Dimapur, January 24 (MExN): Students’ organizations of the Kyong community today warned of serious consequences if the government of Nagaland continues to remain tepid to the presence of All Adivasi National Liberation Army (ANLA) militants at an area belonging to Kyong villages in Wokha district on the Assam-Nagaland border.
The organizations have warned that the Kyong Naga people would be forced to confront the ‘Adivasi elements’ if the state government does not act to find more diplomatic solutions.
Leaders of the apex Kyong Students’ Union and Ralan Area Students’ Union told a press conference today that the militant outfit from Assam has set up a cam near Ralan sub-division and there are profound apprehensions that the camp area, belonging to Ralan, would be used as a “designated camp” and a rehabilitation camp for the militants. The ‘camp’ of the militant group is said to be so deep inside the Kyong villages’ territory that from the Assam border one has to pass through at least 3 Kyong Naga villages to reach the camp.
The ANLA surrendered today to the Assam government today.
Leaders of the KSU and RASU told Media persons in Dimapur today that the Kyong community is not against peace talks or bilateral agreements of the government of Assam with militants groups in Assam. ‘We are against slicing off Kyong land to rehabilitate the ANLA and Adivasi militants,’ KSU chief Subenthung Kithan told journalists.
The students’ leaders expressed anger that the government of Nagaland continues to neglect the Naga populations living on the Assam-Nagaland border and that the latest development is an instance. The KSU said that the government is till “keeping quiet” even when the activities of the militant group was detected in September 2011 and representations seeking action have been made to the state in this regard.
The students’ leaders said that ANLA cadres at the camp near Ralan on land belonging to Kyong villages are actually laborers who work on tea plantations for Kyong villages and generally comprise of tribal people from Assam district such as Uriamgath and Bokajan, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand states, “mias” (Muslim immigrants) and illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. In fact the Assam government appears to be encouraging illegal Bangladeshi immigrants to settle in the areas bordering the Naga villages, the KSU leader said. “They are all laborers who work for the Naga villages and joined the ANLA,” one of the students leaders informed.
“We will not allow any elements to encroach on our ancestral land. Today it is Wokha; tomorrow it would be Mokokchung (and so on). If the state government does not respond we would be forced to shut down entire Wokha district (to get the attention of the government),” Kithan said.
The students’ leader expressed apprehension that the ANLA’s ‘training camp’ would be turned into a rehabilitation camp for the militant group which was reported to have surrendered to the Assam government today. It was informed that the activities of the militants and the training camp near Ralan were detected recently. ‘The ANLA even move about openly with bows and arrows, monitoring the area during day time,’ the students’ leaders said. ‘They are now claiming the camp area as theirs.’
The students also denounced the Central reserve Police Force (CRPF) at the border for ‘patronizing’ the Adivasi settlers and illegal immigrants. Even in the past, the CRPF at the Assam-Nagaland border has been accused of human rights violations by Naga villagers. The students’ leaders said demanded that the government of Nagaland take heed before the situation goes into the hands of the people.
