DIMAPUR, SEPTEMBER 16 (MExN): People to people understanding is the way forward to asserting and realizing territorial integrity of indigenous peoples, the Naga People’s Movement for Human Rights reasoned today. Speaking at a press conference in Dimapur today, members of the rights group unequivocally said the ‘State’, the more powerful and dominant entity, has tried to confuse people on the excuse of territorial integrity.
As such, efforts to form networks whereby mutual understanding can be arrived at are all the more imperative, the rights activists said. People’s Committee for Peace Initiatives in Assam and Naga People’s Movement for Human Rights have, in recent times, met thrice to put action into words. The next meeting between them has been chalked out for October end or early November at a ‘Disturbed Area Belt’ on the Assam-Nagaland border, possibly at Merapani. “We have been trying to reach out more with the Ahom people,” a member said.
“The Nagas through the commemoration of ‘Naga Week’ in 1993 have made a conscious declaration stating our position,” according to the rights group. In 2000, a contingent of Nagas traveled to New Delhi to stage the ‘Journey of Conscience’, an effort to raise a voice for their rights and to share with other peoples their plight.
According to NPMHR, efforts to embrace Nagas in Burma is gaining momentum, though at a measured pace.
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