Imphal: Moreh’s Naga community, displaced during the ethnic violence of 1992, has renewed its demand for repatriation and rehabilitation, urging the Manipur government to facilitate their return to their ancestral lands.
Speaking to the media in Imphal on August 27, Moreh Naga Village Authority chairman Marashang Hashuwoshi called for immediate government intervention to resettle the displaced families in their original village areas in Moreh.
Hashuwoshi also sought regular financial and material assistance for the displaced Nagas, on par with relief being provided to communities displaced by the ethnic conflict that began in Manipur on May 3, 2023.
The Village Authority pointed to what it described as a disparity in government support between those displaced in the 1992 violence and people affected by the ongoing conflict.
“Both Kuki and Meitei displaced persons receive regular assistance from the government,” Hashuwoshi said, seeking similar support for Naga families who have remained displaced for decades.
He said the community’s primary demand was state-supported repatriation and rehabilitation in their former settlements.
The Village Authority said many displaced families continue to possess valid homestead pattas, or land title documents, for properties in Moreh. It also claimed that records identifying the individual landholders remain available with the state government’s Settlement Office.
According to the community leaders, these records provide documentary evidence of the families’ claims to their ancestral properties and could facilitate repatriation.
Following the violence in 1992, displaced Moreh residents took shelter at a temporary relief camp in Irong village in present-day Tengnoupal district.
Hashuwoshi said the families remained at the camp for around two to three months. During that period, limited relief supplies were provided, with assistance from the United Naga Council (UNC) and other Naga civil society organisations.
However, he claimed that government support largely stopped after the initial period. While some displaced families received limited financial or material assistance following the violence, most were left without sustained support, according to the Village Authority.
The community said repeated representations to the authorities failed to bring a lasting response. It claimed that memoranda submitted to state officials and the Deputy Commissioner as recently as 2014 did not result in meaningful action.
Hashuwoshi also highlighted the history of Naga settlements in Moreh, saying the community had established a continuous presence in the border town from 1974.
According to figures cited by the Village Authority, official records from that period listed 73 Naga settlements with a combined population of 539 people.
The community leaders said Nagas, Kukis and other groups lived in Moreh for years before tensions escalated.
Hashuwoshi alleged that the arrival of Kuki migrants from across the Myanmar border, along with local Kuki groups, contributed to growing tensions and violence against Naga residents.
He alleged that Naga homes were burned, properties destroyed and families forced to leave Moreh amid the violence.
The Moreh Naga Village Authority is now seeking government intervention to address the long-standing displacement and establish a mechanism for the safe return and rehabilitation of the affected families.