Nagaland-Assam Border Dispute

A Historical Perspective: (Compiled By Committee of Border Affairs of Nagaland) Reproduced by Media Cell, UNTABA [dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Nagland-Assam boundary problem is basically a case for the return of the forest and other areas, the ownership oof which lies with the Nagas but transferred and included within the neighbouring districts of Assam by the then British Government of India solely for the purpose of their administrative convenience. Froma the standpoint of the people of Nagaland, the case is merely restoration to the Naga people of those Naga territory transferred out of the erstwhile Naga Hills district. The transfer of Naga territories stemmed from: i). The unholy hasty decision for indiscriminate encroachment for expansion of tea gardens; ii). To provide a buffer zone between the garden and the then administered Naga areas; and iii). To convert the forests owned by Nagas into Reserved forests for extraction and exploitation of valuable species of timber available in the areas. Even when Naga Hills District(now Nagaland) was a part of Assam, the Naga people became very apprehensive when the British Assam Government started to settle people in the forests belonging to the Nagas. They had then asked for the restoration of the forests and other areas which were transferred out of Naga Hills to other adjoining Districts of Assam.Before the advent of the British Government, prior to 1826, the Ahom people and the Nagas were independent of each other and there was a clear-cut political boundary between the two. The known history of Naga relationship with the Ahoms starting from early thirteenth century AD was maintained through a confederation mainly for the purpose of trade. To stop occasional territorial encroachment from both sides, permanent embankment known as the Ladoigarh, Naga-bunds and the Dhodar ali were raised on the ground as a boundary line between the Ahoms and the Nagas bordering the present Lakhimpur and Sibsagar Districts. The fact that these embankments were the boundary between the Ahoms and the Nagas are supported by records some of which are reproduced herein: ***” “….. The Naga territory was never considered as integral portion of the sovereignty of Assam…” A Sketch of Assam-1847 – J. Butler, page-152. *** “ ….. The hilly track inhabited by the various tribes known to us collectively as Nagas had never been subjugated by the Ahoms and it was no part of the British policy to absorb it..”. History of Assam, Edward Gaite, page-336. *** “ …. The Mouzadar who appeared before me states the boundary marks are on the Ladoigarh – the road (Ladoigarh) referred to, however, is certainly regarded by the Nagas as their boundary; and we have never yet to their knowledge claimed any other, the grant of land for tea cultivation to the south of it( the Ladoigarh) is a step much to be regretted; and on political grounds, Government, I think, might interdict cultivation being commenced on these estates to the south side of the road still lying fallow either wholly or in part. For that matter I should suppose there can be little doubt that on grounds of public policy Government might even go a step further and cancel these grants. Of course no fresh grant will be given in the direction referred to, and enquiry shall be instituted in regard to the circumstances under which the revenue survey has carried on operations to the south of the Ladoigarh….” From Lt. Col. W. Agnew, Offg. Commissioner of Assam to the Secy. to Govt. of Bengal, Judicial Deptt. No. 185, Dt. Guwahati 10th. June 1869. *** “…….On consideration of all the circumstances the Lt. Governor thinks it right to make the prohibition to grant fresh land south of the Ladoigarh road permanent….” From A. Eden, Secy. to Govt. of Bengal, Judicial Deptt., Offg. Commissioner, No. 530T, Dated Fort William, the 30th. Sept. 1869. *** “….. It appears that the Ladoigarh line is assumed by the Nagas to be the boundary and that the propriety of the claim seems to be in some measure admitted by the local Officers who regret that some grants have been made beyond the line; and the late Lt. Governor accordingly prohibited any fresh grants beyond the line…..” No. 2733, Dated Fort William, 19th. June 1871 from H. L. Harrison, Offg. Junior Secy. to Govt. of Bengal to the Commissioner of Assam. *** “…….The line already demarcated would never do for an innerline for that no better selection could be made than Revenue boundary…..: Fr. Dy. Commissioner, Sibsagar to the Secy. to the Chief Commissioner of Assam, No. 4, Dated 6th. May 1874. *** “ …..As a boundary, the Ladoigarh is better than any natural boundary which could be selected nearer to area in the hills……” Letter. No. 142, Dated Shillong, 20th. May, 1874 from Chief Comm. Assam to Secy. to Govt. of India, Foreign Deptt. *** “…..On this point(Ladoigarh as a natural boundary) I am to state that His Excellency in Council considers the view expressed by you to be quite correct….”