JACAS flays RNPC’s statement on the Karbis

Our Correspondent
Dimapur, July 5 (EMN): The Joint Action Committee for Autonomous State (Jacas) in a press release issued by its Vice Chairman Stalyn Ingti and General Secretary Roshan Teron on Monday denounced Rengma Naga People Conference’s (RNPC) statement on the Karbis.

The press statement said, “Rengma Naga People Conference (RNPC), in a statement issued to the press has made a serious misrepresentation that the Karbis ‘…entered the Rengma Naga country which in present day is known as Karbi Anglong…’ The Karbis predominantly inhabit their own territory, i.e. in Karbi Anglong, previously Mikir Hills, from time immemorial. The statement, therefore, ‘is baseless, totally false and racially motivated’. It seems, the RNPC has been induced by certain vested interest groups to act as an instrument in propagating the deep-rooted prejudice against the Karbis. The statement is a very plausible piece of disinformation. The RNPC should desist itself from indulging in such misinformation campaign”.

‘Barring conflict engineered by certain external forces, the Karbis and the Rengmas have been living together in peace and brotherhood. It is true that the Karbis have no written historical record of their own but at the same time, it is also true that almost all the major races of the North-East Areas, including the Nagas have no written historical records of their own. For safeguarding the rights, interest and identities of all the indigenous hill tribes proper of Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao, we have been demanding for creation of an Autonomous State, at the least, as provided under Article 244-A of the Constitution. Therefore, all the indigenous hill tribes proper, including the Rengma Nagas, should remain united. The RNPC, therefore, should not try to create tension to sever the age-old Karbi-Rengma brotherhood,’it read.