Dimapur, April 18 (EMN): The indigenous minority tribes of Nagaland (IMTN) has condemned what it stated was “mischief and highly condemnable facts and figures presented by the Nagaland Congress in labelling the indigenous recognized tribes like the Kuki, Kachari and Garo as non-locals and equating them at the same level with people from Bihar, Muslim, UP, Kerala and other non-recognized Naga tribes” with regard to employment in Nagaland police.
The IMTN, a conglomeration of the “indigenous tribes of Kuki, Kachari, Garo and Mikir/Karbi”, issued a press release on Tuesday stating that it would like to rebut and condemn the “deplorable statement and false facts provided” by the Nagaland Congress which equated them with non-Nagas and “outsiders”. According to the statement: “The Nagaland Congress is reminded and advised that for their political goals and attempt to give a shot at the present government, facts and history should not be distorted for a cheap political mileage. The four indigenous tribes are not something that has just cropped up from nowhere, these tribes are legally recognized by the government both central and state and duly protected by the constitution order of 1970.
“The Kuki, Kachari, Garo and Mikir/Karbi have been part of the present state of Nagaland even before the state of Nagaland was established on 1st December 1963. The history and the settlement of these tribes are as old as any of the other recognized tribes of Nagaland. In fact the contributions of these tribes in the struggle for the Naga movement are second to none and have equally shed our blood and tears with our other Naga tribes’ brothers and sisters”.
It reminded that the history of the Kachari tribe in Nagaland ‘dates way back to 10th Century AD where the reminiscence of their proofs of being the traditional land owner of Dimapur still stands today and is an Irrefutable evidence of their ownership and being the ancestral landowner.’
“That only because of the magnanimity and hospitality of the Kachari’s tribes, Dimapur has become the only true mini-Nagaland where every tribes irrespective of their origin and descent can live and settle without any hindrance and discriminations”, it stated.
According to the statement: “The Kuki tribes in Nagaland has been one of the architect of the Naga National movement, the movement which has been even recognized by the government of India as a uniqueness of Naga history of the submission of memorandum to Simon Commission in 1929, where Late Lenjang Kuki was one of the signatories-where even some of the major tribes of Nagaland was missing as signatories in signing such historical document. I
“In fact Mr Haokip who is still alive by the grace of the almighty is a living example of the once as influential tribe like our other tribes in Nagaland was the member of the Interim Body when the statehood of Nagaland was created in 1963.”
It stated that with ‘the passage of time, the conditions and positions of this (sic) indigenous recognized tribes must have fallen due to discriminations, alienations and step motherly treatment within their own ancestral land but to equate and compared them with the other non-locals and branding them as outsiders is nothing but is an attempt to further alienate and discriminate them in their own home and land.’
it reminded that “the attempt to present the Kuki Tribes as substantial numbers in police department is another attempt to create mischief and malice intended to tarnish the image of the officer of this tribe, whereas before the 1990, the Kuki tribe had one of the highest numbers of officers as per population ratio in the state of Nagaland but after 1990 the numbers of Kuki officers in state services has been reduced drastically and is as good as non-existence in spite of their ability and capability reason best known to all.”
Such discrimination and alienation of the Kukis, Kacharis, Garos was nothing new but to equate them with ‘non-locals and outsiders”, it stated, was the lowest form of respect and recognition “given to us by such responsible newly created party –Nagaland Congress – run by some of the most veteran and once respected leaders of the state of Nagaland.”
