Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 27 Sep: Another letter from the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (IM) has surfaced on social media, summoning the village chiefs, gaon burahs, presidents and panchayat members of the Nocte, Wancho and Tangsa tribes of Tirap, Changlang and Longding (TCL) districts for a meeting slated to be held in Dimapur in Nagaland from 29 to 30 September.
Sources in the police department informed that, though a copy of the letter has surfaced on social media, no hardcopy has been served to anyone so far.
The summoning of the local leaders of the three tribes (whom the NSCN refers to as Nagas) comes in the wake of the NSCN (IM)’s open dictation to the legislators of the TCL districts, including three cabinet ministers, to withdraw their support from Chief Minister Pema Khandu and Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein’s government.
The Naga insurgent group is agitated over the deletion of the words ‘Any other Naga tribe’ from the constitutional list of scheduled tribes, which was amended in August to use the indigenous tribe names of Monpa, Sajolang, Sartang, Tai Khamti, Mishmi-Kaman (Miju Mishmi), Idu (Mishmi), Taraon (Digaru Mishmi), Nocte, Tangsa, Tutsa and Wancho.
The NSCN (IM) stated that the erasing of the words was “a blatant insult to the sentiment and rights of the Nagas of the TCL districts,” which it said is unacceptable to the Nagas as a whole.
ENNG condemns move
Meanwhile, in an unverified press statement, the Eastern Naga National Government (ENNG) on Monday strongly condemned the NSCN (IM)’s diktat to the legislators of the TCL districts to withdraw support from the CM and the DCM.
“ENNG strongly condemned the NSCN (IM) move to threaten the local MLAs and ministers against the interest of TCL people in regards to the deletion of the word ‘Naga’, following the union parliament bill passed in August 2021 and the bill had recognized Tangsa, Wancho, Nocte, Tutsa and Ollo in the scheduled tribe list in Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts of Arunachal Pradesh,” the ENNG stated.
It said that the recognition of the tribes’ names came following constant demand for many years by the people of the TCL region.
“It is very clear that the people of TCL belong to the world largely known the Naga tribe, the Tangsa, Wancho, Nocte, Tutsa and Ollo are sub-tribes under Naga tribe and everyone’s know that those people has Naga’s by blood and flesh and not by choice,” the ENNG said.
It added: “However, the people’s residing across the Patkai border in Myanmar, as we live in the two different countries, we the Naga from the same family. So, the question doesn’t arise from the other corners, whether we are Naga or not.”
It stated that Nagaland also has different tribes like Angami, Ao, Sema, Lotha, Chakesang and Konyak but they have always been Naga tribes.
Terming the threat letter “an extremely wrong step of NSCN (IM),” the ENNG said the letter would create misunderstanding within the people of the TCL districts.
It appealed to the NSCN (IM) not to disturb the people of the TCL region.
The ENNG also asked the public leaders, village chiefs, gaon burahs and panchayat members of the region not to attend the meeting called by the NSCN (IM), stating that the meeting’s agenda is unknown.
