HIMALAYAN GUARDIAN Wednesday
July 3-9, 2013
‘SIKKIMESE NEPALESE’ UP IN ARMS AGAINST
‘FOREIGNER’ TAG
Biraj Bhandari Duknath
Gangtok,
July 2: Their reserved seats in the Sikkim Legislative Assembly were illegally
and arbitrarily abolished in 1979. This was followed by division of their
community with the introduction of OBCs in the former kingdom. Thereafter came
another blow: part of OBCs were declared STs in 2003. And now they have been
labeled as “foreigners” in a writ petition in the Supreme Court.
The Sikkimese Nepalese leadership in the State has
threatened to stage a statewide agitation if the old settlers failed to
withdraw their allegation against them in the Supreme Court. The threat worked;
the Association of Old Settlers of Sikkim (AOSS) has assured it would delete
its “unintentional mistakes” in its writ petition filed before the Supreme
Court on the income tax issue.
Reacting to the allegation, former Chief
Minister and Sikkim Sangram Parishad (SSP) chief Nar Bahadur Bhandari said the
Association’s submissions were “false” and added that Sikkimese Nepalese were
‘subjects’ of the Chogyal like the Bhutias and Lepchas as they possessed Sikkim
Subject Certificates and are, therefore, entitled for IT exemption.
The
Sikkim Liberation Party President Duknath Nepal in a press statement said his
party workers have been instructed “to be prepared of any kind of
circumstances” in opposing those who have labeled them as foreigners.
“This is not the first time
that Sikkimese have been under attack and their rights being impinged upon.
From the very first day of being the part of India, there has been grand design
against the interest of Sikkimese people,” Nepal said in the statement.
He has pointed out that the
Constitution has recognized “only three ethnic communities as the bonafide of
Sikkim, and they are Bhutia, Lepcha and Nepali” and not those who represent the
business community in the State.
The Sikkim National People’s
Party (SNPP) feels betrayed by old settlers of the State for describing
Sikkimese Nepalese as “foreigners” in their writ petition in the Supreme Court.
“The SNPP strongly condemns
the choice of words used in the petition to describe the Sikkimese of Nepali
origin as foreigners, which shows an absolute lack of sensitivity on the part
of the petitioners regarding the sentiment and pride of the majority community
who, incidentally, have been supporting the petitioners in their efforts to
exempt themselves from paying Income Tax from the beginning,” SNPP President
Biraj Adhikari said in a Press statement.
“The party feels this is a
betrayal of the trust which has existed for so long and is of the opinion that
just a simple apology to the Nepali community will not suffice, and the
petitioners will have to make visible efforts in order bring back the trust as
it was,” Adhikari said.
Adhikari said, “till the seat
reservation (in the Assembly) is restored, the Sikkimese of Nepali origin will
not get their due even after having papers like the Sikkim Subject Certificate,
and will be subject to these demeaning accusations in the future also.”
While condemning the
allegation, the Sikkimey Nepali Jaatiya Sangharsha Samiti has threatened to stage a state-wide non-cooperation
movement if members of the old settlers in the State fail to apologize and
rectify the mistake in the writ petition.
The Bharatiya Gorkha
Parisangh (BGP) President KN Sharma said the “so-called older settlers” of the
former kingdom refused to accept Sikkim subject status when it was given to all
residents of Sikkim under certain criteria in 1961. They should now not label
“native Sikkimese Nepalese as foreigner,” the release said.
“The
IT exemption by Government is constitutionally guaranteed to the native
Sikkimese under the preview of the provisions granted under article 371F which
excludes these so-called old settlers,” Sharma said.
China lifts 17-year ban on Dalai Lama photos at Tibet
monastery: Rights group
Beijing, July 2: Chinese officials have lifted a ban on Tibetan monks displaying
photographs of the Dalai Lama at a prominent monastery, a rights group said on
Thursday, an unexpected policy shift which could ease tensions in the restive
region.
