Eviction Drive Ignites Border Disputes Between Assam and Nagaland
Security sources said that the Disputed Area Belt (DAB) between Assam and Nagaland has long been a sensitive and unsettled matter
Guwahati: The ongoing eviction drive in Rengma Forest in Assam’s Golaghat district adjoining the border with Nagaland has re-ignited the border dispute between the two states with Lotha Tribal groups of Nagaland forcing the authorities to suspend the plantation drive of the Assam government on about 12,000 bighas of forest land recovered in recent eviction drive.
However, decision to suspend the plantation drive in Rengma Forest in Assam's Uriamghat was taken in a meeting between Nagaland deputy chief minister Y Patton and Assam forest minister Chandra Mohan Patowary on Saturday, tension had been prevailing in the area since Thursday, the day Assam cabinet announced and deputed Mr Patowary to kick start the plantation drive in Rengma Reserve Forest.
Security sources said that the Disputed Area Belt (DAB) between Assam and Nagaland has long been a sensitive and unsettled matter. “For the Lotha Nagas of the Ralan and Yanmhon areas, this is not simply disputed land on a map — it is our ancestral domain, historically and traditionally owned under customary law and further safeguarded under Article 371(A) of the Constitution of India. This provision makes clear that no Act of Parliament applies to Naga customary law or ownership and transfer of land and resources without the consent of the Nagas,” said the local community leaders of Nagaland.
The local Aghunaqa Kukami Hoho, Western Sumi Hoho, Western Sumi Kukami Hoho, Western Sumi Youth Front, Aghunaqa Area Youth Front, and Ralan Aghunaqa Naga Public Organisation, which opposed the plantation drive of Assam chief minister and forced deputy chief minister of Nagaland to hold talks with his counterparts in Assam said, “From Nagaland’s perspective, the ongoing eviction drive is illegitimate, provocative, and deeply injurious to the fragile peace along the Assam–Nagaland border. It violates legal principles, distorts historical truth, creates humanitarian suffering, and threatens to inflame ethnic and inter-state tensions. The failure of Nagaland’s own leadership to stand firm compounds the injury.”
Mr Patowary who had to return without planting any tree sapling from the Rengma Forest Reserve after Mr Patton refused to initiate the plantation drive without consultations between Nagaland CM Neiphiu Rio, however said that the drive has not stopped due to opposition from the Nagaland side. "They have not said that the plantation drive will be stopped. They said the plantation will be carried out jointly and they have no objection to it," he added.
Mr Patton told reporters that till this matter is discussed between the CMs of Nagaland and Assam, the plantation will be kept on hold.
