Peace accord to end armed struggle, usher in peace — Jacas

Our Correspondent
Diphu, June 23 (EMN): The Joint Action Committee for Autonomous State (Jacas) has reiterated that the peace accord to be signed was an exercise to end armed struggle and usher peace in Karbi Anglong, and would help Nagas be good neighbours rather than a hindrance.

A press release stated that ‘it was necessary for Jacas to issue a clarification to avoid misunderstanding between the Karbis and the Nagas, on the statements issued by the NSCN (IM) and Naga Hoho on the proposed peace accord between government of India, Government of Assam with KLNLF, the KPLT, the UPLA and the PDCK’.

It stated that ‘under Section 2.2 of the memorandum of settlement (MoS) signed between the United People’s Democratic Solidarity (UPDS), the Government of Assam and the Government of India on Oct. 25, 2011’, it had been agreed that the present Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) would be renamed as Karbi Anglong Autonomous Territorial Council (KAATC) for administrative restructuring and political empowerment.

It added, “The KAATC comprises the boundaries of the then Mikir Hills Autonomous District as defined by the Governor’s Notification No. TAD/R/31/50/151 dated 13th April, 1951. No fresh inclusion of areas therein by alienating areas from other territories has been proposed and agreed in the MoS”.

“Prior to the advent of the British rule in 1826, the major races of the present day North-East Areas had their respective territories and were independent. It was the British who annexed the territories. The Karbis, previously known by the xenonym ‘Mikir’, may be as feeble as the Nagas think, too ruled their territory themselves; and they still have their traditional territory that extends the entire Karbi Anglong and West Karbi Anglong, and parts of Dima Hasao and Nagaon. During the British rule, the Karbi territory was known and administered as Mikir Hills Tract by dividing it between Nowgong and Sibsagar districts for administrative convenience. Karbi Anglong is part of the larger Karbi Territory, as certain areas of the Mikir Hills Tract were excluded when the boundaries of the Mikir Hills Autonomous District were notified by the Governor’s Notification No. TAD/R/31/50/151 dated 13th April, 1951. By Government of Assam Notification No. TAD/R/115/74/47 dated 14th October, 1976, Mikir Hills was renamed Karbi Anglong, which literally means Karbi (Mikir) Hills. Therefore, the boundaries of Karbi Anglong (bifurcated in 2016) are well defined and valid. The Karbis did not occupy, have not occupied and will not occupy any territory belonging to any tribe. The Karbis are not expansionist by nature,” it read.

Contrary to the claim by the NSCN (IM) in a section of the press, it stated that ‘the Karbis are not immigrants from different places like Sivsagar, Nagaon, Cachar, Tezpur, Lakhimpur, Silchar and Khasi and Jaintia Hill, but they spread from their territory previously known as Mikir Hills Tract to those places and living there from time immemorial. Instead, the Rengma Nagas, “who are recent immigrants from the eastern side of the Dhansiri” (Edward Stack and Charles Lyall. The Mikirs, 1908, p.2), “migrated from the Kezami-Angami country … westward to the Mikir Hills” (J. P. Mills. The Rengma Nagas, 1937, pp. 2 &7 in the Introductory and The Lohta Nagas, 1922, pp. xiv & xxi in Introduction); but they have never been called and treated as ‘immigrants’ or ‘outsiders’ in Karbi Anglong. Barring conflict engineered by certain external forces, the Karbis and the Rengma have been living in peace and brotherhood in Karbi Anglong; both Karbi and Rengma elders still reminisce about their past. The age-old strong tie of Karbi-Rengma brotherhood can never be severed” (sic).

“Further, the various groups of Nagas of the present day Nagaland too migrated from Irrawaddy valley (Myanmar) crossing Indo-Myanmar border to “… Makhel (Dispersal site of Nagas) where all the Nagas were dispersed to various parts of Naga Hills” (‘Origin of The Nagas – A Study’ by Dr. R Xavier, Assistant Professor, Department of History, Loyola College, Chennai). If the Nagas can claim Nagaland as their “ancestral land”, the Karbis too have every legal and constitutional right to claim the entire territory of erstwhile Mikir Hills Tract as their ancestral land,” it stated.

“The Karbis have no animosity against the Nagas. As ‘Mikir’, the Karbis are one of the five tribes, including Naga, specified to be deemed to be Scheduled Tribes in relation to the State of Nagaland. There were Karbi villages in Dimapur; but now only few families have been left. The Naga Hoho, the NSCN (I-M) and above all the Nagaland Government, therefore, should first ensure protection of the rights, interest and identities of the remaining Karbis in Nagaland”.

“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 tribes of the North-East Areas, including the Nagas, too have no written historical records of their own. What we have are notes or/and monographs left by British officers. “History has been the history of warfare.” The warlike tribes engaged in warfare against the Ahom and the British were figured in the history of Assam. The Karbis have been mild and unwarlike. The Karbis, therefore, are not constrained to accept the NSCN (I-M)’s version of Karbi History”.

“Historically, Dimapur was the capital of Dimasa kingdom. Besides, there have been “Return Dimapur To Assam Demands’, as it is claimed that “Dimapur was leased to Naga Hills District in 1918 by erstwhile Assam Province of British India for 30 years for construction of railway lines”; and “In 1963, it was again leased to now State of Nagaland for 99 years.” To retrieve our past territories, therefore, would be destructive. We cannot and it won’t be wise to go centuries back to our past; instead, we should together move ahead from where we are at present for a better future”.

“The KAATC, as agreed in the MoS signed in 2011, cannot and will not meet the political aspirations of the hill tribes proper of Karbi Anglong; and the autonomy conferred upon the existing KAAC, has practically been found inadequate for safeguarding the rights, interests, and identities of all the indigenous hill tribes proper of Karbi Anglong. That’s why we have been demanding, at the least, for creation of an Autonomous State as provided under Article 244-A of the Constitution of India”. It further urged to ‘respect each other’s political aspirations and help each other to meet them as the Karbis and Nagas have their own political aspirations for self-determination’.