supported the armed struggle spearheaded by the UNLF for the liberation of Manipur from Indian colonial occupation. The Central Committee also takes this opportunity to place the Annual Report for 2011 for your deliberation. Our motherland Manipur has been one of the independent and sovereign countries in Western South East Asia for thousands of years. After World War II, the British began to let free, one after another, many countries it had colonized. Manipur, too, had regained its independence in 1947 and embarked on a democratic journey by holding an election in July, 1948, under a newly drafted Constitution. But this experiment was abruptly cut short in 1949 when India occupied Manipur through force and duplicity. Post 1949, when India annexed Manipur, the image and idea of Manipur have been chipped away bit by bit. During the British rule, the unity of Manipur had been prised open by placing the hill areas under a separate administrative regime. The trend has been continued by India till today. Under the influence of this „divide and rule policy, the long tradition of peaceful interdependence between and among the communities have given way to suspicion and hostility. This has discouraged solidarity and peaceful coexistence amongst the communities as well as stood athwart against the historical evolution of a united armed struggle for forging a new sense of nationhood. After India occupied Manipur, the principle contradiction has been the national contradiction between India, on one hand, and the people of Manipur as a whole, on the other hand. The only way to resolve this Annual Statement – 2011 irreconcilable contradiction is to forge an armed struggle cutting across ethnic affiliations to wrest independence from India. UNLF reiterates solemnly that it will continue to abide by its declared policy of “Autonomy at all levels” that respects and fosters languages, cultures, religion, economic development and identities of the communities, irrespective of their size, to ensure a life of dignity. In consonance with this principle, the UNLF condemns bigger entities trying to forcibly assimilate smaller ones. It is the firm belief of the UNLF that different communities with diverse cultures rubbing shoulders with one another under a regime that respects and promotes co-existence and co-prosperity of communities is a precondition for the birth of a larger national culture as well as a collective national identity. The regime of impunity sought to be justified in the name of containing armed struggle combined with India s policy of economic exploitation have tended to choke off the drive and creativity of the people and society. India s education policy which has no synergy with the tradition, heritage and lifeworld of the affinal groups inhabiting Manipur is deliberately promoting an environment and value system averse to questioning the hegemonic policies that India practices in Manipur and adjoining areas. Those who conform are rewarded suitably; those that resist are intimidated by use of force, including arbitrary arrests and death in “staged encounters”. The colonial system has alienated each of us, individually as well as collectively, from the geography and history that we have co-habited together through centuries and from each other to the extent that collectives are unable to acknowledge and accept the spirit forged through mutual association through centuries.
