Tikhir student bodies including Tikhir Students’ Union, Kohima (TSUK), Metonger village students’ Union (MVSU) and Tikhir students’ union Kiphire town have strongly condemned the August 12 procession of the Yimchungru Tribal Council (YTC) which demanded the government to ban Tikhir Tribal Council (TTC) and arrest of its leaders.
TSUK in a statement issued by its president Tsusuthong T.Tikhir and finance secretary Temong Y.Tikhir stated that YTC terming TTC as a “terrorist organisation or illegal organisation” and dubbing its leaders Topan and Mark Murekiu as terrorist leaders was condemnable.
TSUK said if YTC considered TTC as “terrorist organisation then they could have done something terrorist”. However, the Tikhir student body said terror act was what the YTC has been carrying out against Tikhirs.
“It could make sense even if we mention some of your terrorist activities like kidnapping, intimidation, forgery, threatening, infringement of cultural rights and killings,” the TSUK stated, alleging that all those were terrorist activities relevant to the action of Yimchungers.
In the meantime, the union also clarified to the state government that its leaders were working for the betterment of the Tikhirs and that they do not lead them towards the act of terrorism.
Pointing out that TTC was not a new organisation; the union said the council was as old as other tribal bodies.
Further, asserting that the issue was not personal rather a tribal issue, the TSUK urged the YTC not to target its leaders personally.
The union cautioned that it would be compelled to take own course of action if any untoward incident happened to their leaders and Tikhirs in general.
MVSU: Metonger village students’ Union (MVSU) said TTC was not a mere origination, and clarified that TTC was a legally organised body.
The MVSU pointed out that Tikhirs were not created by men but by God and there was no right for the Yimchungrus to “make or unmake one tribe.”
They stated that even before the creation of the State of Nagaland, the Tikhirs have been in existence like any other tribes of Nagaland.
Claiming that in the year 1996-1997 Yimchunrus had raided many Tikhir villages and killed many innocent Tikiris, the MVSU asked “is it not an act of terrorism?”
Stating that Tikhirs have not killed even a single Yimchungru, the union said terming Tikhirs as terrorists may be judged by the Naga tribes as to who fell under the act of terrorism.
Also ridiculing the dubbing of TTC leaders as terrorist leaders by YTC, the union appealed to the people not to be misunderstood by the “false statements made by YTC.”
The MVSU also urged the state government to withdraw the memorandum submitted by YTC, saying it was “nuisance and baseless”.
TSU Kiphire: Tikhir students’ union Kiphire town (TSUK) has termed the public procession organised by YTC at Tuensang town on August 12 as “totally nonsense procession.”
TSUK president S. Longkamse and general secretary N. Torep in a press release alleged that YTC leaders was, from the beginning leading Yimchunger public, “terrorizing” and killed many Tikhir innocent leaders, massacred educated Tikhir people, raped and murdered young Tikhir girls, kidnapped and killed without any guilty, attacked more than 10 Tikhir villages, granaries and houses was burned to ash, by YTC “terrorist” leaders.
The union also stated that Tikhir Tribal Council (TTC) leaders should not be called as an illegal organisation as they were chosen to lead amongst Tikhir people having more than 50,000 Tikhir people population with its original documentary of culture tradition and settlement.
The union condemned the procession against the state government demanding to arrest Tikhir leaders and said that all right thinking Naga citizens should condemn “anti-tribal leaders”. TSUK further appealed to state government to book YTC leaders as per law of the land.
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