The NSCN/GPRN (Niki) on Sunday issued a strongly worded statement accusing the Assam government of deliberately occupying Naga ancestral lands under the guise of eviction drives against illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.
According to the statement issued through its MIP, the NSCN/GPRN (Niki) said that the recent developments along the Assam-Nagaland border are not a surprise or unexpected incidents, but rather part of a “well-planned and precisely executed” plan to occupy Naga territories. The NSCN/GPRN claimed that the so-called Disturb Area Belt (DAB) was fictitiously created based on colonial British demarcations, which historically transferred Naga ancestral areas without the consent of the Naga people for administrative convenience.
The statement alleged that successive ruling parties of Assam government have been insidiously encouraging over the decades the settlement of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants (IBI) in disputed border areas across the northeast, “with the intension of illegally occupying our lands.”
The NSCN/GPRN (Niki) contended that Assam has used the eviction of these illegal settlers as a pretext to violate the existing status quo and permanently deploy Assam Police personnel in the contested DAB areas, thereby masking their actual intent.
It pointed out that Assam has boundary disputes with most neighbouring states, highlighting what it describes as a pattern of territorial encroachment.
“The status quo has been clearly violated by Assam Government; masking their real intention with encroachments by illegal Bangladeshi immigrants as an excuse. It is to be noted that Assam state has boundary dispute with majority of the states that it shares interstate boundary with,” it said.
The NSCN/GPRN (Niki) also stated that the Naga public must question the effectiveness of the Nagaland government’s response, criticising the practice of state politicians visiting border areas only after tensions flare up, and then leaving without taking meaningful steps to secure the region. The statement claimed such visits are reduced to mere photo opportunities that fail to address the gravity of the situation on the ground.
“It seems Nagaland government’s only answer to Assam Government has been visits by politicians with a few bodyguards posing for lens/photo-ops and then leaving the border areas unattended and unprotected,” it said.
Further, the statement criticised the current deployment of state security personnel. It alleged that Nagaland Police, Home Guards, and others prefer postings in commercial towns for personal gain, leaving border areas unguarded. “The need of the hour is boosting up of security along the borders of Naga ancestral lands,” it said.
The group suggested that instead of complaining about overstaffing in government departments, the Nagaland government should increase recruitment of police, home guards, and village guards specifically to defend border regions.
The NSCN/GPRN (Niki) accused the state government of being more invested in forming specialised security units such as SOT and STF to “supress and fight its own Naga people” rather than using state resources to protect Naga people and their lands.
“Is the Nagaland government trying to exist only as an online Digital State without geographical land?” it questioned.
Calling for a paradigm shift in policy, the NSCN/GPRN (Niki) urged the Nagaland government to set a strong precedent in defending the state’s territorial integrity rather than relying on rhetoric. It blamed not only the present government but also past political parties in power for the current state of affairs, citing decades of neglect and mismanagement.
The group also said that it is a “wake-up call to all partisan Nagas favouring one Naga political group over the other by way of contributing through various means to start pressuring their favoured Naga political groups to defend and protect the Naga ancestral lands.”
It stated that the Naga political groups “must not shy away from their responsibility of defending our ancestral lands; and not only solicit tax or contributions. Nagas should seriously ponder as what kind of a Nation do we aspire to be, if our People are separated from our lands.”