Morung Express News
Dimapur | April 13
An apparent attempt to construct a road at Rilan village, Dimapur by the Assam Police personnel was stopped after the Dimapur District Administration intervened.
Alarm was raised today after Rilan villagers detected the attempted construction of an approach road to Rilan from National Highway (NH) 36.
The construction had started from the Assam side of the interstate border and into Rilan village territory after crossing the Lengri stream, which is traditionally regarded as the boundary between Rilan and Dillai in Assam.
The start point of the road was adjacent to the Assam Police check post at Dillai and was being constructed with armed Assam Police personnel on guard.
It was halted only after the Dimapur district administration intervened.
Deputy Commissioner, Dimapur told The Morung Express that he called up his Karbi-Anglong counterpart and informed of the development. The Dimapur DC reportedly asked his counterpart to respect the ongoing negotiations as regards the border issue between Assam and Nagaland and the case pending at the Supreme Court. Following the conversation, the Karbi Anglong DC reportedly passed orders to subordinates to stop halt the work.
UNTABA urge CM to restore transferred Naga lands
Meanwhile, the United Naga Tribes Association on Border Areas (UNTABA) has urged the Nagaland Government to immediately initiate steps to demand for “the complete implementation of Points No. 12 & 13 of ‘16 Point Agreement’ of 1960 so as to restore all the transferred Reserve Forests and Naga territories illegally occupied by Assam for all these years to Nagaland state.”
UNTABA, in a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister TR Zeliang on Wednesday highlighted that it has been sincerely exploring all possible initiative towards the resolution of the “most contentious border issue” that has been confronting the Naga people even after more than five decades of attainment of statehood.
In this regard, the Association said it has implored the Government of India through the Prime Minister Office and the RN Ravi Interlocutor for the Indo-Naga peace talks on what basis the Indo-Naga political imbroglio can be resolved.
“We have presented an unambiguous stand that the Naga lands that was alienated to its rightful ownership should be brought back to Naga people as agreed in the ‘9 Point Agreement’ of June 27-29, 1947 in Kohima between the Naga people, the then Naga National Council (NNC) and the Emissaries of the Interim Government of India Akbar Hydari Ali, the then Governor of Assam and GN Bordoloi, the then Premier of Assam, wherein all the 22 transferred Reserved Forests and all the contiguous Naga inhabited areas are committed to be consolidated into Nagaland,” UNTABA said in the memorandum.
However, it alleged that instead of seriously concentrating on this core issue of the Naga people, the successive Government of Nagaland since the inception of Nagaland statehood had completely diverted the issue by shifting its own responsibility to elsewhere.
