(As I know by Chingwang Konyak MLA)
In the past, some of our people, without knowing the background of the demarcation of the Indo-Burma boundary, blamed the Prime Minister of India, late Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and the Government of India, for Indo-Burma (Myanmar) boundary demarcation and dividing the Nagas; and even I have been blamed because the boundary pillars erections took place in early 1970s, while I was the Minister-in-charge of Tuensang Affairs. Therefore, I write this so that our people know the background of demarcation.
Pre-Colonials period:
The defined borders, as we know them in a modern sense, did not exist in Asia before the arrival of the colonial powers. Boundaries were loose and flexible, as no proper maps even existed. The colonial powers felt a need to carve up and divide territories to overlapping economic interests, usually between different colonial powers.
The British acquired Assam and neighboring areas from the King of Burma through the 1826 ‘Treaty of Yandabo’ but they also knew that the tribes of the north-eastern frontier were ‘unruly savages’ whom the Ahom kings had never managed to subjugate. But soon after the conquest of Assam, the British felt a need to secure control over the northern mountains as well, and led several military expeditions into the area. There were several wars with the tribes, who had been ruled by any outside.
There was little or no interaction between the different village clusters, and each cluster retained its own language with virtually no outside influences. Large villages were divided into khels, or sections, and people’s loyalties and sense of belonging lay with the family, the khel, the clan and the village cluster. Thus ‘tribes’ in a broader sense did not exist before the late nineteenth century when the British Colonials and American Missionaries introduced new administrative structure and social values.
INDIA AND BURMA BOUNDARY DEMARCATION BACKGROUND:
Today’s Assam was in ancient times a Kingdom, founded by the Ahoms, a Tai-or Shan speaking people who migrated from upper Burma in the thirteenth century. The first Ahom prince, Sau kan Hpa(Sukapha in modern Assamese) crossed the Patkai range. As all Tai peoples before them had done, they decided to settle in the most fertile river valley they could find. They established towns and villages, and founded a civilization that lasted for several hundred years.
Surumpha, King of Mungkang, sent an army against Sudangpha, Ahom King also called ‘Brahman Prince’ defeated the invader, that is, Mungkang king army and in a treaty in 1401 the Patkai was fixed as the boundary between the two countries (Assam in the Ahom Age 1228-1826 by Nirmal Kumar Basu, chapter II Political History-Section-1, the rise and consolidation of the Ahom kingdom page-21).
Gaurinath Singh was succeeded by Kamaleswar Singh, who died in 1809 and was succeeded by his brother Chandra Kanta Singh. He quarreled with his Minister the Bura Gohain and applied for aid to the Burmese, who entered Assam with a force in 1817 with which the Assamese were unable to cope. The Burmese, however, soon retired; whereupon the Bura Gohain deposed Chandra Kanta Singh and set up Purandar Singh in his place. Chandra Kantra Singh again appealed with the Burmese, who sent an army and reinstated him in 1819, but he quarreled with the Burmese, who expelled him from Assam and took over the country themselves. Chandra Kanta Singh took refuge with the East India Company’s Officers at Goalpara.
In 1824 the Burmese invaded Manipur and Assam, and Maha Bandula, the great Burmese General, started with an army from Ava to take command in Arakan and invade Bengal. The British Government formally declared war against Burma on 5th March 1824. The Burmese were driven out of Assam, by British troops. The British troops, having been reinforced, marched up the Irrawady valley, and on 2nd April 1825 took Danubyu. Maha Bandula was killed in the cannonade, and all serious resistance came to an end. In September 1825 the Burmese endeavored to treat, but, as they would not agree to the terms offered, hostilities recommenced; and in December the British advanced, an after several actions, reached Yandabo (60 miles from Ava) on 16th February 1826. On the 24th February 1826, signed the TREATY OF YANDABO (between His Majesty the King of Ava and the Honourable East India Company) by the envoys of the King:
(Signed) (Signed)
1) Largeen Mionga, 1. A. Campbell,
Woongee, L. S. Major-General and
Seal of the Lotto. Senior Commissioner
(Signed) (Signed)
2) Shwuguin Woon, 2. T.C. Robertson,
Atawoon, L. S. Civil Commissioner, L.S.
