United Naga Tribes Association on Border Areas (UNTABA) has strongly condemned what it described as “unilateral intrusion” of the Assam government inside the Naga lands and establishing camps for its armed police and forest personnel.
In a press release, UNTABA chairman Hukavi T Yeputhomi and general secretary Imsumongba Pongen alleged that the present imbroglio at Vikuto village under Tsurangkong range was a “deliberate attempt” by the government of Assam to encroach and allow more settlements for the illegal immigrants in the disputed area belts. “This is nothing new but a systematic approach adopted by the Government of Assam over the years to occupy large tracts of Naga lands in the border areas,” association stated.
According to UNTABA, Tsurangkong range or Dissoi, Dissoi Valley and Tiru Reserve Forests fell under the demarcated ‘Sector F’ under the ‘Disputed Area Belt’ (DAB) as per the ‘Interim Agreement of 1972’ which was reaffirmed in the ‘Interim Agreement of 1979’.
In spite of the various Interim Agreements and periodic meetings between the two states, UNTABA said the Assam government had been “unilaterally” engaging itself in establishing new settlements all along the border lines that propelled the Merapani War in 1984 among other incidents.
UNTABA reminded that as long as the ‘Civil Suit No. 2 of 1988’ lies in the Supreme Court for litigation for boundary issues between the two states, the border issue is sub judice. Therefore, it said that neither the states had the authority to involve itself to alter the present status quo in any manner.
Meanwhile, UNTABA has urged the government of Nagaland to immediately adopt necessary steps against the Assam government in the court of Law as a ‘defendant’.
UNTABA suggested that the state government must initiate to conduct chief ministerial level talks and review all the interim agreements immediately.
The association reminded that the historical boundary between Assam and Nagaland was ‘Dhodhar Ali’ that runs from Golaghat to Tizit sector, along which the government of Assam had presently constructed roads named Dhodhar Ali Road. “Until and unless this historical fact is considered as an Inter-state boundary line, the Naga people will go on pursuing the matter persistently,” UNTABA remarked.