HT Correspondent
DIMAPUR, Oct 3: The Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) asserted that, as far as it is concerned, only the Nagas are the indigenous people of Nagaland and other Naga-inhabited areas.
Reacting to the Rising People’s Party’s (RPP) statement expressing concern over non-inclusion of non-Naga indigenous tribes in the recruitment in the state police that was advertised on September 30, the inner line regulation commission (ILRC) of the NSF, in a release, said it was flabbergasted by the former’s statement.
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The ILRC sought to know from the RPP who are the “non-Naga indigenous tribes” in Nagaland.
Stating that it understands that other tribes and communities had also settled in various Naga areas, the NSF, however, said calling migrants indigenous to the land undermines the very sanctity of the peoples who have existed in those lands since time immemorial.
It said the RPP must understand that the United Nations, as the world’s apex organisation, has distinctively defined the term “indigenous” to preserve the distinct status of peoples who are indigenous to the lands they inhabit.
The NSF said the indigeneity of the Nagas to their land cannot be eroded by any factor whatsoever. It added that indigeneity to land inhabited by the Nagas is intrinsic to the Nagas and no one else.
Calling the Nagaland government’s decision on the matter “appropriate”, the NSF said the RPP’s characterisation of that decision as having “reflected poorly on the policy makers of the state” is devoid of logic.
Instead, it only reflects the utter ignorance of the RPP and amounts to an attempt to diminish the uniqueness of the Nagas in their ancestral homeland, the federation stated.
Acknowledging the existence of non-Nagas who came to Nagaland before December 1, 1963, the NSF urged the government to grant them suitable status so that their presence is recognised legally and officially.
It also appealed to those individuals, tribes, or communities who arrived in the state before December 1, 1963, not to be swayed by unfounded apprehensions, but to register their claims so that newcomers or self-interested individuals do not dilute their original status.