. Letter. No. 186R, Dated Fort William, 4th. August 1874 from Govt. of India to Chief Comm. Assam. NAGA HILLS BOUNDARY UNDER BRITISH RULE: The Burmese invaded Assam early in the nineteenth century but they were driven out with the help of the British in 1826 and the Britisher took over the administration of Assam in eighteen thirties. During this period, the Nagas continuously raided the plains of Assam mainly for the purpose of head hunting, and in order to protect the British territory, the Britishers, having failed to appease the Nagas by following a policy of non-interference had to take over the Naga territory gradually. At first the Naga area was constituted into a Sub-division under Nowgong District in 1852 to look after the then Naga administered areas with Asaloo as the Sub-divisional headquarter. When British rule was further extended into the Naga territory, it became necessary to carve out a Naga district separated from the plain districts of Assam. The first Naga Hills District was then formed in 1866. The first boundary of the then Naga Hills District was notified in 1867 with Samagooting (now Chumukedima) as first District Headquarter. This notification was issued in 1875 (Notification No. 89, No. 3386P, dated Fort William, 24th. Dec. 1875). After the Naga Hills District headquarter was transferred from Asaloo to Samagooting, the area around Asaloo, which was inhabited by the Zeme Nagas (Aroong Nagas) and the Kacharies became too far for effective administrative supervision from Samagooting, and so a new Sub-division known as North Kachar Hills Sub-division was formed in 1870 and placed under Kachar District. This was the first Naga territory transferred out from Naga Hills to a district in Assam. This area in known as North Kachar Hills District at present inhabited by Zeme Nagas and the Kacharies and few Kuki villages. Aroong Nagas (this tribe is variously called Aroong Nagas, Kutcha or Zeme Nagas) is a branch of the Kutcha Nagas of the Naga Hills, speaking the same language, their blood relations spreading from the villages of Manipur and Naga Hills through to the border of Jaintia country to Jowai Sub-division. Though Asaloo in the country of Zeme Nagas, a major tribe of the Nagas became the first administrative headquarter for the whole of Naga territory so as to suit the administrative convenience of the foreign rulers, the tribe was apportioned to different administrations, namely; Nagaland, Assam and Manipur reducing the status of this tribe into a minority in each of the states. The following extracts from the Government proceedings reproduced herein shows the background of the case: *** “……..Col. Houghton’s opinion after visiting Asaloo and examining the Naga Frontier was that it would be of no advantage even if it were practicable to locate an officer on the Frontier of the Naga country and that no compromise was possible short of asserting our sovereignty over the whole of the Naga tribes not included within Manipur or Burma, and gradually to bring them to order, I hazarded a doubt which it would be less creditable to abandon it than to maintain a more nominal control, which offered scarcely any protection to life and property within it, though it was sufficient to saddle us with the responsibility for such protection. I should more particularly define the tract I had in view and to which this report specially relates.” No. 394, dated 20th. Oct. 1865 from Lt. Col. H. Hompinson, Agent to the Governor General, N. E. Frontier and Commissioner of Assam to the Govt. of Bengal. *** “…..North Kachar then is normally held to be a Sub-division of the Nowgong District in Assam, and is bounded on the north by the river Jumoona and the hill country of the Meekirs and the Rengma Nagas; on the south by the Burail mountains and the south Kachar District, on the east by the Kutcha and Angami Nagas; and on the west by