Meluri, September 27 (MExN): The Pochury Students’ Union (PSU) on Sunday extended its “categorical and unreserved endorsement” to the Naga Students’ Federation’s (NSF) representations over the security and administrative situation at Avakhung village in Meluri district, demanding relocation of security establishments from civilian areas and unhindered healthcare access for residents.
The PSU President Rongley Leyri and General Secretary Tsiarhotho Thsangkhure in a statement said the concerns raised by the NSF regarding civil liberties, community welfare and rule of law “warrant immediate executive and administrative address.”
The students’ body referred to an incident on September 19 in which an NSF goodwill delegation, travelling for a scheduled cultural exchange programme with the Naga Students’ Organisation (NSO), was allegedly obstructed, with the concerned Company Commander subsequently refusing them a procedural audience.
“Such actions undermine institutional goodwill and impede constructive dialogue between civil society leadership and security establishments,” the PSU said, alleging the episode was “a serious departure from administrative decorum and civil-military coordination.”
Reiterating the NSF’s representations, the PSU made a set of demands, including the immediate decommissioning or relocation of the Avakhung Check Gate from the village and the withdrawal of the Assam Rifles outpost from civilian habitation zones “to preserve the sanctity of civic spaces and mitigate public distress.”
The union also raised concerns over reports of delays faced by patients travelling to dispensaries and regional health facilities, calling for the “uninterrupted passage of patients and emergency medical transport” to be guaranteed unconditionally.
It further alleged domiciliary visits, interrogation of residents by personnel in plainclothes, and “arbitrary surveillance” of the local population, saying these practices ran counter to established norms of civil governance and that residents’ fundamental rights and privacy “must be scrupulously protected.”
On the economic front, the PSU said obstruction of agricultural produce, essential commodities and lawful commercial transit in the border areas must stop immediately to prevent hardship among vulnerable border populations, which it said depend fundamentally on agrarian trade and local supply chains.
The union additionally sought transparency on the legal authority under which security forces were occupying or controlling public infrastructure, specifically citing facilities belonging to the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the state departments of Health and Family Welfare, Industries and Commerce, and Transport. It said all security dispositions in Nagaland “must operate strictly within the bounds of statutory law” and in coordination with civil authorities and the state government.
“The Naga populace possesses an inherent, legitimate entitlement to peaceable existence, unhindered livelihood activities, timely medical assistance, and the preservation of historic cultural and socio-familial linkages across their ancestral domain,” it said.
The PSU called upon the Ministry of Defence, the Government of India and the Government of Nagaland to take cognizance of the “democratic and lawful representations” and institute immediate remedial measures, asserting that “constitutional propriety and the primacy of civilian welfare” must remain paramount.
