Kohima/Imphal: Inter-state border disputes are not uncommon among Indian states, and especially the Northeastern states. At the time of filing this report, the borders of Assam-Mizoram, Assam-Meghalaya, Assam-Arunachal, Assam-Nagaland remain matters of dispute. In July 2021, tensions between Assam and Mizoram led to the death of six Assam policemen, while Assam and Meghalaya nearly came to blows in November 2022 after forest officials from Assam shot dead five civilians in the village of Mukroh in Meghalaya.
Lesser known but equally divisive is the border dispute between three Naga tribes along the Nagaland-Manipur border. The deeply rooted ancestral land claims of an uninhabited forest area and their approach to resolving the dispute through a traditional court system.
So, what is the land at stake?
The land in dispute is the Kezoltsa/ Kazürü/ Kazing Karyi/Dzükou area between Southern Angami Public Organisation (SAPO) in Nagaland and the Mao Council and Maram Khullen Village in Manipur.
Official records of the Government of Nagaland, copies of which are in possession with EastMojo, indicated that the Kezoltsa and Dzükou Valley area covers an area of 8,468 hectares. However, the area, as per official records, recognises it as the “rightful traditional ownership” of the Southern Angami Nagas, but falls within the political boundary of Manipur state.
The then Chief Conservator of Forests, Nagaland, DK Zeliang, in 1985, acknowledged that as per the political map, a major portion of the Dzükou Valley belongs to Manipur, but stated that these areas traditionally belong to the Southern Angamis.
Former deputy commissioner of Kohima, Rovilatuo Mor, in 2015 reported that the parts of Dzükou Valley and the adjoining Kezoltsa virgin forest areas in the South/Western part of Dzükou had been under controversy between the SAPO in Nagaland and the neighbouring Mao villages under the Mao Union in Manipur over the issue of ancestral land ownership.
As per the record, the political boundary of Nagaland and Manipur cuts across from a stream between Mao and Khuzama village through the southern parts of Dzükou Valley and joins the Tepuiki (Barak River) and down to Halflong in Assam on the West.
Mor had then noted that the claims of both SAPO and the Mao Union were explicitly based on ancestral land ownership since time immemorial, and so the political boundary drawn in the recent decades does not have any relevance.
According to the SAPO, the current disputed area, known as Kezoltsa, spans approximately 31.42 square kilometres, about 11 km away from the Dzükou Valley. The Southern Angamis, comprising 13 villages in the present day, maintain that the Dzükou (used interchangeably as Dzüku/ Dzükoh as per old records) area since immemorial belonged to them.
“That the ‘so-called’ Manipur-Nagaland interstate imaginary political boundary line drawn by the British Imperialist arbitrarily when Nagaland was a mere district of Assam without consulting the Southern Angamis who were the land owners and were in actual possession of Dzüku area shall never be recognised.” a document dated April 6, 1985, written by the Southern Angami Area Council Jakhama read.
On the other hand, the Mao Council, the apex body of the Mao tribe, claimed that the Dzüko-Kozüri area covers 100 Sq Km (17 SqKm of Dzüko valley, 44 Sq Km of Kozüri area and parts of the 55Sq Km of Dzüko forest). The Dzüko-Kozüri area occupies about 30-35% of the total geographical area of the Mao people.
To them, the approximate forest cover they claim covers 32.29sqkm of the Kozürü and 11.28sqkm of the Dzüko.
As for the Maram Khullen, they claimed that their ancestors first inhabited in and around the Dzükou stream at the valley known as Taikong Rajaining. While they make “no claim” of ownership over Dzükou Valley, the land in dispute concerns the Kazing/Kezoltsa/Kozürü forest.
Four decades into making
Tension between the Naga communities along the inter-state border first began in February 1985, when a survey team from Manipur visited the Dzükou area. The Southern Angamis observed this move as a “calculated trespass” into the Dzükou area sent by the Manipur government.
