DIMAPUR, DECEMBER 4 (MExN): The Western Sümi Youth Front (WSYF) today issued a rejoinder to the recent statement by the Zeliangrong Youth Organisation Nagaland (ZYON).
A press release from the WSYF said that the present “so-called declared disputed land was the old village of Vihuto which was established in the year 1983 to 1986 with a total number of 21 households.” During those days 3 people died of illness and the graveyard still lies there, but due to deplorable road connectivity and shortage of water, after 4 years they shifted their village to the present location on the highway, it said.
“In our Sumi traditional history, once a boundary demarcation is done by our father and forefathers, we cannot dismantle or cross-claim our rights which is considered forbidden and illegal,” it stated. The forum asked the ZYON to be “realistic and think of the harsh living conditions during those days when people had to survive without enough food for their family unlike you are living today.” The claim of ZYON about having a feast by the killing of the pig is totally baseless and cooked-up story, it claimed.
The WSYF further questioned the ZYON’s statement that ''Kiyevi village was given a shifting order in the year 1978 in exchange of land and the land will be a government reserved forest, likewise after Besimpui village approached the government, it was also given a shifting order in exchange of land in the year 1995 and the land will be a government reserved forest.''
“But under the pretext of that order, many new bogus villages were created by the Zeliang people, so, it is not a traditional ancestral land of the Zeliang people,” it questioned. “Our stand is very clear which is, we admit every truth of the past history, and so, why don't the ZYON admit the truth instead of twisting and mentioning only half-truth,” it stated.
Similar with ZYON’s claims, the WSYF recognized that the “British don't have even an inch of land, but before Indian independence every part of the history was ruled and was under the British regime, whatever decision, order was taken, given by them was final and binding.”
“So, the British created a ‘Western Sema Region’ in a no men's land which was a dense virgin forest of the government, and the Sumis were permitted to establish villages which, the high court had also given a clear judgement order.
Likewise even the Zeliang villages were also been permitted by the Britishers and so they cannot make a claim of it being their ancestral land,” the forum said.
“Every intellectual Nagas must clearly understand that, if any kind of eventuality occurs, the government shall be held solely responsible for being biased and not enforcing the issued order,” the WSYF stated.
It pointed out that the government had created districts and demarcated the boundaries between Dimapur, Peren and Chumukidema, and the “so called declared disputed areas by the government is clearly under the district of Chümukedima but instead of enforcing the administration circle accordingly to district boundaries, it had been kept under the administration circle of Peren district which is a biased order of the government.”
So, if the demarcated boundaries cannot be protected by the Chümukedima administration then the only option and demand of Sumi people is that every Sumi village must be shifted automatically to its original district of Dimapur and for which a very strong rally and indefinite bandhs will be called up in the entire Western Sumi region, the WSYF said.
