Source: The Imphal Free Press
Imphal, July 19:
The Naga Hoho yesterday in a meeting said the waves of violent protest in the Imphal valley against the extension of Naga ceasefire area coverage have revealed the extremely complicated and sensitive challenge Nagas face to the evolve a workable solution with their neighbours and called for a settlement that will �ensure security, stability and peace for ourselves and for our neighbours�.
�Our actions will decide whether we develop and survive together in a changing world or drag one another down to a common hell of perpetual animosity and violence which can only be destructive to all,� a release sent to IFP said.
It will be a serious error for Nagas to ignore or treat lightly the intensity and depth of our neighbours� insecurity about their fortune.
It will be equally unwise for our neighbours to underestimate what the Naga struggle and its goals have come to mean to the Nagas, it said.
The release said the specially convened meeting of Nagas by over 15 Naga organizations as well as a wide cross section of Naga society from all walks of life, calls upon all out leaders, �underground� and �overground�, to leave behind all their short-term, counterproductive, tactics and actions of damaging one another and rise together to adequately meet the looming threat before the Naga people.
The Hoho also called upon the Nagas at this to exercise restraint.
We recognize that, at this moment, the sufferings of our Naga brothers and sisters in the neighbouring states, especially Manipur, are real, the release said.
A special committee has been formed to study and advice what could be done to care for those who have fled from the Valley are now �refugees�, many of them in Nagaland, it said.
The release said the Ceasefire issue and the Naga integration issue are different.