Tahamzam, January 22 (MExN): Three former presidents of the United Naga Council (UNC), namely KS Paul Leo, Samson Remei, and L Adani today issued a joint statement regarding the present situation in Manipur. Terming the issue of land as “very dear to the tribals and Nagas,” the joint statement said that “our culture, way of life and value system evolves from our relationship with the land. Land is our present and land is our future.” There are four MoUs with the Government of Manipur and Naga organizations that creation of new districts would not be done without consulting the stakeholders, they said. “There is also an assurance from the Government of India, based on the declaration of the Chief Minister of Manipur in the presence of the Union Home Minister, Chidambaram and UNC delegation that such sentiment would be respected.” The statement asserted that the stakeholders are those whose lives, land, livelihood, situation and opportunities would be affected by such decision. This position, it maintained, is “democratic, fair and constitutional.” It further informed that the Manipur CM “is on record stating that land belongs to the state and not to any community, going against the very spirit and letter of Article 371 C of the constitution which clearly gives cognizance to the land rights of the tribals in Manipur state.” “He has from his official throne also gone on to state that there are no Nagas in the State of Manipur, negating, our identity that has evolved through history, land and political consciousness,” it added. The former UNC presidents also lamented that the Manipur CM has chosen to “desecrate the MOUs and assurance, knowing well that extreme protest will follow, knowing that social divides will aggravate, knowing the people will suffer.” “What noble purpose inspired this man and his government to create not only 2 districts which have been vehemently opposed but 7 districts on a midnight drawing lines that would divide peoples; that would alienate people from their ancestral domain; that would disturb peaceful co-existence of communities,” they questioned. The tragedy of this episode is that the people of the present state of Manipur, especially the intellectuals have not questioned this man, the statement lamented. “He has been accepted as the champion of a community, which has been subtly engineered to differentiate the others from their interest. He is truly the Chief Minister of his own and not of the entire people of the state,” the three former UNC presidents said. It concluded that the economic blockade was “initiated by the Chief Minister. Only his wisdom and realization can stop it.”