NE Insurgents Appeal to General Masses to Boycott I-Day Celebrations

Imphal, August 10, 2019:

Powerful underground outfits of the north eastern India - Coordination Committee (CorCom), and United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA)-I along with the intense support of freedom lovers of the Indigenous communities, have called upon the people to boycott the '73rd Independence Day Celebrations of India' in the entire region with a General Strike starting from 1:30 am of August 15 to 6:30 PM.

M. Sakhen, Media Coordinator, CorCom, in a joint press statement has stated, “Revolutionary Parties of our WESEA Region call upon all our people to boycott the imposed observation of India’s Independence Day Celebration in WESEA region in the interest of our people.”

However, the statement adds that essential services like flood relief works, medical, electricity, water supply, fire services, press, and religious ceremonies and practices shall remain outside the purview of the General Strike.

Some militant groups of the NE states have formed an alliance to fight against the governments of India, Bhutan and Myanmar. They use the term 'Western Southeast Asia' (WESEA) to describe the region in which they operate: Northeast India, Bhutan, North Bengal and Myanmar. These groups include CorCom, ULFA-I along with the intense support of freedom lovers of the Indigenous communities.

Coordination Committee (CorCom), a conglomerate of seven Valley-based militant outfits of Manipur - People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK), its Progressive faction (PREPAK-Pro), Revolutionary People's Front (RPF, the political wing of the People's Liberation Army- PLA), United National Liberation Front (UNLF) and United Peoples Party of Kangleipak (UPPK) - was formed on July 2011.

In the official statement, M. Sakhen stated that the indigenous populations of Tripura had long been outstripped by migrants for long. Tripura’s indigenous populations had been reduced to 30% of the current populations even though they were a majority before. Such conditions are now all over Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland undergoing the threat of non-indigenous excess populations swarming all over WESEA. The Modi Government is bent on re-introducing the CAB-2016, thereby legitimizing the Hindu religious majoritization of WESEA."

"The Act East Policy is only a mask for India’s attempt to get a foothold in South East Asia. Forcible exploitation of native resources without their consent, transformation of the WESEA into a silent militarised fortress, the occupation of hills, plains and mountains with military camps, air force stations, missile launching sites and expansion of naval forces in Asia-Pacific Region, and complete transformation of the geography of WESEA Region with thousands of Indian occupation forces had changed the complexion of the Indian colonies in WESEA, " it added.

"Recent outrageous events about scrapping of Article 370 of the Indian constitution and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir without the consent of the people of the state show India’s arrogance and blatant disregard of democratic principles. Underhand dealings of shutting down the state machinery and house arrest of prominent leaders clearly portend the kind of dirty policies that would be applied to the people of the Northeast as well. Freedom from India’s colonial yoke is the only way to save ourselves from being swallowed by Hindustan," the media coordinator added.

Join us as we continue the awareness campaign to preserve the only Ramsar site in Assam which is facing immense threats (A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention). We need your help to preserve this site of great ecological importance. Join the #LetsSaveDeeporBeel campaign and tweet about it, and do tag us on Twitter. It is time to create awareness.