Angami body sticks to no 'entry' stand
Source: Chronicle News Service

Kohima, December 23 2022: The hope for a respite in the land dispute case at Kezolts/Kazuru/Kazing between Southern Angami Public Organisation (SAPO) in Nagaland and the Mao Council and Maram Khullen village in Manipur, which led to the restriction of Mao Nagas from entering SAPO area, met with a dead-end after the former rejected a verdict that was supposed to break the deadlock.

SAPO, the apex tribal body of the Southern Angamis, on Thursday rejected the Tenyimi Peoples' Organisation's (TPO) verdict following an emergency meeting held at Jakhama village and attended by all its member villages under the organisation, re-affirming its December 15 decision to restrict and prohibit any Mao citizen from entering or travelling to the Southern Angami region bordering Manipur till the matter is resolved by TPO.

Speaking with EastMojo, Kevipodi Sophie, SAPO president, said initially the TPO notified that it would deliver a judgment to the dispute as per the Tenyimia traditional and customary way of settling land dispute issues, which was why SAPO had signed an undertaking to abide by the verdict.

He said the TPO had failed to keep its word and deviated from the customary way of settling disputes and so the judgment could not be accepted.

On Monday, the TPO's Board of Arbitrators (BOA) gave a verdict that the century-old Kezoltsa/Kozuru/Kazing forest shall be a common property of the SAPO, the Mao Council, and the Maram Khullen village, further directing that the century-old forest shall be preserved and protected from exploitation or destruction.

It also directed that the collection of forest products, hunting, or fishing would be strictly prohibited and that a forest committee shall be constituted to protect and preserve the forest and the members of the committee shall be drawn from all the three parties in the present case.

Claiming that the verdict was not as per the Tenyimi customary practices, Sophie said, "The verdict was one-sided.

Besides, the TPO had failed to take any actions even when the Mao people during the Sangai festival entered the disputed areas which other parties were not allowed access".

Sophie also said that the restriction on the Mao community came into force after the Mao council led the Manipur government into Kezoltsa (disputed area) where the latter built permanent barracks, which was a total violation of all the previous undertakings between the parties.

He voiced his resentment at the Mao council saying that it had disregarded all prior agreements made between them and caused the present crisis.

The security forces from Manipur stationed at Kezoltsa even prevented TPO from setting foot in the area when TPO went there to repair its rest camp a few years ago, he recounted.

Such action by the Mao council, he said, was a total disregard for the Tenyimi community, which compelled SAPO to impose the restrictions.

TPO is an apex body of the Tenyimia tribes comprising 10 tribes from Nagaland and Manipur including Angami, Chakhesang, Pochury, Zeliangrong, Rengma, Mao, Maram, Poumai, Thangal, and Impui.

Meanwhile, Sophie had expressed his surprise over the inclusion of the Dzukou/Dzuko valley issue in the verdict, saying that SAPO had never made any mention of it in its written statement submitted to TPO.

He asked as to how and where TPO received the "supposed" statement by the SAPO where Dzukou was included and said only Kezoltsa was being disputed therefore the addition of Dzukou in the verdict came as a total surprise to the organisation.

As per the TPO verdict, the disputed portion of the Dzukou/Dzuko valley shall be a common property of the SAPO and the Mao Council on condition that no restriction shall be imposed on any village(s) whoever share the ownership of the valley to enter into the valley from their respective village jurisdiction; to strictly ban the exploitation of Dzukou/Dzuko valley in any form; to preserve and protect the natural scenic beauty over Dzukou/Dzuko valley; and that any vehicular road connectivity to Dzukou/Dzuko valley shall not be permitted.

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