Longwa, India – The people who live there, Longwa is a typical Hilltop village. The most popular structure is waved by a tin of the roof that belongs to Angh-in, an inherited tribe boss.
But recently residents are worried about another, less visible, local landmark: the border between India and Myanmar, which passes through the center of the village.
National boundaries have never been important before the important in Local Tribe Konyak. “I eat in Myanmar and sleep in India,” says Tonyei Phawang, Angh, whose house sits on the border.
The Indian government is now asking to stop border crossings, abolish the system that has made legal trick people to move freely and threaten a boundary fence that could reduce villages like Longwa in two.
On Thursday in December, the Longwino market is busy with customers from the MinarMarska side, motorcycles were loaded with so much salt, flour, biscuits, clothing, milk, tea, soap. The nearest city with the market on the other side of the border is Laha, the full day is leaving.
The locals have long come and go shopping, study or seek medical care, without a sign to cross the international border other than the border marker in the village. Members of Angh and the villages say that their ancestors had no idea that the concrete pillar should have shared them when it was built in the early 1970s.
“At that time, we had no idea that this was India or Myanmar. It was a free country. There was no one who understood English or Hindi. They don’t understand anything,” says Phawang. “
Like dozens of other indigenous tribes of Naga, the mainland Konyaka purifies the mountains sharing India and Myanmar. The villages of Naga are usually built on safety hills, something that was not considered when the British East India attracted the border in the Agreement with the Kingdom of the Burma at the time.
The Institution of India does not allow double citizenship, but people in Longw are seen as belonging to both countries.
“I’m from India and Burma,” Phawang said, using another name for the land officially known as Myanmar. “I vote in the Burma’s elections. And when the Indian election comes and I’m there I vote.”
Phawang is the head of six villages of Konyak in India and more than 30 in Myanmar, whose inhabitants pay the devotion to the annual feast as they have about 10 generations.
The reach of the Indian situation was very limited to the foregoing on this time. Until recently. Here they often have documents from both governments, Khriezo Yhome, senior associate and editor in Asian Eye, a research cistere who works to create an understanding of the eastern South Asian. “However, it was practical that the state should be done.”
Until recently, the inhabitants on both sides could legally travel within 16 kilometers) within 16 miles). Internal security From the country and to maintain the demographic structure in the Indian northeastern state bordering Myanmar. “
The change was slowly coming to Longwu: It took almost a year before the soldiers started checking the documents, and Longw residents continue to move freely after their shifts are going to early afternoon. But people from other villages in Myanmar are afraid to travel outside Longwa to get to school or medical care, B. Phohi Konyak said, a former local leader of the organization representing women representing women.
The Indian Minister of House Amit Shah said the government decided to build a fence along the entire 1,643 kilometer (1,021 miles) long borders Indo-Myanmar.
If the legal border is followed, it would have to be reduced through dozens of houses. Out of 990 buildings in the village, 170 lies on the border line – including government school, church and military camp.
Wangron Konyak, 23, he drove five hours on his motorcycle from the village of Momkho to pick up his sister as a school closed. “If we are not allowed to come to this side, we will suffer a lot. For those studying in the Myanmar school, it will be fine, but people like my sister studying in India will be very affected.”
Residents and state officials refuse to change.
The Nagaland state government has forwarded a resolution that opposed the end regime and plans for the border fence, and on 3. February, Longw residents bear protests with slogans such as “arousing autognic rights,” not colonial legacy! “
Yhome, the expert said that effort would stop the locals crossing the border could violate UN declaration on the rights of indigenous people, who seeks to protect the integrity of the border fire community.
“There is no Burma Longwa or India Longwa for us,” Yanlang, a 45-year member of the village council. “How can one village be divided and one family?” query
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2025-02-28 08:38:00
