Kabaw Valley was an integral part of Manipur: BJP State Unit
Source: The Sangai Express / Newmai News Network

Imphal, March 07 2011: Rebuffing a reported statement made by Union Home Secretary GK Pillai recently about the status of Manipur territory, the BJP State president, Shanti Kumar, today said that GK Pillai is uninformed about Manipur history and that it was due to negligence on the part of the Union Govt of India of 1947 that Kabaw Valley was usurped by Burma, now Myanmar.

Terming the statement of the Union Home Secretary that stated that not an inch of Manipur land was given to the Government of Myanmar as "unfortunate", Shanti Kumar said that the Union Minister is uninformed about the history of Manipur.

If the first and the then Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, had claimed before General Um of the then Burma during the demarcation of land in 1947, Kabaw Valley would have been in the map of Manipur, the BJP president said.

He went on the say that 500 sika was given to Manipur (king) by the British as a price for occupying Kabaw Valley.

"If it was not a part of Manipur, why would the British purchase it by paying 500 sika?" he asked, adding that the then Union Government of India apparently had a hidden agenda by not claiming Kabaw Valley.

Asserting that Kabaw Valley was part and parcel of Manipur even before the arrival of British in India, Shanti Kumar said that the State unit of BJP has already drawn a road map to visit Myanmar regarding Kabaw Valley with the support of Central BJP authority.

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