The decision concerning the
Gaden monastery in the Tibetan capital Lhasa - one of the most historically
important religious establishments in Tibet - reversed a ban introduced in
1996, the Britain-based Free Tibet group told Reuters, citing sources with direct knowledge of the situation.
It was made as similar changes are being
considered in other Tibetan regions of China, and may signal authorities are
contemplating looser religious restrictions and a policy change over Tibet,
three months after President Xi Jinping took office.
Chinese officials in western
Qinghai province are also considering lifting a ban on Tibetans displaying
pictures of the exiled spiritual leader, according to the International
Campaign for Tibet, a US-based advocacy group.
It said there were also draft
proposals in the region to end the practice of forcing Tibetans to denounce the
Dalai Lama, and to decrease the police presence at monasteries. Officials in
Lhasa and Qinghai could not immediately be reached for comment.
Such measures appear
calculated to reduce tensions between the Tibetans and the government after a
series of Tibetan self-immolation protests against Chinese rule. Beijing
considers the Dalai Lama, who fled China in 1959 after an abortive uprising
against Chinese rule, a violent separatist.
The Dalai Lama, who is based
in India, says he is merely seeking greater autonomy for his Himalayan
homeland. Since 2009, at least 120 Tibetans have set themselves on fire in
China in protest against Beijing's policies in Tibet and nearby regions with
large Tibetan populations.
Most were calling for the
return of the Dalai Lama. "Tibetans' reverence for and loyalty to the
Dalai Lama has almost no equal among the world's communities and if this policy
is extended beyond this individual monastery as other reports suggest, it will
be very significant for the Tibetan people," Free Tibet spokesman Alistair
Currie said.
The new policy at the Gaden
monastery and the discussions in Qinghai come after a scholar from the Central
Party School published an essay questioning China's policy on Tibet. So far,
President Xi has said very little publicly about Tibet.
His late father, Xi Zhongxun,
a liberal-minded former vice premier, was close to the Dalai Lama. The Tibetan
leader once gave the elder Xi an expensive watch in the 1950s, a gift the
senior party official still wore decades later.
"There's increasingly a
view that due to the critical nature of the situation of Tibet, a discussion of
a change in some hardline policies is merited and there's a need for the Dalai
Lama to be involved in some way," Kate Saunders, spokeswoman for the
International Campaign for Tibet, Reuters
reported.
Saunders said the draft
proposals in Qinghai were likely to be implemented either in August or
September.
Advani slams Omar, says BJP always opposed special status
to J&K
New Delhi, July 2: Against the backdrop of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah
slamming him on the issue of revocation of special status to the state, senior
BJP leader LK Advani on Friday advised him not to use words like cheating and
deceiving and clarified that his party has always been opposed to Article 370.
In his latest blog posting,
Advani said even the Congress party- other than Jawaharlal Nehru and a few
other leaders- were strongly opposed to giving a special status to Jammu and
Kashmir, PTI reported.
Advani quotes from a
biography of Sardar Patel to argue that even he was against Article 370 but
kept his views in the background out of his regard for Nehru.
"Omar Abdullah, Chief
Minister of Jammu and Kashmir state, has every right to disagree with the BJP
on matters relating to J&K.
"But I would advise him
never to use offensive language and words like 'cheating and deceiving' in that
context',? Advani said on his blog.
Advani had recently said Article 370 should be revoked.
Abdullah had responded to
this without naming Advani and slammed him for raising the "false boggy of
revocation" of the provision.
Holding that it is
"highly improper" for anyone to use offensive words like
"cheating" in the context of BJP's stand on J-K, Advani said his
party has "not only been unequivocal, forthright and consistent from the
time Jana Sangh (BJP's predecessor) was born in 1951 till today, but it is an
issue for which the Party's Founder President laid down his own life?.'