The team, led by a deputy conservator of forest and wildlife, were detained by the Nagaland government and were later released after they submitted a written apology to the Southern Angami public for “illegally trespassing” to the Dzükou Valley without prior permission from the landowners.
Records indicate that this was the first incident when an atmosphere of “mistrust and suspicion” was created between the Southern Angamis in Nagaland and the Maos in Manipur.
Later, in June 1988, during a session of the Manipur Legislative Assembly, the home minister reportedly declared that the Dzükou area belongs to Manipur and that steps were taken for physical occupation with the assistance of the Centre.
This triggered the Southern Angamis to respond that any encroachment of the Dzükou area would not be tolerated by the landowners. In a statement issued in July of that year, the Southern Angami Area Council (now known as SAPO) notified neighbouring villages or groups of people with any claim over any part of the Dzükou area to amicably settle the matter by August 1988. While the body had warned that failure to do so would result in it not entertaining any claims from any quarters thereafter, no objections or claims were made.
Significantly, in 1998, the Viswema village council in Nagaland and the Memai Council in Manipur entered a joint agreement that both parties would take required steps to prevent/discourage/forbid its residents from committing crimes, incidents that are provocative and that may endanger the social peace.
In 2000, the Manipur chief secretary reportedly wrote to his Nagaland counterpart alleging that the Southern Angamis “forcefully” and “unauthorisedly” ventured to settle in the Kezoltsa area. Reacting to this, the Japfüphiki Angami Public Organisation (JAPO), erstwhile Southern Angami Area Council, wrote a letter to the Nagaland chief secretary stating its “historically undisputed facts”.
In the letter dated May 16, 2000, they argued that the founder of Viswema Village in the Southern Angami area, Viswe, set out from Makhel (Manipur) and settled at Kezoltsa for some time, thereby owning and establishing the ownership of land over the area, before he settled at the present location in Viswema.
“The ownership of the Kezoltsa was never given to the others,” the JAPO stated. To them, the area which initially belonged to Viswema Village, was later given to the commonwealth of the whole Southern Angamis.
In June 2000, the JAPO wrote to Nagaland’s chief minister stating the rightful traditional ownership over Kezoltsa since time immemorial.
However, tension escalated as residents of Song Song Village in Manipur destroyed the JAPO rest house. In December of that year, the Mao Union Kohima wrote to the JAPO stating that some Song Song residents destroyed the JAPO rest house as retaliation to the breach of the agreement by Viswema residents that no further construction activities should take place.
The tribal body described it as a contentious issue between two neighbouring villages arising from the construction of the road and rest house, emphasising that it should not be portrayed as a communal conflict.
Following this, the Memai Council of Mao in Senapati district, Manipur, while stating that Song Song residents demolished the rest house without the consent of the tribal body, suggested that the matter be amicably settled.
Settling it in a traditional court system
On February 14, 2001, the Tenyimi Central Union (TCU), the apex body of 10 Naga tribes in Nagaland and Manipur, headed by WC Krome as president, held a meeting with the Angami Public Organisation (APO) and the Memai Council of Mao at Kohima.
During the meeting, it was resolved that the two constituent units should see that the village or group do not file a case in any court in connection with the disputed Kezoltsa/Kezüri range.
Again on March 19, 2010, under the Tenyimi Peoples’ Organisation (TPO), erstwhile Tenyimi Central Union, an agreement between the APO and the Memai Council was made wherein it stated that the TPO would initiate the dispute case and settle it within four months.
The issue took a major turn when the Mao Council, in April 2015, submitted a memorandum to then Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh. They alleged encroachment and expressed concern that the Dzüko-Kozüri area, which represents one of Manipur’s most biodiverse forests in terms of flora and fauna, was “under threat.”
On July 4, 2015, both the Mao Council and the SAPO, expressed their confidence in TPO and agreed that the matter be settled under the banner of the TPO as per the Tenyimi Naga customary laws and practices.
