Western Sumis have demanded immediate revocation of the State government order that declared Kiyevi village land as “disputed area”.
According to Western Sumi Hoho (WSH), this was among several resolutions adopted during the general meeting held at Kuhuboto town, Niuland district on December 12, 2022.
At the meeting attended by Western Sumi Hoho, Western Sumi Kukami Hoho, Western Sumi Advisory Board, presidents of all Western Sumi areas, Western Sumi Totimi Hoho, Western Sumi Youth Front, Western Sumi Students’ Union, Western Sumi Sports Association and all GBs of Western Sumi villages along with council chairmen and secretaries, the house noted that the government order terming Kiyevi village land as “disputed area” was going completely against the legitimacy of government-recognised Kiyevi village and its land which was never in dispute.
With the declaration of Kiyevi village land as disputed area, the house said that villagers of Kiyevi, Khehoi and Vihuto had been forcibly denied their right to cultivate their land for the last four years, and therefore demanded compensation for these villages. The organisations pointed out that with the demarcation of district boundaries by the State government, the so called “disputed area” of Kiyevi village land fell under Chümoukedima district, which was however being controlled by Peren district administration.
Demanding that this be revoked immediately, the house also demanded that in the event of Chümoukedima district administration failing to protect its jurisdiction, all Sumi villages/colonies must be shifted to original district of Dimapur.
Though the government had issued orders on June 25, 2019 and again on July 8, 2019, they however said that instead of enforcing its own order of eviction, the government had instead set up an SIT to probe the November 7, 2022 incident.
The house pointed out that when the government failed to enforce its own order, there was no question of Western Sumis cooperating with any government agencies until the eviction order of July 8, 2019 was enforced without bias.
In this connection, they also cautioned that if any Sumi individual was arrested by government agencies, then there would be an “infinite bandh across Western Sumi jurisdiction”, and the government would be held responsible if any untoward incident took place.
The organisations said it was very unfortunate that the State government was leaving no stone unturned “to undermine and neutralise Western Sumi civil society organisations (CSOs)”.
But as CSOs anywhere in the world stood and fought for justice, they asserted that Western Sumi CSOs were no different and would not buckle under pressure, but stand and fight for justice to prevail.