DIMAPUR, Sept 10 NNN : When the 60 MLAs of Nagaland legislative assembly joined to form a Joint Legislature Forum (JLF) and declare to vacate their seats for Naga solution, everyone thought that the ruling and the opposition MLAs of Nagaland legislative assembly are here for cordial nexus. However, the recent Sema-Angami communal clash in the Nagaland commercial hub Dimapur has become too big a temptation for these legislators for the harvest of political mileage.On Monday, the ruling Naga People’s Front (NPF) has accused the opposition Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee of trying to rake up as much as political issue out of the recent Sema-Angami clash.
NPF’s reaction came following the Congress party blaming chief minister Neiphiu Rio of giving mishandling the communal clash.
“The NPCC has tried its level best to politicise the unfortunate incidents of August 31 and September 1 in order to get political mileage, but it has fallen flat on its face and the Congress in Nagaland has exposed its narrow minded intentions to all of Naga society. At a time when different sections of the people especially civil society and tribal organisations were making all out efforts to forge understanding, the Congress resorted to its old trick of trying to politicise the sequence of events, thereby revealing their true colour to the people. The absurd demand of the NPCC for the dismissal of the duly elected Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) Government is rejected and condemned,” the NPF said in a press communique today.
The NPCC’s statement accusing the chief minister of “giving undue weightage to the civil societies” also exposes the anti-people approach of the NPCC. In Naga society, we hold the tribal organisations, civil societies and mass based organisations in high regard and it is in our customs and traditions to respect and acknowledge these frontal organisations. They carry the voice and feelings of all the Naga tribes and they are protected even by the Constitution of India as enshrined in Article 371 A, the NPF added.
The NPF then said that for the benefit of the NPCC, it is pertinent to point out that Article 371 A of the Constitution of India clearly states that notwithstanding anything in the Constitution, no act of Parliament in respect of religious or social practices of the Nagas, Naga customary law and procedure, administration of civil and criminal justice involving decisions according to Naga customary law, ownership and transfer of land and its resources, shall apply to the State of Nagaland unless the Legislative Assembly of Nagaland by a resolution so decides.
It also pointed out that the Sixteen Points Agreement in clause 8 with regard to Local self Government states that “each tribe shall have the following units of rule making and administrative local bodies to deal with matters concerning the respective tribes and areas such as the village councils, the range councils the tribal councils. It says that “these councils will also deal with disputes and cases involving breaches of customary laws and usages.
“Clause 9 of the Sixteen Points Agreement under the heading Administration of Justice further states that (a) the existing systems of administration of civil and criminal justice shall continue. (b) Appellant courts. (1) the district court cum sessions court (for each district) high courts and Supreme Court of India (2) the Naga Tribunal for the whole of Nagaland in respect of cases decided according to customary law.
The Nagaland Village and Area Councils Act, 1978 (Nagaland Act No. 1 1979) has been amended to be called the Nagaland Village Councils Act, 1978 by section 2 of the Nagaland Village and Area Councils (Second Amendment) Act, 1990 (Nagaland Act No. 7 of 1990). The Act of 1979 had repealed the Nagaland Village, Area and Regional Council Act, 1970 (Act No. 2 of 1971), as extended to the erstwhile districts of Kohima and Mokokchung, which had also repealed the Nagaland Tribal, Area, Range and Village Councils Act 1966, that was enacted for the establishment of Tribal, Area, Range and Village Councils in the erstwhile districts of Kohima and Mokokchung. The Nagaland Village, Area & Regional Councils Act 1978 has been amended for the fourth occasion by the present assembly, unanimously, in 2009 with full participation of the opposition Congress during the Fourth Session of the 11th Nagaland Legislative Assembly session on 11th July 2009.
Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/npf-on-clashes-between-naga-tribes/
