A press note from the NTC, while informing that the Nagaland CM’s proposal was deliberated by the council at an emergency meeting at rest house, Zunheboto, stated that “our age old demand has always been: return us our ancestral land.”
The NTC lamented that the Nagaland CM “seems to be harping on a completely new idea not in conformity with our unwavering age-old stand.” It reminded that this proposal anticipates to “prevent new settlement in the disputed land” and to “place additional guards in the border areas to prevent disturbances in the area.”
The NTC stated that “it was exactly in this aim that an agreement between the Chief Ministers of Assam and Nagaland was made in 1972.” However, it lamented that the agreement “could neither prevent further settlement nor turmoil in the area.” It further alleged that “Assam used the status quo agreement to occupy more land and used the introduced so-called neutral force to its advantage.”
The NTC recalled that in 1929, the Nagas had presented a petition to the Simon Commission for the return of the forest lands transferred to Sibsagar district of Assam for better administration and management of the forest, in addition to other political issues.
This stand of the Nagas on the disputed Land was repeated in 1948 in the Nine Point Agreement, it added. The NTC reminded that this issue was raised again in 1963 in the Sixteen Point Agreement. “Since then, the state, from 1963 to date, for 51 years have been all along demanding the ‘Return of Our Land,’” it added.
The NTC demanded that the border between Assam and Nagaland states in the disputed area should be demarcated “outside the court on mutual concord.” It asserted that there can be no stoppage to new settlement or turmoil in the area unless the border is demarcated.
Informing that the Supreme Court has appointed two retired Justices as mediators to suggest ways and means for an amicable solution between the two states, the NTC called upon the Nagaland state government to “insist on a mediated settlement in mutual consent by both the states.”
The NTC informed that the Supreme Court mediators have held “numerous discussions with the two states officials, with various NGOs and concerned citizens.” It stated that Nagaland state has submitted its stand and that the NGOs have stated their view “in no uncertain terms.” Despite this, the NTC lamented that the Nagaland CM has come out with a new idea, which it said is “completely unfavorable to the state of Nagaland.”
“The CM does not seem to have sufficiently done his home work on the subject,” the NTC said and advised him to “take the citizens of Nagaland into confidence on these vital issues.”
It urged the Nagaland CM to “care more about what happens to land under jurisdiction of the Nagas of Nagaland,” and cautioned that this latest proposal to set up an LOC “may do more harm to Nagaland than good.”
Source: Morung Express
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