NSCN (IM) has dropped sovereignty issue statement from Rijiju draws flaks
Immature, not competent to comment on issue: NSCN(IM)
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, April 09 2018: Taking strong exception to the statement of Union MoS for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju that the NSCN (IM) has dropped the demand for sovereignty, the outfit today termed the statement as an 'immature statement' adding that he (Rijiju) is 'incompetent to comment' on the issue.

In a statement issued to the media today, the outfit said that the statement of Rijiju has created a 'lot of confusion thereby vitiating the environment of negotiation and the NSCN deems it necessary to make it plain and clear to one and all of what has been transpiring all along these twenty one years of historic negotiations' .

NSCN (IM) has dropped sovereignty issue statement from Rijiju draws flaks

Stating that it is unbecoming of Rijiju to have made such a statement through the local and National media (reported widely on the 8th of April 2018) of the on-going negotiation to which "he is incompetent to comment," the NSCN (IM) said that it is demeaning of him to denigrate the Indo-Naga talk which is being held at the Prime Ministerial level.

"At no point of the negotiation have the two parties ignored important political issues, and the concocted statement of Rijiju that NSCN has 'dropped' the stand of the Nagas on their sovereign right" is a figment of his own imagination, added the statement.

When the talk is progressing at the highest level, Rijiju has no business to talk on political issues of which he is ignorant, added the outfit.

During the foundation day of the BJP at Guwahati on April 7, Rijiju had reportedly said that the NSCN (IM) has dropped the sovereignty issue adding that the talks are going on within the Constitution of India.

The Framework Agreement of August 3, 2015 has laid down the principles and foundation towards a final solution, said NSCN (IM) and added that making irresponsible statements in the media contravenes the spirit of the peace talk.

Such a statement was uncalled for.

"We advise him to restrain himself from such repetition in the near future in the interest of both the parties," said NSCN (IM).

On August 7, during the foundation day celebration of the BJP, Kiren Rijiju was reported as having told the media that "several 'serious' demands have been dropped from the agenda of the ongoing peace talks with the Isak-Muivah faction of National Socialist Council of Nagalim.

These include the issue of sovereignty of the areas inhabited by the Nagas.

"The Naga peace talks are going on for a long time.

We have said that we will go by a concrete timeline but before that we need to have some kind of an understanding or a framework on the basis of which the talks can progress," Rijiju is quoted as saying.

"I had during the Assembly elections in Nagaland (in February) told the Nagas that the Centre would come out with a tangible solution to the protracted Naga political problem," Rijiju was quoted as having said and added that a final peace deal will not hurt the territorial interests of the North Eastern States bordering Nagaland.