Staff Reporter
DIMAPUR, NOVEMBER 16
With tensions brewing along Assam-Nagaland border, the United Naga Tribes Association of Border Areas (UNTABA) is slated to have a joint meeting with the chief secretaries of Assam and Nagaland in Guwahati on November 17. The joint meeting has been called under the directive of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This was disclosed to the media persons by UNTABA members at a press conference here today. The meeting with the two chief secretaries, earlier scheduled for November 15, had been postponed due to unspecified reasons. The UNTABA will meet the PM after the joint meeting with the chief secretaries of both the states, they said.
The UNTABA said the core issue is to bring back the traditional land of Nagas transferred to Assam during the British rule and vowed to pursue the case in right perspective. It also described litigation of interstate boundary by any court or Supreme Court as unconstitutional.
The UNTABA met Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju and Director of Internal Security for North East in New Delhi on November 11 and submitted a memorandum demanding fulfillment of the political agreements with regard to bringing back the Naga territories from Assam to Nagaland. The same memo was also submitted to the Prime Minister on November 10 though UNTABA could not meet him.
UNTABA said the Supreme Court had directed the Ministry of Home Affairs to settle the dispute amicably and fixed the next hearing on December 3.
The UNTABA members said their memorandum was based on the political agreement of point No. 4 & 6 of ‘9-Point Agreement’ and point No. 12 & 13 of ’16-Point Agreement’.
Nine-Point Agreement with Governor Hydari, 1947
Point No.4: Land: That land with all its resources in the Naga Hills should not be alienated to a Non-Naga without the consent of the Naga National Council.
Point No.4: Boundaries: That the present administration divisions should be modified so as-
To bring back into the Naga Hills District all the forests transferred to Sibsagar and Nowgong Districts in the past; and
To bring under one unified administrative unit as far as possible all Nagas. All the areas so included will be given the scope of the present proposed agreement. No area should be transferred out of Naga Hill without the consent of the Naga National Council.
The 16-Point Agreement
Point No. 12: The delegation wished the following to be placed on record. “The naga delegation discussed the question of the inclusion of the Reserve forests and of contiguous areas inhabited by the Nagas. They were referred to the provisions in Article 3 and 4 of the Constitution, prescribing the procedure for the transfer of areas from one state to another”.
Point No. 13: Consolidation of Contiguous Naga Areas:- ‘The Naga leaders expressed the view that other Nagas inhabiting contiguous areas should be enable to join the new state. It was pointed out to them on behalf of the Government of India that Articles 3 and 4 of the Constitution provided for increasing the area of any state, but that it was not possible for the Government of India to make any commitment in this regard at this stage”.