the Kapoli and Ompong rivers and the Cosyah and Jynteah Hills territory. I would instruct Lieutenant Gregory to proceed early in the ensuing cold weather to Samagooting, an Angami village once occupied by us.” We would thus advance our position steadily from one village to another, making some of our ground as we went.” Para No. 14 of Letter No. 3525, dt. Fort William, 1st. June 1865 from Hon’ble A. Eden, Secy. of Bengal, Judicial Deptt. to the Commissioner of Assam. *** “….The Lt. Governor therefore, desires entirely to support the recommendation contained in paragraphs 30-44 of the Colonel Hopkinson’s letter and proposes to direct Lt. Gregory to remove his headquarter from Asaloo to Samagooting, to abolish Asaloo as Sub-division”. No. 30T, Dt. 26th. January 1866 from H. A. Eden, Secy. to Govt. of Bengal to the Secy. to the Govt. of India, Foreign Deptt. *** “…..Holding these views, His Excellency in Council accepts the plan recommended by the Lt. Governor and authorities effects being given as soon as the season may permit, to all the agreements specified in para 39-44 of Col. Hopkinson’s report.” No. 538, Dt. Simla, 8th. June 1866 from Hon. W. Muir, Secy. to the Govt. of India, Foreign Deptt. to the Govt. of Bengal. *** “……I have now to give some account of a group of tribes inhabiting part of the mountain system which lies to the south of the Assam valley tribes many in number and differing in characteristics but which extended under the generic name of Naga from the Bori Dehing river and Singpho country of Lakhimpur west to the Kopli river in Nowgong and south to the confines of Manipur and Kachar”. Alexander Mackenzie, pp. 77. *** “…… I may here explain that the total area of all ‘Nagaland’ theoretically under the political control of our Government is about 8,500 Sq. miles and I had roughly estimated the population in that areas to be at least 300,000 souls.” Routh note on Angami Naga by John Butler J. A. S. Vol. ILIV No. 4, 1875 pp. 307. Broadly speaking, the Naga territory under the occupation of Assam today falls under two categories: 1. From the north-eastern Naga area bordering Tirap district of Arunachal Pradesh to the Lakhimpur and Sibsagar district of Assam. 2. Naga areas transferred out from old Naga Hills district to Nowgong, Sibsagar and Kachar districts from time to time relating to the south in south-western Naga areas falling into Sibsagar, Karbi Anglong districts (Mikir Hills) and North Kachar Districts. Initially the Britishers recognized the traditional boundary of the Ahoms and the Nagas as the political boundary; but later on when the British Government set a firm footing in Assam and particularly after the Assam Bengal Railway was constructed in and around 1899 for their own administrative convenience, big areas of Naga territory were transferred to the adjoining districts of Assam in 1898, 1901, 1902/03 and 1923. All these transfers were done without the knowledge and much less with the consent of the Naga people. Opening up of large numbers of tea gardens within the Naga territory required shifting the ‘Inner Line’ deeper inside Naga Hills to exclude the garden so opened from Naha Hill District and transferred to the adjoining districts of Assam as indicated in the following documents: *** “ …..The rapid extension of tea cultivation along this frontier gave rise to considerable correspondence between 1869 and 1873. The limit of the revenue jurisdiction of Lakhimpore and Sibsagar to the south was, as above notified, the old frontier road called the Dhodor Allee and Ladoigarh road., Although the Government claimed as British territory, the whole country up to the boundaries of Manipur and Burma, it had hitherto treated the Nagas tract as outside Assam for all civil purposes. The tea planters had long since in many places, both in Lakhimpore and Sibsagar, taken up lands south of the revenue line, in some instances paying revenue to us, and in other to the Naga Chiefs. The earlier settlers found it to their interest to conciliate the Nagas, and troubled themselves little about Government protection. But now the fashion claiming police assistance in every little difficulty came into vogue, and the Government had to consider what course it should adopt. The question acquired prominence from a quarrel between a planter and some Changnoi Nagas in Lakhimpore early in 1871, which led to serious apprehension of naga raids.” At length in 1872, the occurrence of a