Nagaland government has taken exception to a report published in a Guwahati based English daily on August 28 hurling many allegations against the state on border issues between Nagaland and Assam.
Commissioner & principal secretary, border affairs, H.K. Khulu in a letter to the Editor of the daily denied the allegations that Naga ‘encroachers’ were all set to establish a new Naga Police camp at Bihoto Basti in Sector-B of the bordering areas. He also denied the allegation that there was any plan of the government of Nagaland to set up any new sub-division in the ‘so-called’ Sarupathar area.
The Jorhat based Staff Correspondent of the newspaper in the report had also accused the Nagas for setting up madrassas and mentioned three such madrassas at Gelajan, Bidyapur and Dayalpur areas with more than 500 suspected Bangladeshi students taking religious teaching every year and regularly being shifted to various parts of the state for religious purposes. Replying to this, Khulu said if the report was correct, then the onus of the state of affairs squarely lay with the Assam government for setting up such villages for illegal Bangladeshi in the disputed Rengma Reserve Forest areas under Sector-C despite strong objection from the government of Nagaland.
Also, clarifying to the allegation against the violation of the Interim agreement signed in 1985 to maintain status quo, by Nagaland, Khulu described in detail the agreement signed in 1972 and various developments and agreements thereafter and Assam’s deployment of its own forces CRPF/AAP all along the disputed border areas with a unilateral Standard Operation Procedure (SOP).
In this regard, he said that the Nagaland Government could agree to the unilateral deployment of forces and unilateral SOP issued by the Assam Government in gross violation of the Interim Agreements and in violation of natural justice and fair play.
He pointed out that the above SOP was agreed to be reviewed in the chief secretary meeting held at Guwahati on May 16, 2005 and during the Divisional Commissioner level meeting held at Numaligarh on September 23, 2005.
“However, Assam has failed to honour their agreement and the matter is still yet to be reviewed,” the commissioner clarified.
Khulu said that people from both Assam and Nagaland side had settled in the disputed forest areas over the years, due to the mismanagement of the Assam forest department.
He pointed out that both the state governments had subsequently given recognition to the settlement.
The commissioner, therefore, said that any arbitrary and unilateral action on the part of Assam to evict Naga settlers only from the disputed areas would amount to violation of the aforesaid agreements.
(Full text on page 4)
RELATED POSTS
View all
