Dimapur, Jan 7 (MExN): Village Chiefs/ GBs Federation opine the Assam-Nagaland border dispute is not a “legal matter” but one which requires a political decision. On this, the chiefs apprises the President of India of the ‘root causes’ that led to the present standoff as well as assuring of the Naga people taking “two steps” forward if the Government of India fulfills earlier agreements reached with Naga leaders.
A representation to the President of India from the federation, issued through its Advisor TL Angami pointed out that the boundary notification of November 25, 1925 transferring huge tracts of land from the Naga Hills district to districts in Assam state was the main reason behind the demand of Naga leaders, which can be seen in various representations submitted to the then authorities. At first, it was the memorandum submitted to the Simon Commission in 1929 requesting the British government not to place the Nagas under the dominion of the “majority Indian mass”, the federations said. “As if to confirm the fears of the Nagas, over the years, the then authorities allowed rapid expansion of the tea-gardens into Naga territories along with large-scale settlement of people of doubtful origin in total disregard to the Naga traditional land owners which led to immense distrust” the federation asserted.
Further, on the eve of India’s independence, the Nagas became restive for reasons highlighted above. It was with a view to come to some settlement with the Naga people, representatives of Government of India signed an agreement with the Naga National Council (NNC) in June 1947 known as the Hydari 9-Point Agreement. “Surprisingly, however, the Government of India chose to reject the agreement and this led to the avoidable armed conflict between the Naga nationalist forces and the mighty Indian army” the federation pointed out in the representation. Then, seeing the suffering of the Naga people, some Naga over-ground leaders decided to accept the offer of statehood on the assurance by the GOI that Naga-inhabited areas and reserved forests will be amalgamated into a new state in due time, it maintained. “Thus, the 16-Point agreement was arrived at between the Naga people and the GOI in July 1960. However once again, the GOI failed to carry out its assurances to rectify the boundary (and) has landed the state of Nagaland in constant border dispute with its neighboring states” the federation lamented.
Meantime, reserve forests transferred out of the Naga Hills were continuously under encroachment by people of “doubtful origin under the very nose of the government” the chiefs asserted. The Nagas have observed that the Government of India, rather than supporting the rightful claims of the Naga people, has shown more concern for the interest of encroachers, which, the representation termed, “people of doubtful origin and foreigners”.
Maintaining that this further drew away the Nagas from the mainstream Indian nation and helped increase the existing mistrust between Naga leaders and the GOI, the VCGBFN called for “one step forward” from the GOI for which “Nagas are prepared to go two steps in order to achieve peace”. “Your Excellency is fully aware that building trust is the most important step to restore peace whereas non-fulfillment of commitment/agreements is the root cause of all kinds of dispute and war. Nagas are prepared to go two steps forward if the GOI is able to take the first step towards fulfillment of earlier agreement/understanding reached with the Naga leaders as mentioned above. Thus, it boils down to the fact that Assam-Nagaland boundary issue is not a legal matter but (one which) requires political decision at the highest level” the federation stated.