massacre of Borlangia, Nagas perpetrated by Kamsingias with two miles of a tea garden showed that measures for defining clearly the limits of Naga territory towards the plains could no longer be deferred. Under the provisions of the Inner Line Regulation already described, such a boundary was accordingly laid down, compensation being paid to the Nagas for the area occupied by these tea gardens which lay beyond the Inner Line.” Alexander Mackenzie, pp. 98-99. *** “…At present the greater part of the Rengma Mikir Hills and the whole of the Nambor Forest reserve are included within the jurisdiction of the Naga Hills district, and this arrangement was convenient so long as the headquarter of the district were at Samaguting, but it has become very embarrassing since the transfer of the headquater to Kohima. Proposals were accordingly made some years ago to exclude this territory from the Naga Hills District, but they were allowed to remain in abeyance pending the extension of the Assam Bengal Railway to this locality. The Railway is now approaching completion, and the necessity of exercising large gangs of coolies employed on construction works was brought prominently to notice during the last cold weather. Encouragement had also been offered to the extension of tea cultivation in the Nambor Forest along the site of the Railway and if practical effect is to be given to this policy it is necessary that this tract of the country should be transferred to districts in which the labour and Emigration Act and other laws and regulations affecting labour and the tea industry are in force. It is with regard to these consideration that the proposals which were submitted by Mr. Davis in 1891 (vide correspondence ending with Mr. Wace’s letter No. 28118B dated the 28th. Nov. 1891) have now been renewed by the present Deputy Commissioner, Captain Woods, practically without any modification.” Proposal of Mr. Davis, 1891. *** “….Experience has shown that although these tracts could be conveniently administered from Samaguting, it has been impossible to exercise an efficient control over them since the transfer of the headquarter to Kohima…..At present there is work and important work to be done by an Executive Officer along the railway lines but when the railway is completed, this work will cease and nothing will remain but the disposal of ordinary cases of railway jurisdiction and it is, therefore, to meet present rather than future requirements that Mr. Cotton is anxious that early arrangements should be made.” No. 822 Rev. R. 5648. Chief Commissioner of Assam to Comm. Of Assam Valley. *** “….This proposal would leave jurisdiction over the Assam-Bengal Railway line from Lunka via Lumding upto (but not including) Dimapur in the Nowgong District. It would add to Nowgong a further portion of the Mikir Hills and large tract of level and undulating plain country……any question connected with the extension of tea cultivation could be as easily disposed of from Nowgong as from Golaghat.” Letter from Chief Commissioner of Assam Valley, No. 432, Rev. R. 367 dated Shillong, 3rd. August 1898. *** “……The Chief Commissioner recognized that there would be some advantage in transferring the whole area to the Golaghat Sub-division of Sibsagar…… It is in this direction that the Chief Commissioner anticipates the earliest development of the schemes of colonization and extension of cultivation which he has submitted to the Government of India. For these reasons the Chief Commissioner thinks it will be better to adhere to redistribution proposed by Mr. Davis and Captain Woods.” No. 822 Rev. R. 5648, dt. Shillong, 9th. Dec. from the Offg. Secy. to the Chief Commissioner of Assam to the Offg. Commissioner of Assam Valley District. *** “…… The whole of the large reserved Nambor forest would be transferred to that Sub-division, and also the whole area of the Rengma Hills, which now lies within the Naga Hills District.” No. 432 Rev. R. from Offg. Secy. to the Chief Commissioner, Assam to Offg. Secy. to Comm. Of Assam. *** “……I am of opinion that the boundaries proposed by Mr. Davis are the best and cannot be improved upon taking into consideration the convenience of the people who inherit certain portions of the tracts. In addition to the land which Mr. Davis proposed to hand over to Sibsagar, with the permission of the Chief Commissioner, I now proposes to hand over another small portion of land belonging to the Ao Sub-division, which