UNTABA terms CS-level talks between Assam, Nagaland ‘just a lip service’

September 28, 2020 109 Views No Comment

DIMAPUR, SEP 27 (NPN): United Naga Tribes Association on Border Areas (UNTABA) has termed the chief secretary-level talks between Assam and Nagaland on the inter-State border issue at Police Officers’ Mess, Chumukedima on September 25 as “just a lip service on the core issue”.

Association’s chairman Hukavi T Yeputhomi and general secretary Imsumongba Pongen in a statement said it was very unfortunate for Nagas that their own government completely shifts responsibility and makes a mockery of its avowed duties during this critical juncture.

Recalling that it had had time and again reminded the Government of Nagaland to review the Interim Agreement of 1979 with Assam, which is long overdue, UNTABA alleged that this agreement, among other things, had divided the traditional and ancestral Naga lands and demarcated almost the entire stretch of the inter-State border as “Disputed Area Belt”, besides virtually placing the entire population of border areas and “rightful” Naga lands under the mercy of Assam government all these years.

The association reminded everyone that in the history of Naga people, there had never been any disputed sector or area over ancestral lands with Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh or Myanmar. On the border issue between Assam and Nagaland, it claimed that in the entire stretch from Golaghat to Arunachal Pradesh, there is a clear historical and traditional boundary line called “Dhodar Ali”, while from Golaghat down to Jaintia Hills, then to Barak Valley stream, there is a clear-cut boundary line defined and mapped by the British India government in 1876.

However, in spite of the 16 Point Agreement of 1960 (point no. 12 and 13) that formed the basis of creation of Nagaland, UNTABA regretted that successive governments in the State had completely ignored the very foundation of Nagaland all these years. UNTABA said it was therefore incumbent upon the State government to uphold the history of Naga people at this critical juncture, more so owing to the fact that the Nagas had reached a new threshold of geo-political equation. Else, it warned that “history may never forget the present generation.”