Dimapur, November 21 (MExN): On the issue of the Lamhainamdi-Kiyevi village, Zeliangrong Youth Organisation Nagaland (ZYON) has appealed “to the government of the day to have the will and nerve to make a bold judgment to solve this issue without passing the buck to a third party.”
ZYON Media Cell in a press statement questioned, “How many lives must the Zeliangrong people bury and how many houses must be burnt before we are taken seriously?”
It alleged that “while the perpetrators of such crimes walks the streets scot-free and continues their unhindered encroachment and criminal activities. A swift and stern action as per law of the land should be taken against such criminals so that peace and tranquillity will prevail in the land. Time to call spade a spade and stop beating around the bush.”
Meanwhile, ZYON in its rejoinder addressed to Western Sumi Youth Front (WSYF) alleged that ‘aggression and might has always been the modus operandi to set up numerous illegal settlements which ultimately becomes a village on the pretext of being under the jurisdiction of Kiyevi village.’
‘The three bodies of Zeliangrong brothers still lie fresh upon the very land and mud’ where they were allegedly “massacred them like animals and the recent arson carried upon the villagers continue to linger in our minds,” it stated. Urging the WSYF to ‘stop trying to portray yourself as the victim,’ ZYON said ‘the constant lies over lies would not make it the truth so stop feeding your baseless and half cooked stories to the rest of the world.”
Asserting their statement, ZYON said, ‘The very fact that you base your arguments and rights, to forcibly and illegally occupy the land which belongs to the Zeliangrong people, on the so called permission obtained from the British is an open admission that you do not have any tangible claims over the illegally occupied lands.’
“Nonetheless, if British ruling should be final and accepted as you so believe, perhaps the Order dated 08/07/1941 by Sir CR Pawsey Deputy Commissioner of Naga Hills would put things into better perspective for all the Nagas to know the fact, wherein he says “Kiavi is a new comer, he has no right to fish in Tahaiki. If he can’t get on with the old villagers he can go back to Sema Country.” This very order is self-explanatory and requires no further elaboration for any sensible person to understand who the original land owner is and who the ‘New Comer’ is. And this order also goes to show who has been the trouble maker since the beginning,” it stated.
ZYON reiterated that “the original Kiyevi Villagers have on their own volition shifted and established Kiyeto Village in 1979 after an agreement was reached with the government. However the renegades, whose greed and wants for vast lands cannot be quenched, came back to settle and started the trouble even to the extent of committing murders. There are living personalities and descendants of Kiyevi who can testify this truth if they so desire and we appeal to such people to bravely speak out the truth in true Christian spirit.”
“So to say that the Lamhanamdi village is within the land of Western Sumi Areas is nothing but a mockery of the customary and traditional practices of the Nagas,” it added.
Further, ZYON stated that we speak and preach so much about peace and brotherhood amongst the Nagas, “however when a section of people such as the WSYF comes to defend the criminals and illegal activities just because they belong to their tribe and community, it poses a deep threat to the very essence of the Naga society and to the peace we all yearn.”
