KIPHIRE, FEBRUARY 2 (MExN): The International Border Area People’s Welfare Organisation (IBAPWO) has written to the chairperson of the National League for Democracy (NLD) of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi to deliver “justice” to the Naga people, particularly living on the Myanmar side of the international border.
The IBAPWO, in an open letter to the NLD Chairperson, said that after the British left both the countries, the Naga people’s land and families were divided by an “imaginary border line demarcating the two countries, which runs through Naga villages without the consent of the Naga people, particularly those living in the border areas.” People in these areas, it lamented have been affected by the ongoing conflict and violence over many decades.
The IBAPWO further stated that the Naga people inhabiting the Indian side of the border have opposed the proposal to fence the Indo-Myanmar border by the Government of India. It termed the move as “insensitive and detrimental” to the welfare of the border villages.
During the last fifty years, it recalled the people in these areas have suffered from evacuation of villages, abductions, disappearances, deaths, and other human rights violations committed by the Myanmar military and the Indian security forces. “Women and children have suffered untold miseries. The people of the Indo-Myanmar border villages were not only left homeless but deprived of access to land, resulting in loss of livelihood, livestock,” it stated. People of the border areas, it stated do not have basic amenities, particularly on the Myanmar side. It further highlighted that Naga people in the border areas have no road connection, health service or infrastructure.
With the NLD forming a democratic government in Myanmar, the IBAPWO hoped that her government would work for the safety and protection of people in the border areas, and asked for sustained humanitarian assistance.
“As you used the Noble Peace Prize’s 1.3 million dollars to establish health and education trust for the Burmese people; I strongly believe that you and your government will deliver justice to the Naga people living in the border,” it hoped.
