Sihai VA refutes
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal,June 04 2013:
The Sihai VA has today refuted the allegation levelled by Lunghar Village Authority against NSCN (IM) in connection with the alleged coercing of AS Wungreingai (75), headman of Mapum village for deposing affidavit before the Court of Civil Judge (Senior Division), Manipur in Sihai-Lunghar land dispute case.
A rejoinder issued today by the Secretary of Sihai VA pointed out that AS Wungreingai is a mature individual who cannot be easily coerced by any person or organisation, and in the event of such incident he could have reported the matter to the police or security force.
The Sihai VA pointed out that the present land dispute case was initially tried under Tangkhul-Naga customary law and the case came to a close with the conduct of traditional emersion in water by both the parties.
During such trial conducted along Thoubal River, Nungsangkong in the presence of various Tangkhul headmen and general public, Sihai village emerged winner of the case.
This might be the reasons of unhappiness of Lunhar over the authority who tried the case and hence the allegation published in local dailies, the statement said.
AS Wungreingam after realising his guilt, had willingly clarified in the local papers (Tangkhul and English papers) that his statement/affidavit which he had given before the Court of Civil Judge No 2 was false, incorrect and declared the same as null and void, it said.
The Sihai VA also rejected the claim made by Lunghar that they (Lunghar village) shares boundary with Mapum while clarifying that Lunghar situated at a distance of around 5/6 km away from the tri-boundaries of Sihai Mapum and Shiroi.
It stated that Lunghar people never raised a claim over Sihai Phangrei as theirs from time immemorial but surprisingly started claiming Sihai Phangrei only in the first part of 1980 after the coming of Orissa Chromite exploration team on the moorland for mining chromite.