DIMAPUR, MAY 5 (MExN): The United Naga Tribes Association on Border Areas (UNTABA) has brought to the notice of the Nagaland Government on the following points of demand which it said require topmost priority.
In a memorandum addressed to the Nagaland Chief Minister, the UNTABA said the inter-state boundary between Nagaland and Assam should be settled at the time of political settlement. It reiterated that the issue of political settlement and boundary settlement are different sides of the same coin and that the movement for Naga historical and traditional boundary settlement is the beginning of the Naga political movement.
It demanded that the interim Agreements of 1972 & 1979 and all other related agreements or MoUs on border issue between the Government of Nagaland, Assam and GoI be reviewed immediately keeping in mind the inalienable historical and traditional boundaries of Naga people.
“All these agreements are nothing but an interim arrangement made under duress against the very history of Naga people. Unless such arrangements are revoked, it may evolve into a big stumbling block in the political settlement between the GoI and the Naga people,” the UNTABA pointed out.
The UTABA also urged the Nagaland Government to make efforts to remove or revoke the Disputed Area Belt (DAB) considering the historical facts and rights of the Naga people.
It asserted that the Naga people had no dispute over its historical and traditional lands in the entire boundary from Peren to Mon district with Assam whatsoever or with any tribes or nationalities.
“Our lands cannot be bifurcated into sectors on whimsical ground,” it therefore added. Government of Nagaland should consider immediately for deployment of Nagaland Armed Police at the border areas; and should consider for opening/establishment of polling stations in all the villages in the borders area as per the franchise rights of the electorates at the earliest possible time, the UNTABA further stated.
Failing to address these pertinent issues by the government of the day in its appropriate time would be tantamount to betrayal of the very history of Naga people for posterity, the UNTABA cautioned.
