To, The Hon’ble Prime Minister, Government of India New Delhi Sub:- DEMAND FOR FULFILLMENT OF POLITICAL AGREEMENTS OF POINT NO.4 & 6 OF ‘9 POINT AGREEMENT’ & POINT NO. 12 & 13 OF ‘16 POINT AGREEMENT’ VIS-A-VIS BRINGING BACK THE NAGA TERITORRIES IN ASSAM TO NAGALAND. Hon’ble Sir, We, the undersigned, on behalf of the United Naga Tribes Association of Border Area (UNTABA) of Nagaland in particular and the people of Nagaland in general have the honor to submit herewith this Memorandum for favor of your prompt and necessary consideration thereof. 1. That Sir, as you may be well aware, the Naga people official correspondence with the Government of India started way back in January 10, 1929 when the Naga people under the banner of Naga Club Kohima submitted a Memorandum to the British Statutory Commission under Shri Simon as the Chairman, known as the Simon Commission, wherein, the Naga people strongly objected to the then British Government of India for including the then Naga Hills within the Reformed Scheme of India citing unique historical and peculiar socio-political circumstances of the Naga people and requested the then British Government of India to ‘leave the Nagas alone’. 2. In continuation to this principled stand, the Naga people under the banner of Naga National Council (NNC) entered into a ‘Nine Point Agreement’ with the Government of India with the then Governor of Assam Shri Akbar Ali Hydari in June 27 – 29, 1947 at Kohima just prior to the declaration of India’s independence as a sovereign country. Among others, the ‘9 Point Agreement’ Point No. 6 read as follows: Among others, the ‘9 Point Agreement’ Point No. 4 & 6 read as follows: “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. 6: BOUNDARIES: That the present administration divisions should be modified so as:- (I) To bring back into the Naga Hills District all the Forests transferred to Sibsagar and Nowgong Districts in the past; and (II) To bring under one unified administrative unit as far as possible all Nagas. All the areas so included will be within the scope of the present proposed agreement. No area should be transferred out of Naga Hill without the consent of the Naga National Council.” 3. However, instead of implementing the above Points of Agreement, the Government of India arbitrarily abrogated the same agreement prompting the Naga people to start hostile activities against the Government of India in all the nook and corners of the then Naga Hills and boycotted the first two General Election of independent India. This was immediately followed by armed aggression from the Government of India suppressing the rightful struggle of the Naga people, wherein thousands of precious lives from both side were lost and the conflict is still unresolved. 4. In this chaotic situation in the Naga Hills, the Naga people, in order to bring normalcy, met the then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru under the banner of Naga People’s Council (NPC) and entered into an ‘16 Point Agreement’ with the Government of India based on which Nagaland was granted Statehood in the Union of India as 16th. State under the Constitution (13th. Amendment Act), 1962 based on the political issue of the Naga people without definite boundary demarcation, but with an assurance to the NPC that Inter-State boundary demarcation, inter alia, transfer of land from one State to another shall be undertaken in accordance to the Constitutional provisions of Articles 3 & 4 in due course of time. Moreover, taking into serious consideration of the Naga political issue, the Government of India enacted a special provision for Nagaland in line with Jammu & Kashmir, the Article 371A in its 13th Amendment Act, 1962. Following are the special provision: ARTICLE 371A:- (1) Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution:- (a) No Act of parliament in respect of (i) Religious or social practices of the Nagas (ii) Naga Customary law and procedure (iii) Administration of Civil and criminal Justice involving decisions according to Naga customary law. (iv) Ownership and transfer of land and its resources, shall apply to the State of Nagaland unless the legislative Assembly of the Nagaland by a resolution so decides. 5. It is therefore pertinent to mention here the following Clauses of ’16 Point Agreement’: “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 Articles 3 and 4 of the Constitution, prescribing the procedure for the transfer of areas from one State to another”. “Agreement Point No. 13: Consolidation of Contiguous Naga Areas: - The delegation wished the following to be placed on record. ‘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”. Such were the Agreements made between the Government of India and the People of Nagaland. 6. However, even after the lapse of 51 years of Nagaland Statehood, the Government of India has deliberately failed to initiate appropriate steps towards the fulfillment of these Clauses of Agreements thereby completely depriving the traditional, historical and political rights of the Naga people. Such indifferent attitude of the Government of India has given undue advantages to the Government of Assam in clandestinely occupying large track of Naga lands approximately amounting to 4,974.16 Square Miles or an equivalent of 12,883.07 Square Kilometers where the Government of Assam has allowed the settlement of Advasis, or the ‘Tea Tribes’ who were once upon a time labor corps of Tea industries and illegal immigrants brought from Central and Eastern India by the Britishers. The areas of such unlawful occupation and settlements have not only allowed the unabated influx of illegal immigrants that will have wide negative ramifications in the demographic compositions of tribal communities in Nagaland, but also these areas have now become a virtual haven or a ‘Buffer Zone’ for more than dozen militants groups operating in the traditional and historical Naga lands creating unwarranted clashes and situations thereby unnecessarily creating animosity and mistrust amongst various indigenous communities living in between Assam and Nagaland. Moreover, the Government of Assam has arbitrarily declared these areas as ‘Disputed Area Belt’ and had posted hundreds of armed Assam Police including Para Military forces. 