Mao Council recounts past to clear Kozuru issue
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, December 23 2022: Saying that there is lot of confusion in recent times about the Koz�r� issue between the Southern Angami Public Organisation (SAPO) and the Mao Council and more misunderstanding will happen if the real stories are not told, the Mao Council (MC) has come out with a comprehensive story of the whole issue.

According to a statement issued by the MC, the issue of Koz�r� started on April 11, 2000 when the volunteers of Song Song village raised objections to construction of a new rest house by one Daniel of Viswema village at Chitekayi Ingho to mark the boundary of Viswema land.

Later Song Song villagers informed Kalinamei and Rubunamei about the encroachment into Mao traditional boundary.

At that time, the Southern Angami Public Organization (SAPO) was not at all in the picture and the issue was restricted to Viswema village only.

On 13th May, 2000, six delegates came from Viswema to Song Song village and stated that since they could not handle the case alone, the matter had been referred to Japf�phiki Angami Public Organisation (JAPO) .

On 23rd November, 2000, some youths from Song Song village dismantled the rest house constructed by Viswema village.

As the situation became tense, Tenyimi Central Union (TCU) temporarily brought the matter under control.

The TCU directed the Mao Council to tell the Song Song village to reconstruct the rest house, however the Song Song village refused to do so stating that the rest house was constructed on their traditional land.

Sensing the volatile situation, the NSCN (IM) reconstructed the rest house to save the situation.

TCU had set up a standing committee to resolve the Koz�r� (Kezoltsa) issue on 14th February, 2001 but the standing committee could not resolve the issue.

In the year 2010, when some members of the Pfonomei Development Association were attempting to transport felled trees from Koz�r�, they were caught and detained by volunteers of Southern Angami and the incident created a volatile situation.

However with the intervention from TCU, now re-christened as Tenyimi People's Organisation (TPO), the Angami Public Organisation (APO) and Mao Council entered into an agreement on 19th March, 2010 and it was agreed that no party would be allowed to undertake any development activities till the dispute was resolved.

The TPO standing committee had several sittings and also undertook verification visits to the disputed area and they also had separate consultations with the two parties, however when the process had reached the stage of settlement, the Southern Angami Public Organisation (SAPO) withdrew from the TPO court on 24th August 2012 questioning the integrity of the members of the TPO court and it is not known whether they have taken the consent of the Angami Public Organisation (APO), the Mao Council recounted.

In October 2014, the Southern Angami Public Organisation (SAPO) encroached into Koz�r� areas by constructing roads using heavy machinery and under the vigil of volunteers armed with sophisticated weapons.

To avoid any direct confrontation with the encroachers which would lead to bloodshed, the Committee for Koz�r� and Dz�ko Land Boundary Resolution (CKDLBR) under the aegis of Mao Council submitted an ultimatum to the Government of Manipur on 23rd April 2015 to stop the encroachment on or before 7th May 2015 failing which the Mao Council would take up democratic course of action.

When the Manipur Government did not act, a 24 hour bandh commenced on 22nd May 2015 which was followed with an indefinite economic blockade with effect from 1st June 2015.Then the Southern Angami Public Organisation (SAPO) reacted strongly with a ban on movement of Mao people in SAPO area.

Then through the advice and intervention of the Naga Hoho, the economic blockade was called off on the midnight of 3rd June 2015 .

As advised by the TPO and after much consultation and taking into account the need to uphold the unity and integrity of the Naga people, the Mao Council issued a public statement stating that the memorandum submitted to the Government of Manipur stands withdrawn with effect from 25th October 2015 .

Till 23rd March, 2017, the Koz�r� issue was only between the Mao Council and the SAPO but all of a sudden Maram Khullen came into picture after constitution of the Tenyimi People's Organisation (TPO) Board of Arbitration and the Mao Council is unable to understand how the TPO is now giving so much importance to Maram Khullen, it said.

Due to the provocative actions of the SAPO even to the extent of firing guns and using abusive language against the Manipur administrative and security officers who were deployed to control the Dz�ko fire in latter part of December 2020, the Government of Manipur was forced to enforce 144 CrPC on the Manipur side to control the situation.

It may be noted that the land where Khuzama village had been established was earlier grazing land of Pudunamei and Punanamei and much after the establishment of the new village of Khuzama, dispute arose between Pudunamei & Punanamei on one side and Viswema on the other side.

"The person who took oath on behalf of Pudunamei and Punanamei was Mr Neni son of Kopfuj� from Pudunamei village and his generations run from Mr Pforo, Mr Lokho, Mrs Asos�ro upto Mr Sibo which means that the oath taking must have happened about 130-135 years back and the boundary is very clear to us", the Mao Council asserted.

"While thanking various organizations both in Nagaland and Manipur for requesting the SAPO to withdraw the indefinite ban on movement of Mao people in southern Angami areas, we are of the opinion that good sense will prevail once the true stories are made known to all.

We also take this opportunity to wish all our Christian brothers and sisters a Merry Christmas and advance Happy New Year", the statement concluded.

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