The Nagaland Indigenous People’s Forum (NIPF) has announced solidarity with the Zo Reunification Organisation (ZORO) and other civil society organisations (CSOs) fighting for the rights of people living in the border regions of India and Myanmar.
NIPF president Dr T Lima Jamir and general secretary Kikheto Sumi in a statement lamented that in spite of repeated appeals by various organisations to halt the border fencing construction and reintroduce the Free Movement Region (FMR), the central government was hell bent on its decision without consideration to any of the appeals.
They remind all concerned that the people in the border regions were never consulted or informed when Burma was made a separate crown colony on April 1, 1937 by the East India Company, nor when the borderline between India and Burma/Myanmar was formally demarcated on March 10, 1967.
According to them, this was cancer gifted to the indigenous people living in the borderline upon whom the unacceptable imaginary line was drawn from the tri-point of India-Burma-China in the north till the tri-point of India-Burma -Bangladesh in the south covering 1,643 km.
The duo maintained that the indigenous people living in the region did not cross the borderline, but the imaginary line crossed their lands, farms, houses and villages.
Hence, they urged the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to listen to the grievances of the people, respect their sentiments, and address the issues at the earliest.