KU Peace Mission team urges tribal leaders to shun violence

Mon, October 21 (MExN): The Konyak Union (KU) has undertaken a five-day ‘Peace Mission’ across Eastern Nagaland from October 15 to 19, advocating peace and engaging tribal leaders and civil society organisations in Shamator, Kiphire, Noklak, Tuensang and Longleng districts.The KU Peace Mission team also attended fellowship services at seven tribal churches in Tuensang town and appealed to church leaders to take a proactive, leading role in bringing calm and healing to the region during this “highly fragile situation”.“The KU Peace Mission marks a vital intervention to ease recent inter-tribal tensions and restore stability across Eastern Nagaland,” KU President K Yamao Konyak and General Secretary Wango Konyak said in a press release. The mission’s objective is to restore normalcy by advocating peace and unity for inter-tribal harmony and to bridge community gaps within Eastern Nagaland to ensure regional stability and peaceful coexistence under ENPO leadership, they said, urging tribal leaders to foster peace, maintain brotherhood and shun violence.The team made a strategic stop in Kiusam town, headquarters of the Tikhir Tribal Council (TTC), a critical focal point given recent communal frictions in the area and met tribal leaders and members of the displaced affected community. It also met the Deputy Commissioners of Kiphire and Shamator on the situation.The Peace Mission operated in line with the Eastern Nagaland Peoples’ Organisation’s (ENPO) resolution adopted on December 18, 2007, which strictly prohibits any form of bloodshed and violence within Eastern Nagaland’s jurisdiction. During the mission, the team held a consultative meeting with ENPO leaders in Tuensang, briefed them on the ground reality and asked them to forward the same to the Nagaland government for necessary action.The tour concluded in Longleng town with a meeting with the Phom People’s Council.