|
You both (Chandan and Mayur) have responded to my observation on the question of plebiscite. I did not deal with it as it was not strictly within the ambit of the discussion. In my article on sovereignty written some time ago, I dealt with it in detail but I do not have the papers before me and therefore I am unable to quote verse and chapter of international laws governing it. In brief the right of self-determination is not available to a group of people, whether indigenous or domiciled, who are already the citizens of an independent country having a Constitution. I saw somewhere that ULFA also claimed the right of self-determination. On the face of it, as I understand, the Government of India has the right to refuse a referendum under international law. Scholars have written extensively on the right of self-determination in case of certain parts of Canada, Australia, Kashmir, the Tamil-held part of Sri Lanka and so on. You can explore all that in the internet, if not elsewhere. You are right when you say ULFA has not officially withdrawn their demand for a plebiscite. It was my guess as they do not appear to have repeated their original demand for a plebiscite. I have reason for holding the view but I do not like to share my thoughts with you on the point just now. I experience certain apprehensions in expressing my views on related matters; I do not know about other colleagues in the net if they also do so. Regards |
_______________________________________________ assam mailing list [email protected] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
