Of recent, the Zeliangs or Zeliangrong purportedly claimed the entire land in and around Dhansiripar sub-division and its adjoinings as far as their eyes could reach, which is a senseless imagination in a way to be understood that the boundaries have got its limitations and endings. It is also claiming "INTANKI RESERVED FOREST" despite the fact that the said Forest is not a part of any tribe's land or had ever owned by any tribe since God's creation. According to the documentary of the Nagas migratory lineage, no tribe had ever owned the land in question; it was only after some educated Zeliangs rewrite the unfounded and baseless history of the so called Zeliangrong as a tribe. If we are to go by the records available, this forest was transferred to Nagaland from Assam in 1891 and while transferring this forest to Nagaland, it was not made to any tribe's land or individuals. Even when the state government declared "Intanki" as "Reserved Forest" meant for wild life sanctuary, there was no deal of agreement with any tribe or individuals, because of the fact that the said portion does not belong to any tribe or individuals. The Zeliangs or so called Zeliangrong's claiming ownership over the "Intanki" is said to be on the basis of the given name “Intanki" which is said to be derived from Zeliang diaialect.But while going by the facts and proof, the first settlers in the said areas were those- of Kachars and Kukis and they have got the original given names which have got the logical meanings. According to "Kacharis" the so called INTANKI was originally called "DHANGKI”,“DHANG” means "Sounds of the gun fire", “KI” means "the place of killing Wild Mithun". On the other hand, the KUKIS who were among the oldest settlers, in their dialect called it "ENDANGKl" which means "difficult to penetrate" for being thorny where netting is not possible. The original name "DHANGKl" was misinterpreted by the Britishers at the later stage as INT ANKI and taking advantage of the misinterpretation, Zeliangs have claimed the said forest as their land, on the basis of the given name than no other substantials.As far as two tribes (KACHARIS & KUKIS) are concern, they have got the documentary proof to lay claim that they were the first settlers, but they are not claiming the ownership of those places for the reason that they have abandoned the places. The so called Zeliangrongs who are trying to out smart others by means of baseless claim as land owner over the land in question is being instigated by the vested interests, but without authentic evidences. In this tussling game to gain the ownership over the said land, many people without understanding the backgrounds as from where did the so-called Zeliangrongs came to settle here, blindly supporting the Zeliangrong's claims of the said areas. It is therefore, compelled to reveal the backgrounds of the so called Zeliangrongs origination from where and when did they come to Nagaland, so that each and every one realize the truth and stop supporting the baseless claim.
1. The Zeliang as we now called it was originally known as "KACHA NAGA" (until the British administration)which is logistically mean that they are sub-Naga tribe, but later on the nomenclature "ZELIANG" was adopted and came to be known as Zeliang as a tribe. Once again,the Zeliang was renomenclatured as "ZELIANGRONG" for the reason known to them. According to the events of what has been taken place, just when the so called "Zeliangrong" was formed to be known as a tribe, slowly and steadily these people who have been living in Manipur state as being their ancestral place started migrating to Nagaland and forcefully occupied the places where they are now claiming to be the real land owner. In the words of "NAMGANGHEIN ZELIANG" (the then Adviser Zeli-angrong people's convention of Assam, Manipur and Nagaland) who issued a press release published by Nagaland Post on Nov.25,1992 "quote” On the eve of India's independence, the need to unify the Zeliangrong people was strongly felt and accordingly, I along with late L.Lungalang, late,P .Haralu and late Levi spearheaded the movement in 1947, late L.Lungalang coined the word "ZELIANGRONG" for our people. “Ze” for “Zeime” which stands for people living in the plains, “Lia” for “Liame” which stands for people living the slope/hills,and Nrua for Ruame which stands for people “living in vacant land, it was ultimately endorsed by the leaders of Zeliangrong in I 956-57.During the NNDP Government in Nagaland, late L.Lungalang and I with genuine desire to recognize "Zeliangrong" as a tribe pressed the Government. Jjust when the recognition order was about to be approved, some Zeliangs residing at Kohima,submitted a memo against it.. .and foiled, "unquote" this same statement remained unrefuted even to these days and therefore,basing on this facts, we termed Zeliangrong as so called "ZELIANGRONG" because it is just a wishful thinking and not yet official nor recognized by the state Government.
