DIMAPUR, JUNE 17 (MExN): Against the backdrop of the exodus of many Rengma Nagas from the Karbi Angiong district in Assam due to threat and persecution at the hands of the Karbi Peoples’ Liberation Tigers (KPLT), Chief Minister of Nagaland Neiphiu Rio has written separate letters to Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, expressing serious concerns.
Rio in his letters mentioned how hundreds of Nagas from more than 200 households had fled their villages, following summons to the village GBs, pastors and public leaders, and an ultimatum was served on them by KPLT to leave their villages, or face the consequences.
“The people of Nagaland, as well as the State Government are seriously concerned at the turn of events in Karbi Anglong District of Assam, bordering Nagaland”, stated Rio to the Union Home Minister and sought urgent intervention from the Government of India to see that justice is done to the Rengma Nagas living in Assam. Rio told Shinde that the Rengma Nagas should be given immediate relief and rehabilitation, and be allowed to settle in peaceful existence in their ancestral land.
Rio further stated in his letter to Shinde that this exodus of Rengma Nagas from Karbi Anglong district can have serious repercussions on the relationship between Assam and Nagaland, unless it is handled with the seriousness and the urgency that it deserves. Rio informed the Union Home Minister that neither the Government of Assam nor the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council have done anything to reverse the exodus, or to give the much needed relief and security to those who had fled from their villages.
In both the letters, Rio placed on record that the Western Rengma Nagas have been living in the present Karbi Anglong District since time immemorial, and that they are the “true indigenous sons of the soil”. The areas now occupied by them had formed part of the Naga Hills District created in 1867. The Rengma Reserve Forest (where they live) was also created as part of the Naga Hills District Reserve Forests, vide notification No. 5 dated 13,04.1887, Rio informed.
“As you are aware, the British rulers in India had made inter- district, inter-state and even inter-national boundaries at their whims purely to suit their administration, without any regard to the ethnic lands, or ethnic boundaries. Thus, the Rengma Nagas of Assam have become unwitting victims of that historical wrong, and they need to be dealt with sympathetically, and with an understanding and accommodating heart”, Rio stated in his letters.
Meanwhile, terming it as disturbing that neither the Government of Assam nor the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council has provided any relief materials or protection to the displaced Nagas, Rio in his letter to the Assam CM requested for the urgent intervention of the Government of Assam to provide relief and security to the displaced Rengma Nagas. He also urged the Assam government to take steps for their rehabilitation and ensure their peaceful existence in their native land and villages.
“Therefore, in the interest of harmonious co-existence and good neighbourly relations, which we have been trying hard to foster all these years, I would request the urgent intervention of the Government of Assam to provide relief and security to the displaced Rengma Nagas, and also take steps for their rehabilitation and peaceful existence in their native land and villages”, Rio stated.
