SAYO asks Maos to leave Southern Angami areas, bans their entry

Reported by Donald Sairem

In a major development, the Southern Angami Youth Organisation (SAYO) has asked the Maos living in the southern Angami areas to leave with immediate effect and has imposed a ban on their movement in the areas under the Southern Angami jurisdication.

SAYO has asked the Mao communities living in the southern Angami jurisdiction to “withdraw” from the Soutnern Angami areas effective today. All the village youth organisation has been given full authority to exercise their power to scrutinise the Maos in and around the Southern Angami areas. The SAYO along with some volunteers would check the area for any Mao resident from today till December 19.

SAYO’s decision is based on Southern Anagami Public Organisation (SAPO) blaming the Mao Council and the Manipur Government of “threatening the very peaceful co-existence and security of the region by harbouring and deploying the Manipur Arms security personals, issuing 144 Cr. PC and forcefully constructing illegal roads, houses, electrification…demolition of the rest house of the South Angami People and constructing an illegal alternative route to Dzukou…” This act of illegal aggression by the Mao Council and Manipur Government prohibiting the TPO (Tenyimi People’s Organisation) and its judiciary board to resolve the matter in a conducive atmosphere is deeply regretted”.

Therefore, the SAPO decided to impose the restriction and prohibit movement of the Mao people in Southern Angami areas.

The SAYO has decided to prohibit Maos from visiting and travelling in the Southern Angami areas as a preventative measure to avoid any untoward incident

Meanwhile, speaking to Northeast Live, Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh said that the dispute is not between Nagaland and Manipur but between the villages of Mao and Southern Angami.
He said that he had already spoken to MLA of Mao constituency regarding this and expressed hope that the issues will be resolved amicably between the two communities. The Manipur government in is also in contact with the Nagaland Government over the matter.

The Board of Arbitration of Tenyimi People’s Court in 2016 had persuaded both parties to resolve their differences amicably by respecting each other’s customary usages and practices under Tenyimi Customary Laws and it was mutually agreed to maintain and respect the ownership and the brotherhood fraternity by maintaining status quo which had been in practice since time immemorial. Thereafter, the contested areas were handed over by the parties to the TPO and its Board of Arbitration for properly adjudicating the matter of dispute based on identifying the genuine land owners and resolving the issue in consonance with the customary usages and practices.

But the SAPO alleged that the Mao Council with the help of the Manipur government breached the understanding and broke the trust.

Copy edited by Lipika Roy

Also Read: Manipur: SAPO calls 3-day shutdown in Southern Angami areas

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