IT News
Imphal, Jan 17,
The International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL) denounces the indiscriminate firing of the Tripura State Police on civilians during a peaceful assembly in Madhab Bari, West Tripura on 8th January 2019.
Indigenous youths gathered on the streets of Madhab Bari to register their opposition to the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) 2016. The CAB intended to confer citizenship to illegal migrants belonging to the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian religious communities coming from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan to be conferred Citizenship within Six years of residence.
The CAB is an non-secular, divisive policy and a tacit effort of the ruling party’s self-serving interest of maintaining the dominance of the dominant Hindu religious community in India. The forceful adoption of the Bill despite wide objection is a clear instance of undemocratic decision making processes in India. The CAB will only facilitate the infusion of non-indigenous populations in India’s North East (NE) threatening the survival and rights of the indigenous peoples in India’s NE region. The state-sponsored and non-secular CAB Bill will upset the demography of the NE states, underming the rights, polity, culture and identity of the Indigenous Peoples of the NE region. The infusion of non-indigenous populations had already led to minoritization of indigenous peoples in Tripura and Assam State in India’s North East.
Clearly, it is the Indigenous Peoples who suffer most from this policy. This systematic population transfer deliberately undermines the basic right to self-determination of the IP especially of those in the Northeast Region.
The protest against CAB organized by the North East Students Organization was violently dispersed by state police who started firing indiscriminately toward the protestors resulting to 5 youths being hit by the bullet, and at least one in critical condition. There were more casualties on the side of protesters as the ambulance transporting the injured protesters was attacked by the police and a media person covering the incident was also detained. There has also been a shutdown of SMS and the internet services to prevent information flow outside of Tripura.
The organization call on the Tripura State Government to:
1. Provide for all medical expenses of the victims of the firing until they have fully recovered
2. Initiate a judicial inquiry against the police personnel involved in the firing of civilians
3. Exact accountability from state forces and arrest officers and personnel involved in the indiscriminate firing
4. Stop intimidation, harassment, and all forms of attacks on political activists
It also demanded the Government of India immediately withdraw the Citizen Amendment Bill as demanded by the Indigenous Peoples across India’s North East.
