PDMB to take up Boroland issue with UN Secretary General

From our Correspondent

KOKRAJHAR, Dec 12:  People’s Democratic Movement for Boroland (PDMB) observed the Intertiol Human Rights Day recently in Kokrajhar along with the rest of the world and decided that it would take up the Boroland issue at the UN platform and would submit memorandum to the secretary general of the UN.

The president and secretary of the PDMB, Jebraram Mashahary and KC Boro said that Human Rights Day was celebrated annually across the world on December 10 to honour the United tions General Assembly’s adoption and proclamation of the universal declaration of human rights, the first global enunciation of human rights and one of the first major achievements of the United tions.

Mashahary said India was one of the leading tions in the UN who had also voted in favour of the UN declaration on the rights of indigenous people in the UN General Assembly in 2007 but it had utterly failed to protect the rights of the indigenous peoples at home. India has several laws and constitutiol provisions, such as the fifth schedule for mainland India and the sixth schedule for certain areas of north-east India, which recognize indigenous people’s rights to land and self-governce, but all these laws aimed at protecting indigenous peoples had, however, numerous shortcomings and their implementation was far from satisfactory, pushing the indigenous people for movements for asserting their rights, he said, adding that the Boro indigenous people’s 87 years continued struggle for self determition in the form of a separate state Boroland under the article 2 & 3 of the Indian Constitution and the article 3 & 4 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) was nothing but a glaring example of outburst of the Boro indigenous people against the government’s failure to protect the fundamental rights of the Boro and other tribal people’s rights to land, cultural identity and language.

Mashahary said in these 87 years of long struggle for Boroland, the Boro people had suffered untold atrocities, torture, extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances, intimidations, gang rapes and harassments and thus they had been facing a lot of gross human rights violation only because they had been demanding a legitimate demand based on their historical and birth rights. He said the PDBM had been closely observing that the successive governments of India were mere champions in promises, signing treaties and accords proclaiming to improve the life and situations of 104 millions indigenous people, but unfortutely they neither had courage nor political will to seriously address the issues and problems of the indigenous people of India, despite having various constitutiol provisions and strong intertiol declaration like UNDRIP.

While appreciating Prime Minister rendra Modi for his intertiol campaign for a better position of India in the UN, he said the PDMB would like him to fulfill his promises by settling various problems and genuine issues of the people of the country, especially the burning issues of the indigenous people of the country, including the long pending 87-year old Boroland issue.  

The leaders of the PDMB, through the press conference held in Kokrajhar, declared that the PDMB was all set to intensify the Boroland movement with immediate effect and had resolved to call for 12-hour Boroland bandh on December 16 from 5 am to 5 pm in protest against all the on-going killings and torture of the innocent Boro indigenous people by the security personnel in the me of operation against NDFB (S) and in demand of separate state of Boroland. They said the PDMB had nothing to say against the security personnel if they were carrying out their operation against the militant outfits but innocent people should not be targeted wrongfully and they should not be subjected to the violations of their fundamental rights.

The PDMB has also resolved to launch the tiol and intertiol solidarity campaign for Boroland w.e.f January, 2017.

The PDMB leaders also said they would submit memorandum to Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary General, chairperson of the UNPFII and all dignitaries concerned in the UN Human Rights Council. PDMB will also meet the President of India, the Prime Minister of India and the Home Minister of India to discuss the Boroland issue. They also urged the Government of India to have a strong political will to adopt a clear policy to resolve this long-pending Boroland issue.