DIMAPUR, MAY 5 (MExN): The Zeme Council North East India (ZCNEI) said it was “aggrieved” by the reported “non-inclusion” of Zeme Nagas of Assam in the ‘Framework Agreement’ between the NSNC (I-M) and Government of India. A press release issued by ZCNEI president, Raitu Elu Ndang, said historically, the Zeme Nagas of Assam were indigenous inhabitants prior to the bifurcation of Nagaland from Assam, which was then just a district known as Tuensang Hills.
Reminding that the first Naga sub-divisional headquarter was established at Asalu Zeme Naga territory in the present Dima Hasao district, Assam, ZCNEI said in 2009, carnage broke out between Dimasa and Zeme Naga over claimant of the land and rights of the Zemes, where 56 Zeme Nagas were massacred.
“In memory of the 56 Zemes who laid down their lives to protect the Zeme land and territory, a ‘Martyr’s Column’ was erected on a stone monolith at Asalu and which was unveiled on 25th April 2018, by Shri. Raitu Elu Ndang, President, Zeme Council North East India (ZCNEI), in presence of Shri. Amitabh Rajkhowa, Deputy Commissioner of Dima Hasao and a host of leaders and elders of North East Zeme Nagas”, the release stated.
Ndang said the present “speculation” on Framework agreement between GoI and NSCN (I-M) and the reported non-inclusion of Zeme Nagas in Assam does not augur well with the aspiration of a unified Naga home land. Ndang said the Zeme Nagas consider this exclusion as willful oppression, belittling their immense contribution in the form of supreme sacrifices made by the Zeme people of Assam, including financial support etc.
And whereas the Zeme comprises the second largest population in N.C. Hills, the present Dima Hasao, the present speculation that the Zeme Nagas of Assam have brushed aside from the main issue could be a historical blunder on the part of Nagas which, as such an “opportune and golden chance for a unified Naga homeland may never come again”, the release stated.
“We as a kindred family highly aggrieved by the present embroilment and non-inclusion of our kinfolk in the ‘Framework’, view this as tantamount to suppression of our rights and privilege”, the release added.
In the light of the above, ZCNEI ardently implored upon the goodwill of the stakeholders to review the Framework in an accommodative spirit in the greater interest of Nagas as a whole and particularly Zeme Nagas of Assam.