"Since our very first
all India session at Kanpur, we have been championing complete integration of
J&K State with India,” Advani said.
Editorial
WARNING BELLS
The Establishment Will Remain
Silent
After the monsoon flood
victims in Uttarakhand, Himachal, Assam and elsewhere will be forgotten.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna’s reconstruction and rehabilitation
package will soon meet with bureaucratic red-tapism and nothing much will come
out of his endeavours. Tall promises will be made which will not be fulfilled.
The media will also find another stories to sell and the people will also
reconcile themselves to accepting their tragic fate. This is exactly how India
is run. Nothing much happened to Sikkim after the September 18, 2011
earthquake. Only local contractors and construction companies have thrived in
the tragedy.
The manner in which the entire
establishment, including the army, woke up to the Uttarakhand tragedy has been
and will be repeated in other parts of India. People paid for administrative
lapses. Government officials should have been sent to affected places within
hours of the tragedy to take stock of the situation. Army choppers in great
numbers should have been dispatched with adequate food, clothing, medicine,
blankets and other items in the affected areas straight after the tragic
incident. Too much focus was placed on pilgrims stuck in the hills while
neglecting the local populace. The
monsoons have just begun and warning bells are coming from everywhere. It is
time to sit up and take note. The English
poet John Donne said in the 17th century: “No man is an
island… Any man's death diminishes me because I
am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell
tolls; it tolls for thee.”
Editorial
WARNING BELLS
The Establishment Will Remain
Silent
After the monsoon flood
victims in Uttarakhand, Himachal, Assam and elsewhere will be forgotten.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna’s reconstruction and rehabilitation
package will soon meet with bureaucratic red-tapism and nothing much will come
out of his endeavours. Tall promises will be made which will not be fulfilled.
The media will also find another stories to sell and the people will also
reconcile themselves to accepting their tragic fate. This is exactly how India
is run. Nothing much happened to Sikkim after the September 18, 2011
earthquake. Only local contractors and construction companies have thrived in
the tragedy.
The manner in which the entire
establishment, including the army, woke up to the Uttarakhand tragedy has been
and will be repeated in other parts of India. People paid for administrative
lapses. Government officials should have been sent to affected places within
hours of the tragedy to take stock of the situation. Army choppers in great numbers
should have been dispatched with adequate food, clothing, medicine, blankets
and other items in the affected areas straight after the tragic incident. Too
much focus was placed on pilgrims stuck in the hills while neglecting the local
populace. The monsoons have just begun
and warning bells are coming from everywhere. It is time to sit up and take
note. The English poet John Donne said in
the 17th century: “No man is an island… Any man's death diminishes me because I am involved
in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls
for thee.”
Sonia approves proposal to
reconstitute Sikkim PCC
New Delhi, July 2: Congress chief Sonia
Gandhi on Saturday approved the proposal for reconstituting the Sikkim Pradesh
Congress Committee, besides also appointing President of the Pradesh Mahila
Congress.
Gandhi
cleared the appointment of Major T Gyatso and Penzo D Namgyal as senior vice
presidents, Anil Lachenpa as treasurer and Rudra N Sakya as general secretary
of the Sikkim PCC, PTI reported.
Sarita
Sharma has been made the president of the Pradesh Mahila Congress, said AICC
general secretary Janardan Dwivedi.
Gandhi
appointed Gayching Bhutia, Jagdish Cintury, Buddhibal Gurung and Deepak Sharma
as District Congress Presidents in Sikkim.
Following
the removal of the SPCC President NB Bhandari in April this year, the party
high command appointed Kunga Nima Lepcha to replace Bhandari, who returned to
his old party, the Sikkim Sangram Parishad, and became its President.
Manipur royal palace takeover: plea to President for
scuttling govt move
Manipur’s titular king Leishemba
Sanajaoba coming out from the Royal Palace to attend a traditional function in
Imphal.
