Morung Express News
Dimapur | June 16
Hundreds of houses were burnt down in Inavi village (‘Naga United village’), located inside Intangki National Park, in an “eviction drive” carried out by the NSCN (I-M) today, Inavi villagers said.
According to Inavi villagers, around 200 NSCN (I-M) cadres in full uniform came to the village on foot and two Gypsy vehicles around 9.30 am. They gave the villagers thirty minutes to gather their belongings and household goods, before setting all the houses on fire. One of the two churches in the village and a women mission centre were also set blaze. The NSCN (I-M) also confiscated 15 arms including three 12-bore guns, five muzzle-loading guns and seven air guns from the villagers besides taking away most of the machetes , spears and spades, the villagers said.
Today’s “eviction drive” is the twenty-seventh such carried out by both the State government and NSCN (I-M) against the village, inhabited by 14 Naga tribes, for alleged “encroachment” inside the reserved forest since the establishment of the village in 1996.
Members of the Western Sumi Kukami Hoho (WSKH), Western Sumi Hoho and Dimapur Sumi community who visited the village for on- the-spot assessment, later held a meeting with the villagers at the burnt church.
In the meeting, representatives of various tribes of the village railed out against the alleged biasness of the State government and the NSCN (I-M) towards Inavi village even while the neighboring Beisumpukam village, also located inside the National Park, was never disturbed. “We will never vacate the village but will die here protecting our village,” a village elder said.
The only condition of Inavi villagers to vacate the village is that if they are evicted, then Beisumpukam villagers too should be evicted from the park. WSKH president Shikuto Zalipu, who chaired the meeting, and Dimapur Sumi community’s president and former minister Khukivi Awomi in their speeches also agreed to the views of the villagers. They said the State government and NSCN (I-M) should apply the same yardstick to both the villages, Inavi and Beisumpukam.
The two elders also advised the villagers not to take any hasty decisions but to remain united and fight for their rights. Later, SDO (C) Jalukie and Additional SP of Peren, Vilhousie and Eastern Nagaland People’s Organization office bearers also visited the village to assess the situation. The Nagaland Government had declared Intangki forest as a national park in 1993, while the NSCN (I-M) also declared it as a “national park” in 1996.