2. We termed those mentioned people who had migrated from Manipur in general as Zeliangrong, because they would like to call themselves as such. According to the introduction to the Rongmei Nagas by one G.Makuga (NCS Retired) quote "the native homeland of Rongmei Nagas lies in the West hill ranges of Manipur" '''unquote''... which means, those people's originality in the state of Nagaland is out of question before the formation of the so called "ZELIANGRONG" .Again, a press release issued by one Hegiebame the then Chairman of Old Jalukie village council on 11.10.1992 under the caption "Rongmeis in Nagaland" stating "In fact, inspite of the fact that they belong to Manipur state when they approached us to allow them to live in some of our villages like Mhainamtsi,New jalukie,Nkwakreu and Sarnziuram, we allowed them to live in our villages, because nature has provided us vast village lands. This statement was made in the wake of those people who was once allowed to live in those mentioned places started grabbing the land that was not given to them. It is therefore, to be understood by one and all that the present state of affairs in particular to land disputes are being created by those people who had migrated to Nagaland from the other state. We (Sumis) have been living here since British administration, for the fact that once upon a time everything was under British control and administration. Whatever the Britishers have said and done are still considered as legally valid, even to the extent of recognizing the sovereignty of India as a nation was done by the British and there is no contest of whatsoever. The saying goes that the "Sun never set under the British Empire" and that is how even the Nagas have been living under the British administration, so whatever the Britishers have done should not be distorted by the wisdom of the present age, which will only create unwanted situation, bloodsheds and turmoil among the people of co-existence. It is known fact that from 1881 to 1947 the present state of Nagaland was under British administration and were popularly known as the "NAGA HILLS" district placed under British Assam province. The entire Naga Hills District was sub-divided into two "ELAKHA" namely,Kohima ELAKHA and Mokokchung ELAKHA which was ruled by one Deputy commissioner, based on the "Dual Mandate" in as much as the natives were allowed absolute control over the lands inhabited by them, and the uninhabited areas were classified as either protected Forests or vacant land to be inhabited. The Naga political struggle is not of recent origination, but existed even when the Britishers were ruling the whole of India and even at that point of time, land ownership was the main concern for the Nagas. No tribes were ignorant of their boundaries and there was no land lies unclaimed, so when the Britishers were in control of those vacant lands, no tribe had ever uttered a word saying that the Britishers are illegally declaring their lands as protected land or vacant land. Also when the Britishers were allotting the vacant lands to the needy people to establish the villages, no individuals nor the tribe objected to the issue of the permits which itself is a proven fact that those vacant lands does not belong to any tribe, but just an adjoining lands to the would be Nagaland state at that point of time. In our Naga traditions as we all are aware, the land that belong to a village or individuals are counted only when it was cultivated or physically occupied by the person or the village and not by imagination or suppositions that all the adjoining lands belong them. If any tribe justified the claim of the whole surface of the lands as much as their eyes could reach, then some tribes of the Nagas who settled lately after the earlier settlers would not have found the present places, for the reason that those lands are cocksure to have been seen by the earlier settlers and on the basis of seen, those lands would have been claimed by the earlier settler. It is to be understood that what is not yours in the past can not be yours today, because of the fact that it is not yours, so the more you try to rewrite the story, the further you push yourself to the trouble water, but the result will remain the same. However you wish to expand your areas, it can never be practical, for you can never achieve the same as you wish, because all those wishful thinkings are vanity. Remember that one can never undo the past happenings or bring back the past events to make it a present or the future events. It is truly a fact that during the British rule, there were uninhabited areas lying in between the 1925 boundary line Rangapahar Reserved Forest, Kachari settlers and Intanki Reserved Forest on one hand, and the areas inhabited by the Angami and Kacha Nagas on the other.Sir J.H.Hutton the then DC Naga Hills expressed his desired that the uninhabited land be inhabited by any tribes of the Nagas and accordingly invited the Naga tribes to occupy the said land. But no tribe came out to risk the life to establish the village, for the reasons that in those days all the wild animals, insects including the natural environments were not favorable for human being to live in those dense forests. It was only a group of Sumis led by one "Lhoudelie D.B (as a loyal government servant) on duty led the Sumis to the uninhabited land and establish a village "SHOXUVI" in 1926 which was designated as the "Western Sema Block". This position had been reaffirmed in po1.case NO.1 of 1953 which is reproduced here as under:
