Dimapur, Sep. 14 (EMN): The Global Naga Forum (GNF) has questioned the purpose of suddenly intensifying military build-up in nine villages of Ukhrul district in Manipur without the consent of the Naga village authorities, and sought the “immediate intervention by the Prime Minister and Home Minister if they are truly sincere in finding a non-military resolution of the Indo-Naga problem”.
In a press release, the GNF said the ‘occupied nine peaceful villages belong to the Tangkhul indigenous people who have rights to their lands and way of life guaranteed by the Indian constitution’.
The forum stated that it had received information from Tangkhul civil society organizations that the AR personnel were using public spaces such as the playgrounds, schools, children homes and community halls in the villages, hindering their usual functioning.
“Private spaces have also not been spared as constructions are being undertaken on private properties with utter disregard for its ownership,” read the press release, adding that security check posts have been set up and the villagers are subjected to scrutiny”.
“Women and children especially are subjected to the fears caused by this unwarranted situation,” it added. “Furthermore, the elders, who have not recovered from their traumas caused by the violence of the armies in the past are being subjected to it all over.”
Maintaining that there were neither anti-government and anti-social activities, nor law and order issues in the area, the forum said the government of India owes an explanation for the unnecessary military intrusion in the lives of peaceful citizens, both the villagers and the country as India isn’t a “military dictatorship”.
“People familiar with the Indian government’s treatment of the Nagas know that the military occupation of these villages will be defended as legally permissible under the 1958 Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). But the same people also know that Article 371(A) of the Indian Constitution guarantees Nagas the right to their lands and customary laws.
“So why is the Government of India acting in self-contradiction by sending armed forces to forcefully occupy peaceful Naga villages? On the one hand, India is violating its own law protecting Naga rights (Art. 371 (A), and on the other it is enforcing another law (AFSPA) that takes away the same right, in clear violation of Naga people’s basic human rights,” stated the Global Naga Forum.
“What we see here is a government in opposition to itself when it comes to Nagas. And the result is that Nagas are put in a no-win situation vis-a-vis India,” it added while mentioning the current impasse in the Indo-Naga peace negotiations, the upcoming Nagaland assembly election, the killing of 14 civilians in Mon district, and now the “forceful occupation of nine peaceful villages in Ukhrul” by the Assam Rifles.