Portugal Also Cheated Goans – by A. Veronica Fernandes, Candolim

Further to my  article in this forum on 23rdof this month on  “GOANS WERE CHEATED BY NEHRU”,  I  want to say now how Portugal  also cheated us, Goans.

 

Macao like Goa was a long time colony of Portugal but when the time came to surrender Macau to Communist China, Portugal signed a treaty with China on 20th December 1999 with regards to its colony Macau.  This Treaty consists of 17 Clauses that safeguards and respects the wishes and aspirations of the citizens of Macau.  Even as of today China does not claim to be a Democratic country yet the said Treaty is highly democratic, human and humane.  

 

It is ironic how Portugal applied one principle to Macao and one principle to Goa. How nice it would have been for Goa and Goans if similar principle was also applied to Goa when singing Treaty for Goa’s surrender? Portugal acted worse than Judas by betraying Goans.

  

This treacherous so-called Indo-Portuguese Treaty completed 41 harrowing years for Goans and for our homeland Goa, on 31st December 2015.  It could not be otherwise since the so-called Treaty was a conspiracy against Goans and Goa hatched by the then Big Man of Portugal, Mario Soares and the government of India.  Besides, as Dr. Inocencio Galvao Teles – ex-Law Minister in Dr. Oliveira Salazar Government, wrote in the Weekly “Diabo” in 1990 that the “Indo-Portuguese Treaty is Invalid”.

 

i)       So, what is our status as a people before the Community of Nations that are signatories of the “Geneva Convention” and the “Charter of the UNO”?

 

ii)         Also, since Portugal transferred its sovereignty over Goa to India only on 31stDecember 1974,  what according to the community of Nations, is the status of all the laws, transactions etc. taken by the government of India with reference to Goans and Goa, 13 years – i.e. from 19thDecember 1961, prior to this so called Treaty of 31stDecember 1974?