Uneasy calm as Assam-Nagaland border row reignites

Our Correspondent
Mokokchung, Nov. 20 (EMN): Simmering tension has enveloped the Assam-Nagaland border belt even as the economic blockade imposed against Nagaland on the Mariani-Mokokchung road at New Sonowal, Assam, continued on Friday.

Since November 15, Assam-based organisations, including the All Tai Ahom Students’ Union, have imposed an indefinite economic blockade on Nagaland.

Interacting with journalists on Friday, the deputy commissioner of Mokokchung, Limawabang Jamir, said that the tension surfaced when a quarantine centre for police personnel as well as public was constructed away from human habitation at Aosenden jurisdiction, under Tzurangkong range in Mokokchung district, recently.

He added that construction works for the quarantine centre have been halted for weeks now.

However, eyewitnesses have claimed that security personnel from Assam have set up a temporary camp near the construction site.

On Friday, youth volunteers under the banner of Tzurangkong Range Naga Youth Front (TRNYF) ‘paid a solidarity visit’ to Tzutapela inter-state check gate and Aosenden village, and interacted with the locals there.

The secretary of TRNYF, Shiluyongdang, informed that the volunteers and officials of the youth front interacted with Aosenden village council, the Additional SP of Mokokchung and the border magistrate of Merangmen.

The youth front ‘took stock of the prevailing situation at the border belt and shared solidarity with the people,’ he said.

Also, in a statement, the TRNYF had asserted that the Tsurangkong range in Mokokchung district is ‘our ancestral land and the traditional boundary cannot be altered in any manner’.

It also stated that the prevailing situation at Aosenden village should not be construed as a border issue or dispute between Nagaland and Assam ‘as it has been our land since time immemorial’.

In this connection, the youth front reiterated that “we will not agree to any decision which is detrimental to our ancestral right”.

The TRNYF further declared that it would take its own course of action to protect and safeguard the ancestral land of the Nagas.

It warned that the state government of Assam would be held responsible for any untoward incidents that may arise in ‘our fight against the illegal blockade’.

It may be mentioned that on November 19, the TRNYF had submitted a memorandum to the state governments of Nagaland and Assam to clear the illegal highway blockade and resolve the boundary issue at the earliest.

‘Govt. trying to resolve’

Meanwhile, the Mokokchung DC informed that the government of Nagaland has ‘taken up’ the issue of economic blockade imposed on Nagaland at New Sonowal in Assam.

According to Jamir, the state government is ‘very serious about this matter and is trying to find an amicable solution’.

In this regard, he has urged the people living in the border belt to avoid direct confrontation or resort to violence, which may further escalate the tension between the two neighbours.

He further appealed to the people of Mokokchung, especially those living in the Tzurang valley, to co-operate with the state government to resolve the issue in a peaceful way.

Further, Jamir informed that he has written a letter to his Jorhat counterpart, explaining that if the economic blockade continues, it may lead to law and order situation.

He said that the Jorhat DC has been urged to intervene at the earliest before the situation worsens.

“I am waiting for the feedback from my counterpart,” the DC said.

When queried about the memorandum submitted by the TRNYF, he replied that the letter has been forwarded to higher authorities.

The DC added that he has requested the higher-ups to give directives at the earliest to help ease the tension.