7. This abject indifference of the Government of India towards the fulfillment of the Agreements has compelled the Government of Nagaland to adopt Resolutions after Resolutions in the Nagaland Legislative Assembly for bringing back all the Naga contiguous areas under one administrative umbrella under present Nagaland State. 8. Presently, the border dispute case filed by the State of Assam, Suit No. 2 of 1988 is pending in the Supreme Court, which we feel is purely unconstitutional because litigation and arbitration of Inter-State boundary cannot be finally settle by the Court judgment as it is bypassing the provisions of Articles 3 & 4 of the Constitution of India as well as beyond the provisions of Agreements made with the Naga people. 9. In order to maintain age old tradition of peaceful co-existence between the people of two States, the Government of Nagaland entered into bilateral and tripartite agreements with the Government of Assam and Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India from 1972 onwards. However, the Government of Assam has unilaterally abrogated all the existing Agreements and has been facilitating people of questionable origins in the so called ‘Disputed Area Belt’ which was also unilaterally declared by the Government of Assam in all the traditional and historical Naga lands. The Naga people shall therefore no longer accept ‘Disputed Area Belts’ and we shall not recognize all those ‘Interim’ Agreements now. 10. We are the person directly affected by the Border dispute. We are not parties, we were told, before the Court because there is a constitutional legal embargo in an individual or organization from being a party to the Border Dispute. Only the concerned States can be parties and our voice has therefore not been heard till date. In case of any negative fallout the outcome of the case, we become natural casualties for no fault of ours. We are already casualties. 11. In the past we are told that the Central Government did not take any active interest in the pending litigation in Supreme Court. However, with the present Government, we are happy to note a perceptible change in the attitude of the Central Government who is now represented by one of its top law officer. We are grateful to you for the kind consideration shown. 12. There are massive illegal exploitation of natural resources by the Government of Assam who are continuing with their illegalities so that at the time of final adjudication of the dispute they can try to claim ownership over the dispute land which does not belong to them. It is interesting to note that where natural resources are not available on the border, the intensity of assault from the side of Assam is much lesser. We are not allowed to exploit the natural resources which are constitutionally protected in terms of Article 371-A and by this interference of the State Government of Assam is taking away a mandate of the constitution, i.e, Article 371-A which are enacted by the Parliament after taking into consideration our traditional, historical and political rights. 13. We wish to bring to your notice that unlike the State of Assam which has taken away a sizable portion of our territory, we do not have any industry which can provide services to the upcoming generations. This has resulted in violation of the fundamental rights of life and liberty enshrined in the Constitution which includes our right to livelihood. We do not wish to be financially crippled eternally. We want to be as developed as any other State in the country. Added to our misery, if there is a flare up on the Assam-Nagaland border, many innocent lives will be lost and the development in the State will suffer a serious setback. When your Government is pursuing development for all, one of the prime factors as far as the State of Nagaland is concerned is development of Nagaland’s rightful interests on the border. Since the then Government of India during the pre-constitutional era had repeatedly given assurances to us consequent to which written agreements were executed. The Central Government has a great responsibility now to adhere to the commitments made to the people of Nagaland. We have shown great restraint till date in spite of being victims of violence and have scrupulously followed the tenets of non-violence which is a gift given by the Father of Nation. Therefore, we hope you will ensure that we are able to live in peace with dignity and permitted to utilize the resources which belong to us. May we therefore take this opportunity to demand the Government of India to immediately consider for bringing back all those transferred Naga lands to its original and rightful owner as per the above mentioned Agreements to the people of Nagaland prior to and during the establishment of Nagaland Statehood and fulfill the above mentioned Clauses of Agreements in letter and spirit by invoking the Constitutional provisions of Articles 3 & 4. We are confident that in the event of fulfilling these Agreements mentioned above by the Government of India on priority basis, even after the lapse of so many decades, the mistrust and animosity between the indigenous people of Assam and Nagaland will be cleared and that lasting peace and tranquility will prevail for posterity, and most importantly, the vexed Indo-Naga political issue will definitely find its logical conclusion sooner or later. Some important documents are therefore enclosed herewith for favor of your necessary perusal : 1. Memorandum of Naga Hills Submitted to Simon Commission – Annexure I 2. 9 Point Agreement – Annexure II 3. 16 Point Agreement – Annexure III 4. Article 371A – Annexure IV 5. Naga Hills Transferred to Assam – Annexure V 6. Map of Naga Lands in Assam – Annexure VI Thanking you, Sir. ( HUKAVI T. YEPTHOMI ) ( IMSUMONGBA PONGEN ) (YANGER SANGTAM ) Chairman, UNTABA. Vice Chairman, UNTABA. Jt. Secretary, UNTABA
Posted on: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 07:09:17 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015