The NPMHR (South) commemorated the 70th year of the International Human Rights Day on Monday, December 10, at the mini stadium in Tahamzam (Senapati) (Photo courtesy: NPMHR)
NPMHR (South) commemorates 70th years of International Human Rights Day
Tahamzam, December 10 (MExN): As past injustices remain unacknowledged, the 70th year of the International Human Rights Day sees new forms of injustices piled on the Naga people. 10 years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “India imposed the most draconian law in the form of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act; the rights of the Nagas were violently suppressed,” said Dr. Gina Shangkham, former Secretary General of the Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR) while speaking at the NPMHR (South)’s commemoration of the 70th International Human Rights Day at the mini stadium in Tahamzam (Senapati) on Monday. She added that “New forms of rights violation are now being witnessed with development aggression, land alienation and economic policies that further marginalizes, excludes and disenfranchises those already in the fringes.” A press statement about the event released today by Joyson Mazamo, Convenor, NPMHR (South), noted that the Naga people have experienced “untold misery and hardships in the course of their movement for self-determination in India and Burma with both countries unleashing a reign of terror, killing thousands of Nagas to suppress them.” The Indo-Naga Ceasefire of 1997, according to the statement, ushered in “temporary respite” from violent armed confrontation and hope for peace among the Nagas. The prolonged peace process resulted in the signing of a Framework Agreement in 2015 which recognized the political position and history of the Nagas, it acknowledged. However, “the unabated military build-up and relentless development aggression continue to haunt the Nagas and their concern for peace is being ignored. The continued enforcement of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act which provides state forces with impunity and even ‘shoot to kill’ powers is a grave human rights threat,” maintained the press statement. The event on December 10 commenced with a rally through Tahamzam town demanding “democratic spaces for the Nagas to rebuild the ‘homes’ which India, the world’s ‘largest democracy,’ and the Burmese military junta have destroyed.” Recalling some of these instances, Aram Pamei, member of the NPMHR, took the gathering through the threats, intimidation and violence she and her colleagues had to face from the Assam Rifles when they took them to the courts for the killings, rapes, tortures and other violations during the infamous Operation Bluebird that affected Oinam and 30 other villages in Senapati District, Manipur. She informed that the case is listed for hearing on Thursday, December 13. “In the face of rising racism, intolerance, repression, and colonialism, many became victims of human rights violations,” noted Dominic Azunah, Vice President of the All Naga Students’ Association, Manipur (ANSAM). He thanked and saluted human rights defenders, past and present, those martyred and living, for their role in advancing human rights despite the difficulties and personal risks. Speaker of the United Naga Council, WS Kanral, lamented the “state of affairs of our nation where violation of human rights has become the norm and emphasized that land alienation is one of the biggest threat to human rights.”
