Govt reviews border dispute with Nagaland

Imphal, Jul 10: Manipur is reviewing the century-old border dispute with Nagaland.

Officials here said Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh, TK Thekho, MLA from Mao, which borders Nagaland, and other officials discussed the issue.

Another MLA from Mao, RK Thekho, a Naga, said the Congress was trying to protect Manipur's territorial integrity and people should trust the inhabitants of Senapati, a Naga dominated district, to seriously fight for early settlement of the border dispute.

He said the dispute was already there when Manipur was ruled by the king and even after the British occupied the area. The Manipur government dealt with Assam government as Nagaland was part of Assam. The problems arose due to holding of land by people of Nagaland in Manipur and vice versa, RK Thekho said.

The Nagaland government had opened an outpost at the disputed land at the border area and Manipur immediately opened a post,however later in 2000 Manipur removed all posts in the disputed area.

There were some other villages like Laii (Manipur) which has land in Nagaland, Slate and Zamai (Nagaland) which has land in Manipur which caused problems and tensions. The Manipur government had deposited Rs 30,000 with the Survey of India but no survey had actually been taken-up.

Thekho further said there had been systematic encroachment by Khezhakhuno village on the forest land belonging to Tungjoy with 'full government patronage' of Nagaland State.

It is a fact that Khezhakhuno village had so far occupied the area of disputed forestland belonging traditionally to Tungjoy with the sole objective of establishing their claim, Thekho said.

The Village Authority Council of Tungjoy submitted representations to the Manipur government petitioning for preventive measure.

It was at the invitation of Khezhakhuno village (Nagaland) that the chief minister of Nagaland toured on May 25 the location of disputed forest land where they (Nagaland) have intruded by taking up construction works.

UNI