That same year, the Naga Hoho suspended the Mao Council from the Hoho, stating that the “very involvement of the communal government for solving the issues among Nagas is uncalled for”. This compelled the Mao Council to withdraw the memorandum submitted to the Manipur chief minister.
The situation, however, tensed as Nagas across both sides of the inter-state border faced confrontations, imposed bandhs and blockades to voice their resentment.
In 2017, the three parties, Mao Council, and the Maram Khullen, signed an “Arbitration Undertaking” with the TPO, concurring that the land belong to the people and not to any state or government. The parties agreed to resolve the dispute based on Naga customary laws and their usages and not to resort to approach any Court(s), and to abide by the decision of the TPO’s Board of Arbitrators (BOA).
What began as a land dispute rooted in ancestral claims between two tribes in Manipur eventually drew in the Maram Khullen when in 2016, the TPO arbitrators visited the Kazing forest for physical verification of the disputed site. While the case was pending, Yangkhullen village also asserted its claims over the Kezing/Kezoltsa/Kozürü by writing to the TPO. Despite this, a verdict was issued based on the findings submitted by the existing three conflicting parties.
A verdict disappointing all
On December 19, 2022, the BOA passed a verdict stating that the Kezing/Kezoltsa/Kozürü forest shall be a common property of the SAPO, the Mao Council and the Maram Khullen. The verdict also stated that the Dzükou/ Dzüko valley shall be a common property of the SAPO and Mao council.
While the judgement was ‘pronounced’ with certain conditions laid, the SAPO, the Mao Council and the Zeliangrong Baudi rejected the verdict.
The SAPO said that the TPO verdict disregarded the Tenyimi traditional laws, practices and customs, despite having submitted documents and spot verifications being conducted.
Likewise, the Mao Council also argued that the verdict ignored the “very essence of the Arbitration Undertaking to resolve the dispute based on Naga customary Law and its usages (Tenyimi)”.
The Zeliangrong Baudi, the apex tribal body of the Zeliangrong tribes, rejected the verdict stating that it holds “no wisdom for excluding the original landowner in settlement on flimsy ground saying late submission of position paper by Yangkhullen village”.
Current situation and the next steps
The situation, however, did not ease, as the Manipur government imposed Section 144 of the CrPC in the Songsong sub-division of the Senapati district. Although the CrPc was later lifted, a police outpost remained at the disputed zone and the disputed area was fenced with “barbed wires”.
The TPO members were also allegedly denied entry to Kezoltsa. In addition to economic blockades, the SAPO also restricted the movement of Mao citizens within their jurisdiction. In 2023, a former SAPO president was elected to the Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA).
Even after the matter was highlighted in the NLA this year, the situation remained tense as the SAPO informed Mao citizens residing within Angami jurisdiction to return to their respective native villages. Tension subsided after the Angami Public Organisation (APO) confirmed that the police outpost was relocated.
Speaking to EastMojo, Advocate and SAPO advisor Kevipopi Ltu contended that just as the Nagaland government recognised Okhro Ikhro, a Mao Naga village within Nagaland’s political boundary, the Manipur government should similarly apply the “same yardstick” in the Kezoltsa issue. Ltu highlighted that despite the relocation of the Manipur police outpost, it is essential to obtain an official order confirming this change.
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Echoing similar sentiments, SAPO general secretary Swelel Pucho emphasised that the Manipur government must recognise the authentic landowners of the disputed area. Pucho clarified that the SAPO’s stance is not centred on boundary alteration but an acknowledgement of the traditional landowners whose land was delineated by the British arbitrarily for administrative convenience.
When approached for comment by EastMojo’s Manipur correspondent, leaders of the Mao community declined to say anything, citing an undertaking among the three parties involved in the conflict.
However, it was learnt that the TPO is expected to pronounce a new verdict soon.
Also Read | Separated again? Naga, Zo clans stare at uncertain future after end of FMR
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