Dimapur, Oct 15 (MExN): The Western Sumi Hoho has denounced the contentions of Angami Customary Court Chairman TL Angami on ‘Angami areas’ bordering Assam that “in order to keep our children in peaceful living everyone must follow the procedure for getting of and properties from the land owner according to Naga customary practices”.
The Western Sumi Hoho stated that ‘history does not permit’ the contentions of TL Angami and that if such “wrong assumptions continues to enthuse the people to make believe of his claim, certainly there is going to be serious strife among the Naga family”. The Hoho clarified on TL Angami’s claim of landownership pertaining to areas bordering Assam.
A statement from the Hoho’s Acting General Secretary Kivigho Zhimomi asserted as fact that most of the land areas bordering Assam are being inhabited by the Sumis who continue to face resistance and harassment from Assam. It maintained that that the areas were once rife with wildlife “where human beings were hard to live”. “However, Sumi forefathers on the call of the then DC Naga Hills bravely penetrated into the thick forest and successfully established the villages firstly in 1911 under the British Patta. Thus from that point of time, the gradual process of establishing the villages have been started and now by the grace of God, several villages have been able to stand established in spite of the odds” according to the Hoho’s statement while asserting that “the Sumis did not fight with any human beings but ferocious animals such as wild elephants, Tigers, poisonous snakes etc etc”. Hundreds of people have been killed in these hardship “and also due to the unbearable ecological conditions many people of the first settlers have died” contented the Hoho.
The Sumi community started establishing their villages during 19th century but even during the mid-70s nobody dared coming forward to establish villages in the said areas ‘for the fear of facing hardships’. “It is also not necessary for anyone to try to rewrite the history of which is not the truth and the fact. Anybody try to distort the facts are all vague impressions which will only beget unnecessary misunderstanding and creating confusions among the people” stated the Hoho. It asserted that if one really means being Christian let the truth and only the truth be spoken. “It is a reminder to one and all that the inhabitants of these areas are still struggling with the neighbor state and it is still a bone of contention between the two states” the Hoho stated reminding that to make any ‘imagination become a reality is impossible.’ “Be enough to where you are living and do not unnecessarily waste your time to claim land ownership over the portion which would not be possible to belong to you nor to acknowledge your claims” the Hoho advised.
