Zeliangrong Heraka Association Nagaland, Zeliangrong Heraka Youth Organisation Nagaland and Zeliang Heraka Pailei Baudi Nagaland jointly condemned the gruesome murder of five Zemi Nagas from the Zemi villages including Nampuidungbe and Haikiateung of Tungje village on March 19 and Tsuilungbe and Echeulung of Bourenew village on March 23 leaving behind seven people critically injured.
In a press statement issued on March 23, the Heraka Association appealed to the scholars, political leaders, Heraka leaders and social workers of both the communities?Dimasa and Nagas?to initiate a fruitful dialogue across the table and sort out the misunderstandings before it flares up in other areas inhabited by mixed population. ?The painful memory of clashes between Dimasas and Karbis only few years ago are still fresh in our mind which had swallowed over a 100 innocent lives and over 2000 houses were burnt driving out over 25,000 villagers to nearly a dozen relief camps. Let the history not repeat itself. If the trouble-makers are not arrested and punished as per the law, it is apprehended that the repercussions may surface elsewhere which may become difficult to contain. Moreover, it will destroy the age-old mutual confidence and regard for each other between Dimasas and Nagas. The leaders of both the communities should note it and do the needful to resolve it at the earliest,? the statement said.
The Association condemned the driving out of innocent residents of several villages in bordering areas from their villages. It is alleged that DHD (J) is behind all this trouble and gruesome murder.
?Zeliangrong Heraka Association Nagaland recalls the intermittent clashes meted out at Nagas in NC Hills by Dimasa armed outfit in the past in quest of creating Dima Raji out of NC Hills and Karbi Anglong which will be a homeland for Dimasas only. But Nagas have been living in that area from ancient times. They cannot be driven out from their ancestral villages,? the statement added.
(FOC)
