• NPF President says RIIN may do more harm if not done correctly
• Asserts government must ensure protection of minority groups
DIMAPUR, JULY 15 (MExN): Naga People’s Front (NPF) President, Dr Shürhozelie Liezietsu today advised that the Register for Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland (RIIN) “can best be prepared in its purest form within a short period of time by the Naga villages.”
The Government of Nagaland should trust her own people that this exercise can be done satisfactorily only by the indigenous citizens of Nagaland themselves, a press note from the NPF President stated. It said that the Nagaland Government can authorize the village authorities/ councils to carry out the exercise of preparing the Register of indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland within time frame and “if that authorization is given with clear instructions, the village authorities can arrange the rest by themselves within their jurisdiction. The villages can fix their own time for her citizens to come together to register their names.”
“Nagas villages wherever it may be, can take up this exercise for its own record any time even without directive from elsewhere if the village authorities so decide,” he added.
He meanwhile urged that the government ensure protection of the interests of the minority groups in Nagaland in the best possible manner. “There is no point for the Nagas from other areas other than the Nagaland State to have any doubt or fear for it,” he said. Dr Liezietsu also cautioned that while the RIIN is “laudable” if properly implemented, there are apprehensions that “it may do more harm than good to the future generation if it is not correctly done.” He admitted that successive state governments have been blamed for failure to implement the Inner Line Permit (ILP) regulations. “We must admit that we have been failing miserably to check illegal immigrants, main reason for it may be attributed to the failure of the implementing agencies at various stages even if the Government may have the determination to implement it strictly,” the NPF President said.
He therefore stated that the stakeholders’ apprehension may prove right if the preparation and implementation of RIIN are not strictly laid down first before the exercise starts.
Stating that Nagas have very close attachment to their ancestral villages, Dr Liezietsu said that “Naga villages can rise to the occasion any time when they are entrusted with any responsibility in the interest of the people.” “Many Nagas who had migrated to towns may not have their houses in their own villages but their attachment to their ancestral villages remains the same. When asked, citizens will be too happy to go to their respective villages to register their names. It will be in the fitness of things if the register is prepared first without implicating it with other issues even if the word ‘indigenous or indigenous inhabitants’ are mentioned in other rules or regulations. Once it is done, computerize it so that no change can be affected later on,” he stated.
The NPF President added that while village authorities can take the initiative, the role of the students would be crucial to assist and monitor the work in every village and for which they should be authorized to be part of the exercise.
Therefore, towards this end, NSF/ENSF should issue uniform directive to their district, village units,” Dr Liezietsu stated.
After completion, he suggested that the government can sit over it and decide when, where, or in what sense this register can be of use to protect the interest of the people. “In doing so, the government should also work out how to protect the permanent settlers of Nagaland in reference to 1963 E/R,” he added.