(Signed)
3. H.D. Chards, Captain,RN.
Under Article 2 of which the King of Ava renounces all claims, and will abstain from all future interferences with the principality of Assam and its dependencies, and also with the contiguous petty states of Cachar and Jyanteea. With regard to Munnipore (Manipur), it is stipulated, that, should Ghumbeer Singh desire to return to that country, he shall be recognized by the King of Ava as Rajah thereof.
The ejection of the Burmese from Assam left the Company masters of the country, the administration of which was placed in the hands of Mr. David Scott as Agent to the Governor-General, the district of Goalpara being annexed to the new province.
As per International Boundary Study No.80-May 15, 1968, Burma-India-Boundary (Country Codes: BM-IN)-The Geographer, Office of the Geographer, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State, United States of America, in 1837, the Patkai (Patkai) Range was accepted as the boundary between Assam and Burma, being delimited without benefit of a treaty after British annexation of Assam, Cachar, and Jaintia.
The districts of Sibsagar and Lakhimpur, north of Brahmaputra were annexed to Bengal by a proclamation issued in July 1839, which directed that the two districts of Sibsagar and Lakhimpur should be administered in the same manner as the districts of lower Assam… Page 72-75, 12 A Collection of Treaties Engagements and Sanads Relating to India and Neighboring Countries; Compiled by C U AITCHISON.
Government of India Act. 1935 (25 and 26 GEO.5. Chap. 42)- The Government of India Act separated Burma from India by defining the former as “…all territories which were immediately before the commencement of Part II of this Act comprised in India, being territories lying to the east of Bengal, the State of Manipur, Assam, and tribal areas connected with Assam….” “Burma shall cease to be a part of India…”
After World War II, both Burma and India (a s well as Pakistan) gained their independence from the United Kingdom. No Burma- India boundary was specified in the independent acts; resolution of the border was left to the newly independent governments. As per ‘Physical and Political Geography of the Province of Assam –Report of the Assam Government First Print in 1915, Page 225’- I quote “The Naga country up to the Patkoi range is nominally British territory by inheritance from the rulers of Assam and by our treaties with Burma”, basing on this, the Map has been drawn along the Patkai range during the British time.
On the 10th March 1967 the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of the Union of Burma, signed at Rangoon to follow the demarcation as per “traditional” line between the two states while rendering with precision two formerly indefinite areas. The boundary between India and Burma was demarcated along the Patkai range as per Map drawn during the British time.
As soon as this information appeared in the newspapers, the Chief Minisiter of Nagaland took up the matter with the Prime Minister, Shrimati Indira Gandhi, stating that Nagaland Government should be consulted in making any Agreement with the Burmese Government on the border issue. Further, it was pointed out to the Prime Minister that one of the representatives from the Nagaland Government should be associated in such important matters. The Prime Minister assured the Government of Nagaland that one of their representatives will be associated in demarcating Indo-Burma boundary.
Considering the various rights and privileges enjoyed by the Anghs and other Naga villages across the International Border, the Government of Nagaland is drawing up the safeguards to be included in the Treaty to protect the rights, privileges and concessions of our people and to cultivate their fields without any hindrance. The Prime Minister has made personal assurance to the Chief Minister of Nagaland in May 1971 that she would keep the suggestions of the Government of Nagaland in view while finalizing the Boundary Treaty with the Burmese. As given assurance, our border villages are cultivating their khetis without any hindrance from the Burmese Government, and people from both sides of the border are moving freely. Myanmar (Burmese) Nationals can visit up to 16 kms.without having passport and visa.
