Theja Therieh addressing Tsükhenye festival at Kisama on April 26
ZAPO Kohima unit celebrates Tsükhenye festival
Our Correspondent
Kohima | April 26
The Zuketsa Area Public Organization (ZAPO) Kohima unit celebrated Tsükhenye festival 2025 at Kisama on Saturday with Theja Therieh, peace activist and Advisor, Kohima Chakhesang Hoho as the special guest.
Addressing the celebration, Therieh said that Tsükhenye festival celebrates the rich heritage, traditions, and agricultural practices of the Chakhesang people. The festival typically involves rituals, cultural performances, traditional music, and dance, which serve to reinforce community bonds and connect people with their cultural roots, he said.
He appealed the gathering to create a positive impact “in our ailing Naga society that calls for our ardent participation to reclaim the good image of our society.” The Naga society today requires reformation to restore the old values and transform our society to move back to the right track, Therieh said.
“Today, we are fortunate to have a state with special provisions and privileges, and therefore, we must protect and preserve what rightfully belongs to us,” he said adding that one of “our biggest problems today is the assimilation of people from outside, and despite having BEFR 1873, popularly known as ILP, we are unable to prevent illegal immigration.”
“We don’t need to be hostile to the immigrants, but we need a unique identification of people in our state and for this reason, the state has proposed to exercise Registration of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland (RIIN),” he said.
RIIN exercise must be executed in totality to identify the residents and place them in different categories of entitlement and privileges as per the existing law of the land, and yet for whatever reason best known to people in power, the state government is unable to prepare a real time data, a master list with classifications of citizens in the state, he said.
No matter how much we try at different levels, ILP cannot be implemented to the fullest in the absence of proper identification and classification of citizens in the state, Therieh said adding that “ This unique identification of citizens, RIIN exercise, is required in place of NRC, different from other states in India, because of our unique and special status that we are enjoying today as the state born out of political agreement and the special provisions that come under Article 371A of the Indian Constitution.”
Elected leaders must act to resolve Naga Political Issue
Stating that the stalemate of our progress and development is because of our Naga political issue, he said the ongoing negotiations must be brought to its logical conclusion “and for that the elected house must come out from its Status quo club and facilitate the peace process with all sincerity and commitment by taking the full constitutional responsibilities over the state and its citizens.”
“The Naga negotiating groups must be pragmatic and accept the contemporary and ground realities. This is not the time for the Naga political groups to exhibit superiority and dominance over one another. The time has come for us to set aside our pride and ego and accept reality,” he said.
He said that the GOI initiated talks with NSCN (IM) in 1997 and signed the Framework Agreement on August 3, 2015. The GOI also invited the Working Committee of NNPGs for talks in 2017 and signed the Agreed Position on November 17, 2017. Both Agreements are gentlemen’s agreements with the full mandate of the GOI and are in the custody of the GOI. Therefore, it is incumbent on the GOI to incorporate the two Agreements into a comprehensive agreement and sign an inclusive, enduring, and respectful agreement.
“The need of the hour is for an independent civil body that can take full responsibility on behalf of the stakeholders to create a landing ground for solutions. The time is right for the civil bodies to converge and remain focused on the task ahead,” Therieh added.
Earlier, Kewethsii Kenye pronounced act of blessings. The programme was compered by Nyitso Therie, president Lasumi Union Kohima while ZAPO Kohima unit president Er. Lhiwepe Khutsoh proposed vote of thanks. The festival was marked by cultural performances and Naga wrestling competition.
