NSCN (IM) advises Karbi students

Kohima, Jun 14
The NSCN (IM) on Monday, recommended several history books to the Karbi Students’ Association (KSA) over its differences on the status of the Rengma Nagas in Assam with regard to the proposed Karbi-Anglong Autonomous Territorial Council (KAATC).
Through a statement issued by its MIP, the group said the KSA is “befooling the people by being ignorant of their roots, blinded by the proposed KAATC syndrome”.
“Historical references are available in plenty about the bonafide status of the Rengma Nagas, or for that matter about the Karbis in the socio-political melee of Assam history,” the NSCN (IM) said.
The group said that irrespective of tribal affiliations, nobody can play fool with the well documented historical records.
“The Government of India’s scheme of things as proposed under the controversial KAATC should find their support from historical legitimacy. Simply to appease the Karbi militants at the cost of overlooking the indigenous Rengma Nagas will only complicate the matter,” it said.
The NSCN (IM) said that the KSA should study the issue from credible historical perspective and not allow itself to be carried away by the “unjustified generosity of the Government of India and Government of Assam in the good name of controlling Assam militants,” and advised the student body to know where it stands and scrutinize their claims with historical facts.
“The Karbis who are immigrants from different places like Sivasagar, Nagaon, Cachar, Tezpur, Lakhimpur, Silchar and Khasi and Jaintia Hills during the British Rule cannot claim themselves the status of original inhabitants. The British Ruler had declared the present Karbi Anglong areas as Rengma Naga Hills for the legitimate reason as they find the areas inhabited by the Rengma Nagas. The declaration came into effect vide  1841 Official Gazette,” said NSCN-IM.
It went on to say that the status Karbis are now enjoying in the Rengma Naga Hills is rooted in immigration from other places, courtesy the British rule. In this regard, it advised the student body to refer to some books on history.
The group also listed details of books for reference: Assamese history book, Rengma Naga Jonogosty Otit and Bortoman (Rengma Naga History Past and Present, Book of the Year-1841, page no. 34) which highlights the recognition of 52 Rengma villages; book on the province of Assam written by AJ Moffat Mills (page No 216 and 217)-The Rengma Naga; Travel In Assam by John Bulter; North East Frontier of India by Alexander Mac Kenzie; and Map detail on Rengma Hills (year 1845 – 1846, year – 1848, 1875 and 1884).  
As reported earlier, the NSCN (IM) had stated that the historical status of the Rengma Nagas who are the “true sons of the soil” cannot be questioned and that it will not accept the alienation of the ancestral land of the Nagas.