Kezoltsa-Dzükou dispute: NTC flays Nagaland government’s ‘silence, inaction’

Dimapur, Jan. 3 (EMN): The Nagaland Tribes Council (NTC) has called out the Nagaland government for its “silence” and “inaction” on the tussle between the Southern Angami Public Organisation (SAPO) and Mao Council over the Kezoltsa and Dzükou area land dispute.

In a press statement on Tuesday, NTC stated that the Manipur government had established an outpost of armed police to monitor the area but the Nagaland government “is yet to genuinely ponder on the issue in question”.

It said the state government had not enforced any “protective mechanism” for safety and security of its citizens but ‘unreservedly allowed the counterpart to exercise its one-sided administrative authority’. “Rather, the Nagaland state government so far has only shifted all its responsibilities to the NGOs without any administrative authority,” it said. 

NTC acknowledged that the land dispute is between two Naga communities; however one community is from Nagaland and the other Manipur.

“This being the case, whatever may be the dimension of the dispute it certainly falls within the ambit of the inter-state boundary issue.  Nagaland border problems are that of Constitutional and political issues which needs to be addressed through Article 3 and 4 of the Constitution of India where the chief arbiter is the GoI.

“It is high time that the state government of Nagaland seizing the legal authority into confidence based on the traditional and ancestral land, responsively and conscientiously takes up the inter-state boundary and strive to settle the issue with the counterpart Manipur state government through the arbitration of GoI,” read the statement. 

The NTC further urged the state government to no longer “timidly take shelter behind NGO(s)” but “whole heartedly uphold the claims of SAPO in Kezoltsa and Dzükou areas and practically protect it from any form of encroachment from the neighbouring state”.

It said the state government must ask its counterpart to immediately withdraw the already established armed police post if Nagaland cannot similarly set up an armed police post in the disputed areas.

“Nagaland is a state and there cannot be any state or country without any demarcated boundary. Land is a creation of God and even an inch cannot be created by any human being. In fact the boundary of any state is mostly based on traditional and ancestral land. Although the aspiration of Naga integration is respected at all times, the people of Nagaland cannot sacrifice any area of land that belonged to their communities ancestrally, traditionally and historically,” it added.