I-Day boycott call by Manipur rebel groups

Coordination Committee (CorCom), the conglomerate of five armed rebel groups, on Monday called for a total shutdown across Manipur on India’s Independence Day, August 15,
The total shutdown will be effective from 1 am till 6.30 on August 15, the CorCom said in a statement issued today.
Essential services such as medical care, electricity, water supply, fire services, the press, and religious activities will be exempted, it added.
The conglomerate further urged the public to refrain from attending the celebrations and instead observe the day as a ‘Black Day’ by hoisting black flags.
The CorCom is a conglomerate of five rebel groups – Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP), Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL), People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK), Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF) and the United National Liberation Front (UNLF) – resorting to armed struggle to regain Manipur’s lost sovereignty.
While announcing the boycott to India’s Independence Day on August 15, the conglomerate reiterated its long-standing firm stand against the celebration.
While recalling Manipur was once an independent nation-state with a recorded history of over 2,000 years, the statement noted that after the British left in 1947, Manipur functioned as an independent nation until 1949.
The first general election under universal adult franchise was held on October 18, 1948, forming a National Assembly with Maharaja Bodhachandra as the Constitutional Head over a territory of 8,650 square miles.
At that time, the hills and the valley enjoyed unity, described by the Maharajah as “one body, one soul.”
The CorCom reiterated that the Merger Agreement signed on September 21, 1949, in Shillong was done under duress and was never ratified by the Manipur National Assembly.
The conglomerate termed India’s formal annexation on October 15, 1949, as an “act of aggression” that violated the Indian Independence Act, 1947, international law, the United Nations Charter, the Manipur State Constitution Act, 1947, and the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, 1969.
In the statement, the CorCom also alleged that the present crisis in Manipur was a “long-prepared plan” to suppress the freedom struggle, with Suspension of Operation (SoO) groups acting as proxy forces.
The ongoing unrest was part of India’s counter-insurgency strategy, designed to create mistrust between communities and weaken historical unity, it claimed.
The statement further accused the Indian state of arming Kuki militants while targeting the Meitei population, using the conflict as a tool to prolong instability for political purposes.
Earlier, two other insurgent groups, the Socialist Revolutionary Party (SOREPA) and the National Revolutionary Front of Manipur (NRFM), have separately announced boycotts to India’s Independence Day celebration while giving a 12-hour statewide bandh on the same day.