SAPO to continue restricting movement of Maos, cease co-operation

Dimapur, Jan. 7 (EMN): The Southern Angami Public Organisation (SAPO) has stated that it will continue to restrict the movement of Mao people within the Southern Angami jurisdiction and also cease all co-operation with the community henceforth over the Kezoltsa/Koziirii-Dzükou dispute between the two groups.

While acknowledging the civil societies and individuals for their concern in lifting the travel ban, SAPO said its decision to restrict the movement of Maos in its jurisdiction will stand ‘until the Mao Council and Manipur Government withdraw its armed troops from Kezoltsa and cease all development activities and programmes, to pave way for free and fair democratic dialogue on the issue traditionally’.

SAPO also appealed to Nagaland and Manipur governments, and all civil societies to jointly verify the spot and ascertained the factual facts and position of who is to guilty for carrying out various illegal activities and developments within the custodian zone of the Tenyimi People’s Organisation (TPO) and Board of Arbitration (BOA), not based on arbitrary, imaginary political boundary but by identifying actual traditional land holders.

“It is high time the legitimacy of the claims of the Mao people be determined either by selecting traditional boundaries or by political boundaries, and not by taking undue advantage of the Manipur Government and drawing imaginary political boundary, which cannot fetch peace and tranquillity within brotherhood,” read the statement.

“We also called upon the Manipur State Government to stop interfering in the affairs of the traditional rights, as the land and its resources belong to the people and not to the government, otherwise we shall be compelled to take drastic measures. Our locus standi is subject to review if the factual position is clearly spelt out after spot verification, and the memorandum submitted to the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Manipur, dated 20th November, 2021 is implemented in toto, and the impugned order of the TPO judgement is reviewed,” it added.

The SAPO also accused the Mao Council and Manipur government of repeatedly violating the directives of the TPO/BOA, which had taken up the issue and the rights over the disputed land and its resources while assuring to come up with an ‘arbitration agreement’ as early as 2015.

It went on to object BOA’s declaration of Kezoltsa-Dzükou as ‘Common Property’ in its last month’s verdict, describing it as “arbitrary, highly factitious and biased”, while accusing it of failing to identify the genuine land owner even after seven years and not taking action against the defaulter of the ‘arbitration undertaking’.

The SAPO stated that it will “continue to defend and uphold the integrity of the Southern Angami land and will not part an inch of our traditional land towards the encroachers”.