Tikhir, Yimkhiung tribal councils sign deal to end Nagaland dispute

The Tikhir Tribal Council (TTC) and the Yimkhiung Tribal Council (YTC) have signed an agreement meant to settle the dispute between the two Naga tribes, covering where displaced families will live, which administration each village falls under, and who owns the land, Eastern Mirror reported on Monday.

The resolutions were adopted at a joint consultative meeting in Dimapur on November 7. The presidents of both councils signed the document, and it was handed to the Commissioner of Nagaland in Kohima on Monday with a request that the state act on it quickly in the interest of lasting peace.

The meeting followed talks on the Tikhir-Yimkhiung conflict held at the Commissioner's conference hall in Kohima on November 3. The two councils said the deal was reached without preconditions.

New villages for displaced families

Under the agreement:

• Displaced Tikhir families from Zaonger and Thulun can jointly set up a separate Tikhir village under the Kiusam EAC headquarters, at a site to be identified by the Zaonger Village Council.
• Displaced Tikhir families from Longtsonger can set up their own Tikhir village under Kiusam, with the Longtsonger Village Council choosing the site.
• Displaced Yimkhiung families from Pokphur can set up a separate Yimkhiung village under the Pungro administration, at a site identified by the Pokphur Village Council.

People from either tribe who are displaced elsewhere will keep getting government benefits through their parent villages until the new villages are formally recognised.

Which village belongs where

The deal also fixes the tribal identity of the existing villages: Pokphur will be a Tikhir village, while Zaonger, Longtsonger and Thulun will be Yimkhiung villages.

On administration, all Tikhir villages, existing and new, will come under the Kiusam block, and Yimkhiung villages under the Khongsa/Pungro block. Longtsonger will move from Kiusam to the Pungro administration, and Sangtsung from Kiusam to Khongsa.

Land, property and court case

Fields and khetis (farm plots) will stay with their individual owners wherever they now live. Displaced Yimkhiung residents of Sukiur 'A' will not return to that village, but the TTC will see that their confiscated property, fields and khetis are given back to them without conditions. The YTC, for its part, will move to withdraw a related case pending before the Shamator District Board's Court.

Both councils said all existing issues between them now stand resolved and that no new disputes of a similar kind raised by individuals or groups in any village would be entertained.

Background

Tensions between the two communities in eastern Nagaland's Shamator and Kiphire areas had led to displacement and reports of arson in recent months. The agreement now needs the state government's backing to take effect, particularly the recognition of new villages and the transfer of villages between administrative units.