Imphal, July 2:
Against the recent state cabinet's decision to take over the Manipur royal
palace, the "Maharaja in Council", a prominent body of the palace,
has urged President PranabMukherjee to pressure the state government to revoke
its decision.
A memorandum was sent to the
President a couple of days ago, said the council's legal adviser, advocate P
Tomcha, on Saturday. A body of Tangkhul village chiefs has also joined the
growing demand to revoke the decision, The
Times of India reported.
Along with several social
organizations, the council demanded the state government to roll back its
decision and maintain the palace in which the titular king of Manipur stays as
a "living palace" and a customary institution.
The cabinet that met on June
22 with Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh in the chair resolved to take over 12
to 13 acres of the palace area in the heart of Imphal and develop it to retain
the glorious era of Manipur's existence as an independent nation in the past.
While deciding to construct a
house for the king near the royal palace after taking over the area, the
cabinet maintained that the king's customary rights will remain undisturbed.
A joint delegation of the
council and "Sana Konung Semgat Lup" (SKSL), an apex body set up by
different organizations for the overall development of the palace, will go to
New Delhi to meet the President to discuss the matter soon, said Tomcha.
While urging the President to
impose central rule if the state fails to retract its decision, the council
threatened to launch various forms of agitations if the government doesn't
revoke its decision in 10 days.
On the other hand, the king,
who had not taken food since the cabinet passed its decision, broke his fast on
Thursday after fervent requests made by the council and SKSL leaders, said
Tomcha. Since the king is living in the palace and performing all customary
rites and rituals as the sole authority, it is his rights to stay there as
guaranteed by the Indian Constitution, Tomcha argued.
On several occasions, the
state government abortively attempted to take over the palace and it made its
utmost effort in 2006, he said, adding that following public protest, the
government was forced to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the
SKSL. The process of acquiring the palace area should remain suspended until a
final agreement is reached between the state government and SKSL, said Tomcha.
Northeast militants have formed 'United Forum':
Tripura CM
Agartala, July 2: India's northeast region was under serious threat as several militant
outfits had come together on a common platform called the United Forum, Tripura
Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said in New Delhi last month.
"Reliable reports
indicate that most of the northeast India insurgent groups, including NLFT (
National Liberation Front of Tripura), have formed a common platform called
"United Forum", which might pose a serious threat to all the
northeastern states and to the country as a whole," Sarkar said in his
speech at the conference of chief ministers, PTI reported.
Demanding additional central
forces and strengthening vigil along the India-Bangladesh international border,
Sarkar said: "The NLFT has as many as 19 hideouts in Bangladesh and these
are located within 10km of India-Bangladesh border. The militant groups are
trying to make fresh recruitments."
The Chief Ministers of
Northeast states sought the Centre's help in launching coordinated action
against insurgents taking shelter in various states as well as neighbouring
countries.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun
Gogoi said coordinated action was needed in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland,
Manipur and Meghalaya if training, arms supply transit routes and shelters of
militants are to be chocked.
"Myanmar remains a
foreign sanctuary and there are efforts to reopen camps in Bhutan. Any reversal
by a future Bangladeshi regime of the drive against Indian militants will
revive the spectre of inviolate sanctuaries across our borders," he said
at the conference of CMs on internal security here.
His Mizoram counterpart Lal
Thanhawla said various militant groups from neighbouring Northeast states and
countries like Myanmar and Bangladesh have taken advantage of the porous and
inhospitable terrain along the inter-state and international borders.
"This has direct bearing
on the internal security for not only Mizoram, but also for the whole
northeastern states as insurgent groups used it as a conduit for arms smuggling
and for crossing over to neighbouring countries for seeking refuge or
training," he said.
Representing Sikkim, state
Urban Development Minister D B Thapa said formation of separate states may
renew unrest in the region adjoining Sikkim.
Thapa said that its adverse
effect will also be experienced in
Sikkim which has its distinct identity and cultural heritage.
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