Mokokchung, November 11 (MTNews): The Nagaland Tribes Council (NTC) and the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) has both held the state government responsible for tension and violence at the border area belt of Chümoukedima-Peren districts due to land ownership dispute between Lamhainamdi and Kiyevi villages.
NTC stated that it was “awfully startling to note that the Government of Nagaland had maneuvered shifting responsibilities, particularly to the CNTC and TPO which platforms neither have legal nor statutory authority to execute the law, instead of firmly gearing up machinery to immediately address the conflict in the area.”
NPCC meanwhile said, “We have a Government who is afraid to make decisions. They also don’t want to empower the administration. They wait for civil societies or the Court to settle problems and if not, they blame civil societies.”
“We have seen photographs of Dy CM and the team who is also the Home Minister, taking pain in visiting incident sites and reading his appeal to people to calm down. This is not the first time we have seen photographs. The matter doesn’t stop there, people want a decision,” NPCC said.
NPCC also added that the state government has not legislated laws in 20 years to deal with civil problems. “None of the boundary cases were resolved. All they learn is how to loot,” NPCC remarked.
NTC also added that the government’s claim of enforcing status quo earlier in that area has also neither drawn any end product but only set an “indefinite ticking off of a time bomb on the affair.”
The ineptitude of the government of the day, NTC said, is exasperating and added that the issue be settled on top priority at the earliest for a peaceful coexistence between the neighbouring Naga villages.
NPCC further said that Chief Minister should intervene. “Boundary problems cannot be ignored. We have huge boundary disputes all over Myanmar, Assam, Manipur, and within the State,” it observed.
There is no reason why disputes cannot be resolved: NPCC
Meanwhile, the NPCC stated that it wants the administration to put their heads together and “decide the disputes” citing the example of British Officers resolving many disputes without interference from the Queen. “There is no reason why disputes cannot be resolved,” it said.
On the land dispute between the two villages, NPCC said that there is no land in Nagaland without history and ownership or without boundary pillars or landmark boundaries. Ownership and transfer of land are within the customary right as is provided under Art 371(a), it also said. “Inter district boundaries and traditional boundaries cannot be mixed. Interstate boundaries shall be only for administration purposes. Traditional ownership is either hereditary or gifted, if not sold with legal documentation,” NPCC explained.
NPCC also observed that it “looks like land was gifted by Dumki Village to both Kiyevi and Lamhainamdi” and opined that only these three parties should be taken as parties for settlement. “No other parties or groups or outsiders should be allowed to be involved,” it pointed out.
NPCC also said that Christians are taught peace and love, not violence, and that whatever may be the justification the parties make, “killing to settle the problem does not make sense.”
“We have lost many lives and peace has evaded people living in the area for decades,” it lamented.
Solution by Christian outlook, Naga brotherhood: NTC
The Nagaland Tribes Council (NTC) said it is anguished to see both in the print and mass media footages attracting limelight about recurrence of violent incidents in the adjoining border area belt of Chümoukedima-Peren districts due to “incongruity of land ownership” between Lamhainamdi and Kiyevi villages.
The NTC has appealed to both the villages to maintain peace and desist from any act of violence that may aggravate the situation in the days to come. The situation escalated after tensions flared up on Monday November 7.
NTC also said that there are ways and means to amicably resolve any difference of opinion through mutual trust and understanding, more so in this context, upholding the spirit of Naga brotherhood. “Destruction of property and harm inflicted to any individual is not an answer but a solution is realizable only by the principle of Christian outlook,” NTC said.