Dimapur July 12 (MExN): The Poumai Hoho has issued a clarification on the issue of disputed villages between Tungjoy Village and Khezakheno, stating that the said area is an ancestral land of the Nagas. The Hoho was reacting to a statement in the local dailies where RK Thekho cautioned W Nipamacha Singh against making “irresponsible statements” on the matter of Manipur state’s integrity “lest he opens the proverbial Pandora’s box”. To this, the Hoho asked the two Manipur politicians not to “poke their nose on the issue of Naga ancestral land” particularly in the Dzukho Valley.
“We would like to clarify on the issue of the disputed villages (between Tungjoy village and Khezakheno) is our Nagas’ own ancestral land and this being an internal matter of the Naga family should have been sorted out internally with proper reasoning according to the Naga traditional practices and customary law without the state government’s interference” a rejoinder from the Poumai Hoho, issued by its General Secretary H Sosu, stated. The Hoho maintained that RK Thekho and W Nipamacha Singh have nothing to do with the land dispute “which is purely a family problem” and the Naga people are not going to give vote basing on this issue to nay politicians”.
“This is none of their business (or) the state government of Manipur. On the issue of the Dzukho valley we don’t need any clarification from the Manipur State Government because this does not belong to Manipur State Government but belongs to the Tenyimi family, Dzukho Valley is not a part of Manipur Government. It is within the jurisdiction of the Tenyimi country” the Poumai Hoho reminded. It stated that O Ibobi Singh, W Nipamacha Singh and RK Thekho have no right to “poke their nose on the issue of Naga ancestral land dispute on behalf of the Manipur State Government and would have been much better if they had not taken this issue to the media for their election campaign”.
The Poumai Hoho also took serious view Manipur Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh’s urging the HRD Ministry not to accept the request of the Nagaland Government to affiliate schools in Manipur’s Naga areas, to the Nagaland Board of School Education (NBSE). “The desire of the Naga people cannot be disturbed by Manipur Government – which is absolutely impossible on the part of Manipur state. Had not the Chief Minister of Manipur encouraged the Meitei Maiyet to be introduced in Manipur schools, then the whole of Manipur would have accepted the Manipur Government as for the welfare of the citizens of the State” the Hoho asserted. “Meiteis never respect and uphold the democratic right of other communities to have peaceful co-existence in the state. We warn the meiteis’ Government not to suppress the human rights of other hill people living in Manipur state” the Hoho stated.
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