Announces consultation, cross-examination of landowners
Phek, May 5 (MExN): The Kuzha Tephe Public Organization (KTPO) has vehemently proposed installation of a Radar System by the Indian Air Force at Pfutsero, Phek District, viewing it as a grave assault on the ecological sanctity, local livelihoods, and constitutional safeguards under Article 371A of the Constitution of India.
The organization said the “ill-conceived project” poses irreversible environmental devastation, threatening the pristine biodiversity of the highlands, disrupting fragile ecosystems, contaminating vital water sources, and endangering wildlife habitats that sustain the indigenous way of life.
“Local communities, deeply rooted in these lands for generations, express profound alarm over the long-term ecological fallout, including deforestation, soil erosion, and atmospheric pollution from high-frequency emissions impacts that will scar the territory for decades,” the KTPO said in a statement issued by President Kedoutso Thahu and Press Secretary Elika Mero.
The KTPO also condemned opaque land transactions that have facilitated this intrusion without the consent of the public, demanding transparency on the process by which certain landowners purportedly sold land to the IAF. It asserted that such transactions flout the inviolable protections under Article 371A, which mandates that no Naga land can be alienated without the explicit consent of the district council and competent authority.
“Any circumvention of these land rights represents a direct infringement on the Customary Laws, Naga self determination and autonomy,” the organization said.
In “resolute defense of the people’s rights”, the KTPO announced an urgent consultation and cross-examination with the involved landowners to scrutinize the legitimacy of the sales and expose any procedural violations and “rally the communities to reclaim what is rightfully theirs.” It called upon all Nagas, civil society, and right-thinking citizens to unite against the encroachment, “upholding the spirit of Article 371A as the bulwark of our sovereignty.”
“The KTPO remains committed to non-violent resistance and constitutional advocacy, ensuring Pfutsero remains an example, free from militaristic impositions,” it asserted.