The present "SHOXUVI" village was started some time in 1926 under the orders of the then Deputy Commissioner Naga Hills. The region falling between the two rivers of Khova on the east and Langland on the West is generally known as the "Western Sema Region" and settlement in this region was granted to the Semas on the explicit understanding that the entire land was Government's.The river Khova should continue to be boundary lines between the two villages of Chumukedima and the present Shoxuvi village. The survey of India toposheets, published under the direction of Colonel C.H.D.Ryder, C.J.E in 1922 clearly proved that the entire land was uninhabited by human beings. And it is given to understand that the mentioned portion of the land and its adjoining areas were Government's vacant land. Therefore,however Zeliangs or Zeliangrongs claimed that the land in question belong to them for the given name as "INT ANKI" or else, those lands are adjoining to the Zeliangrong domains are all wishful thinking and suppositions. The establishment of Sumi villages within the "Western Sema Block" is not the gift of the present successive state government, but it was given by the then British administration and therefore the present state government in cognizance of the then British administration recognized those Sumi villages. As already mentioned above, during the British time, there were only two ELAKHAS, Kohima and Mokokchung for the whole Nagas and as there were, Sumis under Kohima ELAKHA, on invitation extended to all the Nagas by the the D.C Naga Hills to inhabit or establshed the village, the Sumis who were living under Kohima ELAKHA responded to the call and established the villages as such. Therefore, however numeral villages established by the Sumis within the said permitted land should not be jealous by any tribe or individuals.
Last, but not the least, it is learnt from the reliable sources that the NSCN(IM) has resolved to evict "INA VI" village, presuming that the said village was established without valid permit. The present "INAVI" village which is adjacent to the INTANKI Forest is not the intend of Sumis or for that matter Inavi villagers to encroach the government's Reserved Forest, but because of being in possession of government's permit for establishment of the village. Therefore, Western Sumi Hoho is of the opinion and make it clear to one and all that, if at all the so called land exchanged village "BEISUMPUIKAM'''' is evicted by the Govt. we shall not hesitate to let our people living at Inavi village to vacate the place. But if the state Government or GPRN,NSCN (IM) intend to evict INAVI village alone, where so many Naga tribes are inhabiting, Western Sumi Hoho shall at all cost protect the said established village. We shall also stick to the ground that the land in question belong to the SAKARI (the state govt.)but not to accept that it belong to any particular tribe on suppositions. We once again make it clear to NSCN(IM) organization in particular that, in the event of the decision taken on Sept 22,2007 by the cabinet council is implemented to evict INAVI village without evicting the so called "BEISUMPUIKAM" we shall resist to the extent of physical confrontations and shall not bear the responsibility of the unwanted situation. The so called 'BEISUMPUIKAM' Village which is said to be the exchanged land are all farce and concocted stories by the Zeliangs according to the legal records available. The then D.C Kohima Mr.S.Lima Aier in his judgement order NO.JUD/Pol-41/85, clearly stated that the so called "BEISUMPUIKAM" village was established within the "LILEN" village (KUKI'S land) and therefore evicted. But later on, the said village in connivance with some Forest Department officials and politicians of Zeliangs through the back door allowed "BEISUMPUIKAM" to establish the village as such, on the pretext of land exchange.!t may be noted that the so called land exchanged is not yet legalized according to the official documents. Besides BEISUMPUIKAM, one can vividly recalls the existence of Zeliangs living in and around the then "HENIMA” now called it "TENING".Whether it be "INTANKI" or its adjacents,it was under Assam province of British administration and transfered to the state and not to the tribe or individuals.Basing on all these evidences, we claimed that those land in question can not be any tribe's nor individuals, but it belong to all the Nagas under the state Government and not as claimed by so called ZELIANGRONG.
Shikuto Zalipu,President Western Sumi Kukami Hoho
Hokiye Yeptho,President Western Sumi Hoho
