The historic declaration of independence by Kosovo on 17 February 2008 reminds us of the May 2006 referendum in Montenegro that led to its emergence as an independent republic.It had an interesting resonances among the leaders and supporters of the separatist and secessionist insurgencies in "North-East India". The idea of a referendum under international supervision on these sovereignity struggles has held an appeal to these.During the wake of the Montenegro referendum, civil society organisations in Manipur revived the plebiscite call in a public meeting held in Imphal. The meeting was addressed among others by the king of Manipur, a former Lok Sabha member from the state, a former human rights commissioner, the president of the Journalists' Union, leders of political parties and women( always a potent force in Manipur) though no programmatic action followed.
The recent declaration of independence by Kosovo and the prompt announcement of its recognition by the US President George W Bush also has had a similar resonance. With equal promptitude, Isak Swu, Chairman of the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagalim(NSCN I-M),which is holding talks with the Government fo India since June 1997, wrote to Fatmir Sejdiu congratulating the people of Kosovo on the "historic independence declaration on 17 February 2008".
The statement as reported in the NSCN website, reads thus: "The bold decesion of Kosovo and its victory is a clear message sent to all over the world that the rights of the nation, big or small, weak o strong must be acknowledge. As among the co-constituent members of the Parliamentarians for National Self-Determination(PNSD) and as a struggling nation, Nagalim fully supports the newly achieved status of Kosovo and feels overwhelmed at the triumph of the people's will."
Further, the PNSD statement signed by its Chair and Vice-Chair, Lord Ahmed and Elfyn Llwyd reads as "We have been asked to convey to the Kosovo people the congratulations and best wishes of all of PNSD's Advisoryy Panels-Kurdish, Naga, Kashmir and Sikh. The destiny of those and many other peoples and nations who also aspire to self-determination(in whatever form they freely decide) will rest upon the will of the international community to live up to its moral and legal obligations."
The military atrocities carried out by the Belgrade Government against the Kosovos had opened the road to the independence of Kosovo. In this part of the "North-East India", the Indian Governments atrocities can be found in its military operations supported by its draconian laws such as the Assam Disturbed Areas Act,1955, the Armed Forces (Special Powers Act),1958, the Armed Forces(Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Act, 1972, with further minor verbal amendments to enable the extension of the Act to the full-fledged states of Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram in 1986.Thus, with the Westphalian nation state gaining legitimacy, such "colonial constructs as the Indian state are bound to crack up and collapse even without external aggression, defeat in War and foreign aggression" due to its "state terrorism".
References
Prabhakara, M.S(2008), "Agenda for re-colonisation?", The Hindu, 12 March 2008, p.11.
NSCN Website: http://www.nscnonline.org/
http://naganation.com/archives/62
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