NPF replies to news portal report
April 4, 2018, Kohima: Nagaland
The attention of the Naga People’s Front, Central Headquarters, is drawn to an article published by an online news portal Swarajyamag.com written by one Jaideep Mazumdar under the caption “NIA’s Naga Terror-Funding Probe Reveals Insidious Role Of Top Bureaucrats, Politicians and Church Elder”, wherein outrageous and unsubstantiated claims were made portraying the Church, Bureaucrats and the NPF party and its leaders as funding a proscribed outfit.
The article quoted unnamed officials of the NIA as having found that NPF leader TR Zeliang was personally involved in what the author said “collection of taxes on behalf of the NSCN (K).” This statement is simply intolerable since the author of the said article has attempted to charge-sheet an innocent even before investigations are concluded.
The author also had the temerity to claim that the alleged close links Zeliang had with the NSCN (K) was the reason behind the BJP breaking its alliance with the NPF and joining hands with the NDPP, which only goes to show the ignorance of the author about the political ground realities in Nagaland in the run up to the Elections in February 27 last.
It is obvious that the author and the Swarajyamag.com news portal have political interests in projecting the NPF and its leaders in a poor light, and this, in itself, is lamentable.
But it is most loathsome and reprehensible when the author and the news portal make a clumsy attempt to polarize the society and nation on cultural and religious lines by casting aspersions on the Churches in Nagaland as involved in collecting taxes for proscribed outfits and pocketing hefty amounts for evangelization!
This is a ridiculous allegation and would have been most amusing if not for the gravity of the claim. This is as absurd as to claim that all tribals are insurgents; all Muslims are terrorists; all Hindus are right-wing fundamentalists!
The author will do well by doing some research on the active role of the Church in Nagaland to bring together the various groups to the negotiating table with the Government of India and the tireless efforts of the Church all these decades to bring peace and normalcy in these parts of the country.
And for the information of the author – he obviously requires a lot of information about Nagaland – the Naga People’s Front has the motto of Fide Non Armis (By Faith, not by Arms) and as enunciated by the Motto, the party is wedded to the principles of non violence and has affirmed that it shall strive for resolution of all conflicts through peaceful means.
The NPF party, as contained in its Constitution, has solemnly affirmed “to bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established… and to uphold the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India.”
The fact that a news portal could have such a poorly informed person as its Associate Editor, and the fact that the news portal publishes such outlandish articles, speaks volumes about the intellectual poverty of the news group.
* This Press Release was sent to e-pao.net by Press Bureau, Naga People’s Front who can be contacted at npfpressbureau(AT)rediffmail(DOT)com
This Press Release was posted on April 05 2018
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