lies in the plain and is suitable for tea cultivation.” “….You will observe that it is further proposed by Captain Woods to transfer to the Sibsagar District a small tract of country in the Mokokchung Sub-division, which lies in the plains, and is suitable for tea cultivation. The Chief Commissioner is of opinion that this should be done.” Quote of A. E. Wood, ICS, D. C. Kohima, dt. 13th. May 1893. AREA TRANSFERRED OUT OF NAGA TERRITORY TO ASSAM AND NOW CLAIMED BY NAGAS. SECTOR ‘A’: (I) From the Teok river on the North-east Nagaland-Arunachal border to Tijit river (Tawkok) the old boundary between Assam and Naga boundary is clearly demarcated on the ground by ‘Ladaigurh’. The Konyak Nagas of Mon Sub-division are in physical occupation of the area since time immemorial. (II) From Tawkok (Tijit) to Dikhu river, the boundary is demarcated at most places on the ground by Ladaigarh and clearly supported by the southern revenue boundary pillars of Sibsagar District. Area : 31.31 Sq. miles (III) From Dikhu to Thanjee (Melak), the boundary between Assam and the then Naga Hills is demarcated on the ground by Ladaigarh and supported by the pillars of southern Revenue boundary of Sibsagar District. Area : 99.81 Sq. miles SECTOR ‘B’: (I) From Jhanjee to Desoi (Tsurang), the boundary is demarcated on the ground partly by Ladaigarh from Jhanjee to Gabruparbat and thence from Gabruparbat to Desoi river by Naga-bund/Naga-bat/Naga-path supported by the southern Revenue survey boundary pillars of Sibsagar District. Area : 51.20 Sq. miles (II) From Desoi crossing Kakodanga, Mukhurung and Geladari upto a point on the Doyang is demarcated on the ground by Naga-bund and following the down stream of Doyang river to the confluence of the Doyang and Dhansiri rivers. This line is already supported by the southern Revenue boundary pillars of Sibsagar District. Area : 535.68 Sq. miles SECTOR ‘C’: Under this sector the maximum Naga area was transferred out of Naga territory including the best forests. It covers the present eastern block of Mikir Hills District and part of North Kachar Hills District, starting from the confluence of the Dhansiri and Doyang and following the down stream of Dhansiri to the confluence of Dhansiri and Thorajan and from this point, following the old Naga Hills boundary line, as notified by the Naga Hills boundary Notification of 1875 until it reaches a village called Leike on the present Assam-Nagaland boundary. Even to this day the area is sparsely populated covered by thick forest. During the last 7/8 years, the Government of Assam has, however, deforested a big area of the Nambor/Doyang Reserve Forests and brought a considerable number of Kacharis, Mikir and others from other parts of the State and gave settlement in this area. In recent years a large number of Nepalis/Bangladesh nationals have also been given settlement. The new settlers in this area including the Mikirs who migrated to this region from other parts of the State admitted that the entire area belonged to the Rengma Nagas. All the tribal people now settlin g in the region namely the Rengmas, Mikirs also Garo and others are willing to join Nagaland and they have sent a representation to the Adviser Shri Sundaram and the Government of India to this effect. Area : 2825.76 Sq. miles SECTOR ‘D’: The present North Kachar Hills District is mainly inhabited by the Zeme Nagas and it forms a contiguous part of the present Nagaland State. Prior to 1866, the then Naga territories were administered from Asaloo, the headquarter of Sub-division of Nowgong district until the Naga Hills District was formed in the year 1866 with Samaguting as the new District headquarter of Naga Hills. In the year 1869 when the tribals of North Kachar Hills District were given option either to remain with Assam or with Meghalaya vide the Assam Reorganisation (Meghalaya) Act of 1969, Part-II, Section-III (2), the Zeme Nagas did not commit either to join with Meghalaya or to remain with Assam, but they had affirmed that they will remain with their blood relations in Nagaland. Area : 1430.40 Sq. miles The total area transferred out of Nagaland now claimed by Nagas: Area under Sector ‘A’ 131.12 Sq. miles Area under Sector ‘B’ 586.88 Sq. miles Area under Sector ‘C’ 2,825.76 Sq. miles Area under Sector ‘D’ 1,430.40 Sq. miles Total area claimed 4,974.16 Sq. miles. To be continued……………… Media Cell, United Naga Tribes Association of Border Areas (UNTABA)