Re-kindling animosity

There have been several incidents particularly along the Assam-Nagaland border covering Sivasagar and Mokokchung districts during the past few years and the latest being two incidents when some forest and police personnel from Assam accompanied by Assam media personnel intruded inside Aosenden village on February 8 when the villagers were cultivating their land. According to Aosenden chairman and secretary, the armed party from Assam took away a car belonging to a member of the village. In order to restore normalcy, it was reported that officials of both Assam and Nagaland held a joint meeting at Chungtiayimsen on February 13 and agreed that the landowners can go ahead with cultivation works in their fields. On this basis, the villagers of Aosenden resumed their cultivation works on March 6. However, while they were busy, some miscreants from Assam side set fire to the jungle even before the clearing was completed for cultivation. Such incidents have become quite frequent and have raised suspicions that there is a conspiracy to create tension in the border between the two states. The reason is that Assam has failed to respect the legitimacy of the traditional boundary of the peoples of the states with which it has disputes.Assam bases its claim over the colonial boundary after independence and dismissing the legitimate claims of people (mostly tribals)whose ownership has been even acknowledged by the Ahom kings. The major cause for border disputes has been the arbitrary transfer of tribal lands and forest under districts within the provincial Assam which remained within the state and gradually became legitimate in reasserting the constitutional and political boundary of the states. The British took special interest in Assam mainly for growing tea gardens and extraction of natural resources. Quite obviously, the simple minded tribal folks were none too adept in the politics or modern methods in convincing the white colonial supremacists about their legitimate and traditional rights over the lands. All these lands were arbitrarily transferred to Assam purely for administrative convenience such as the 1925 notification issued by the then British colonial government of Assam. As many as 16 boundary line and 6 Inner Line Notifications were issued between 1866 -1923 by British India after the creation of Naga Hills district in 1866 in Samaguting (Chümoükidema) as the first HQ. The boundary lines overlapped each others in some areas creating problems in administration and revenue collections. The frequent shifting of the boundary and the inner lines were done unilaterally mainly to usurp the ancestral virgin forest of the Nagas, which were rich in untapped forest resources and mineral wealth. Knowing its commercial values, besides the fertility of the land for expansion of the tea plantation, the British India had arbitrarily declared Reserved in as many as 22 forest areas(reserve forest) and subsequently transferred to the neighbouring districts of Assam for free commercial exploitation. It is time that Kohima woke up to the alarm bell being rung from the other side of the border and ensure that respect for rule of law is maintained and also issue clear statements to expose any nefarious designs.