EMN
Dimapur, January 5
Dr. Benjongliba Aier, Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture & Chairman NSAMB, has convened a joint peace sitting comprising members from Border Peace Coordination Committee (A-N), key members of the Gabharoo Festival organising Committee, select representative from Rankham village area (Assam) and council members from Yajang-C village today at his ancestral village home at Yajang-C in Mokokchung district.
It is pertinent to mention that border skirmish erupted between the villagers of Rankham (under 101-Mariani Assembly constituency, Assam) and Yajang-C (under 30-Alongtaki Assembly constituency, Nagaland) both villages located in the Assam-Nagaland border during April last year. Since then both the states were compelled to deploy armed forces to curb the situation. Though the situation is reported to be normal at the moment, however public interactions amongst the two villagers are almost missing. Dr. Benjongliba has called upon the public representatives present today to mend the gap and exalted the traditional age old good neighbourly relations had between the Nagas and Assamese and also particularly the people of Yajang and Rankham. Explaining some moments of his childhood days, he was nostalgic to say that there used to be a weekly market at Rankham where people from his village depended highly for their everyday needs and the village produce from Yajang was too traded at this market and people from both the villagers respected each other and there was no border tension at all. “Now a days, people from the plains sector encourages rich people from the towns and cities to do some types of cropping in the border belt and thus the traditional land belonging to Nagas are being encroached upon and this is the root cause for igniting trouble leading to misunderstanding and mistrust amongst the peace loving border people,” Dr. Benjongliba said.
In his speech, Bhaba Prasad Bora, President of BPCC(A-N) welcomed the gathering and thanked MLA of Alongtaki constituency for coming forward to peace building in the locality which is otherwise a very delicate issue. Indreswar Gogoi, a prominent personality and teacher from Rankham locality too lauded Benjongliba’s zeal for peace building initiative and hopeful to have a joint peace coordination meeting involving both Rankham and Yajang-C villagers. Imsu Jamir, Vice president of BPCC(A-N) reminded the members that without the eagerness of the people which implies to either side, peace cannot be imposed by this committee. “This is very remarkable one as because in April last year when the situation arose in the Rankham-Yajang-C sector, public living there did not give a chance to the BPCC(A-N) to mediate rather they sway away to different pressures including political angles and therefore BPCC(A-N) had left with no much scope for peace coordination,” Imsu said.
Coordinator of the BPCC(A-N) has elaborately explained to the august house the overall situation prevailing in the entire border belt with an emphasis for coordinated living by all concerned.
“Though the State Governments are in litigating mode, however it is the people who will and shall live in the areas forever and therefore the people living in the bordering locations may embrace each other thus creating a sense of neighbourly brotherhood extending equal respect and dignity by all in order to create a peaceful coexistence in this Global World, if the people living in the border accepts their own neighbours with goodwill attitude with mutual trust and friendship then they shall have no fear for any border skirmishes,” Temsu Wathi said.
The organizers of the Gabharoo Festival which was instituted in 2012, Gabharoo Tourism Development Committee celebrated Gabharoo Festivity-2015 for the first time which was confined to only in the plains sector, The proposed Gabharoo Festivity-2016 contemplate to extend the celebration covering both Hills and Plains and this is expected to enhance the mission of the Border Peace Coordination Committee(A-N) as the BPCC(A-N) is of the opinion that Sports and Cultural assimilations of the bordering people shall be effective ways of peace coordination. Thus, in order to uphold the Gabharoo Tourism Festivity Project for brokering peace, immediate blessings of the elected representatives of the Mariani and Alongtaki Legislative Assembly Constituencies followed by the lone MP of Nagaland and of the MP of Jorhat, Chief Ministers of both the States and District Administrations of Jorhat and Mokokchung districts shall be inevitable so that the project is able to draw essential attentions in mitigating future conflicts if any in a meaningful way. Gabharoo Festivity-2016 is scheduled during third week of March this year at Gabharoo, a small hamlet in the border under Selenghat block in Jorhat district, situated in a scenic area bordering with Lirmen and Yajang village of Mokokchung district of Nagaland.
All the neighbouring Naga villages situated in the border belt of Alongtaki Assembly constituency of Mokokchung district are expexted to partake in the proposed festival for peace.
Dr. Benjongliba Aier, Parliamentary Secretary and MLA of Alongtaki
Assembly constituency of Nagaland, and Rupjyoti Kurmi, Parliamentary Secretary (Power) and MLA of 101-Mariani Assembly constituency, have consented to be Patron in this proposed Gabharoo Festivity-2016.
The meeting ended with a resolution that the proposed joint peace meeting between Rankham and Yajang villagers shall be placed before Magh Bihu i.e. 14th Jan 2016 where the organizers of the Gabharoo Festivity-2016 has been asked to coordinate along with the BPCC(A-N) team.
