Defending a Shared Legacy

The Indo-Myanmar Border Fencing Causes Widespread Resentment Among Nagas.

For the people residing in Nagaland’s Tuensang District bordering Myanmar, the holidays have been catastrophic faced as they were with the prospect of being arbitrarily fenced-off from their brethren residing on the other side of artificially created boundaries. On 17th December 2016, the Khiamniungan Tribal Council (KTC), the apex body of Khiamniungan Nagas, in a memorandum beseeched the Government of India (GOI) and Myanmar not to divide their people living on both sides of the international border. Since then, the fencing project have stirred strong sentiments among the Nagas, who see it as another attempt to usurp the Naga way of life which they have been practising since time immemorial.

Local Bodies Unified in Opposing Fencing

Several Nagas tribal organisations, students’ bodies and Naga Political Groups (NPGs) on both sides of the border have conveyed its strong opposition. On 29th December 2016, a joint consultative meeting of Eastern Nagaland Public Organisation (ENPO), the apex body representing the eastern Nagas with its six constituent units - Chang, Khiamniungan, Konyak, Phom, Sangtam, and Yimchungrü Nagas adopted the ENPO Pangsha Resolution to oppose the ongoing fencing work.