Pangsha fencing: Silence of state government questioned

Dimapur, Jan. 11: The state government’s silence on the fencing of Naga lands between India and Myanmar near Pangsha village has come under severe criticism from ACAUT Nagaland on Wednesday. While various organizations have condemned said fencing, this is the first time that the state government’s continued silence on the issue has been questioned.

“While the state cabinet grapples with the 33% reservation for women in ULB, the future of the villages, families and people in a far corner of Nagaland hangs in uncertainty and despair. The arbitrary fencing of Naga-land between India and Myanmar at Pangsha which is against the will of the Naga people will tear apart villages and families who have lived together since time immemorial and will have serious ramification for the Naga people’s struggle to live as one.

“Despite the hue and cry of the people, the state government seems to be oblivious to this episode since it hasn’t come out with its official position. The ACAUT Nagaland questions whether this border fencing is being done with the knowledge and the consent of the state government?” read an ACAUT statement.

It asked why the state government was not taking up the issue with the central government at the highest level. “Or was the recent trip of the chief minister of Nagaland to Myanmar about border fencing at Pangsha? The government of Nagaland must set the record straight and make an official statement to the people Nagaland on this very serious matter.

“The ACAUT Nagaland supports the stand of the Khiamnungan people in particular and the Naga people in general that the fencing work at Pangsha should be immediately stopped,” it stated.

NPGN/NNC (N/A)
In a separate statement, the NPGN/NNC (N/A) has stated that said fencing of border would “create more disastrous division” among the Nagas.

A statement from the group on Wednesday stated that ‘as responsible Naga patriots’, the NPGN/NNC (N/A) was fully committed and determined to protect Naga ancestral land and ‘shall not compromise with any anti-Naga policy made by non-Nagas’.

It stated that the ‘Indo-Myanmar boundary issue has inflected great division’ among the Naga people and their ‘bonafide’ land ownership and its resources. It reminded that in 1973 “an unrecognized imaginary boundary fencing was made without consulting the land owners and the Nagas in general.”

The group stated that Nagas ‘shall not tolerate any forceful act done by foreigners to divide the Nagas and shall fight for the integrity of Nagas and their land which is the birth rights of Nagas.’