DIMAPUR, JANUARY 6 (MExN): Opposition to the border fencing work at the Indo-Myanmar international boundary grew today as the NSCN (IM), NNC, ENDO and the NYW expressed their resentments against the physical fencing works that would divide the Naga lands.
Despite opposition from the indigenous people here, the Governments of India and Government of Mynamar have begun preparations to seal off 3500 acres of Khiamniungan Naga land. The NSCN (IM) said that the Naga people would no longer accept any policy to further divide the Naga family in the form of artificial border fencing.
A press note from the MIP of the NSCN (IM) reminded it had also expressed “objection against the construction of border fencing in the southern part of Nagalim.” It said that the territory of the Nagas was in existence since time immemorial even before the formation of the Union of India and Myanmar. “Naga people have our own territory, customs, tradition, dialect, culture, long history and distinctive identities,” it affirmed.
Such artificial boundary fencing imposed upon the Naga people is against the will of the people and a gross violation of human rights, it maintained. The NSCN (IM) said that the fence would segregate age old tradition, custom, economic and social relationships.
The NSCN (IM) said that despite atrocities and oppression committed upon the Nagas both in Myanmar and India, the NSCN (IM) in response to the people’s wishes for peace, engaged in political talks with the GoI leading to the signing of the Framework Agreement.
The fencing work at this juncture of the talks is “questionable and unacceptable,” the NSCN (IM) said. Affirming that the Naga people have the right to maintain and protect its own territory, identity and social and political institutions, the NSCN (IM) cautioned that ignoring the will and interest of the people may give rise to unfavourable situation, for which both India and Myanmar would be responsible.
The Naga National Council (NNC) rejected the ongoing border fencing works and termed it “outrageous.” A press note from the NNC Joint Secretary, W Shapwon stated that the Nagas “had been living in this land Nagaland since thousands of years.” “The Nagas knew nothing about Burmans and Indians and neither did the Burmans and Indians know about the Nagas. They came to know the Nagas only in the British Colonial era, and only yesterday they came to occupy our land forcefully. How then can they have the right to fence in the heart of Nagaland?” the NNC questioned.
It further said that the Nagas “rejected the cursory boundary drawn by the British in the heart of Nagaland in 1914 without the knowledge of Naga people, and neither recognize the dissection of our land by India and Burma in 1953 after they had emancipated from the yoke of the British Colony.”
It stated that the Nagas also reject the cursory border fencing works in the heart of Naga country by “alien nations, India and Burma… because they have no right to fence in between our homes and farms, in the hearth and bed room.” Nagaland, it stated “is not their country, but just occupying by them forcefully.”
It said that “they have no history to prove that an inch of land in Nagaland belonged to their Kings.” Since this is not their country, they have no legal and moral right to fence in the heart of other country, the NNC maintained.
“What they are doing to fence in the heart of Nagaland will not benefit to them and to the Nagas either, but it will remain forever as a black mark of their occupation in history,” the NNC cautioned. Meanwhile, the Eastern Naga Development Organisation (ENDO) and the Naga Youth Network (NYW) demanded that there should be no restriction between Naga brothers who are in India and Burma from communication for economic, social and culture. A joint statement from the two organisations demanded the fencing work to stop immediately. “The Naga people are living as free people from time immemorial and want to live as free people without disturbance by any foreign people,” it added.
