Tobu (Mon), Feb. 10: Close to the Myanmar border stands the serene village of Tobu with a mixed population of Konyak and Chang Naga tribals.

But land disputes in this village have sent tempers running high among both the tribes in Mon and Tuensang districts of Nagaland.

While the Konyaks claim the village, Changs in neighbouring Tuensang district refuse to give up. They claim the entire area between the Taithung and Kaimong rivers as theirs.

A Chang tribe dobashi (interpreter) said Taithung meant ?a cup of water? in their dialect. The Konyaks, who are in a majority now, say they have been tilling the land since the founding of the village. ?Both Changs and Konyaks were living together, but there are only Konyaks now,? said village council chairman N. Leangin Konyak.

The complex issue is apparently the fallout of a clash for identity.

?Intermarriages among the two tribes are responsible for the dispute as each tribe claims they are in the majority,? alleged Hangpong Konyak, a dobashi from Mon.

The outward serenity of the village is also quite deceptive. In the late 1990s, the village was burnt down by its own people and more than 30 people were killed. Last year, at least two persons were killed in Konyak-Chang clashes. The dispute has become a rallying point for politicians and even the NSCN rebel factions. Several lives have been lost in the last two decades since the dispute took a violent turn. Only last week, police sources said an improvised explosive device (IED) was found in the area. It is not known who planted it.

Rich in water and soil qualities, the village is literally going down the poverty line, as the people do not till their fields for fear of violence.

Nagaland commissioner T.N. Mannen visited the village last week in a bid to take stock of the situation there. ?I am sad to see how pathetic the condition of the people is,? Mannen said.

The Tuensang Mon People?s Organisation (TMPO) is tipped to be the social group, which can bring permanent peace since it comprises representatives from both tribes.

Tobu people are believed to have migrated from Bijing village in the Noklak area. Even 29 generations later and staying among a predominantly Khiamniungan tribe majority, the people still speak their unique dialect.

The forefathers of Tobu dwellers spoke in Konyak, Chang, Khiamniungan, Ao and even Tenyidie (Angami region) dialects, said Leangin.

Now, administrative division and alleged hegemony has diluted the people?s claim to being unique.

?More than 50 per cent of our language is similar to the upper Konyak dialect, so we are Konyaks,? claimed 55-year-old Nyamnyie Konyak.

As the area remains tense, the government has set up a police post near Sansangnyu, a Chang-dominated village on the inter-district boundary. Of the two battalions of the IRB in Nagaland, one is deployed exclusively for Tobu.