NSCN (IM) cautions against repeating past mistakes
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, March 23 2021: The Naga militant outfit NSCN (IM) has cautioned the Government of India against repeating past mistakes such as the Shillong Accord or the 16 Points Agreement.

A statement issued by the outfit's MIP asserted that the Naga political issue will not end with Mr Khodao Yanthan, Gen Retd Khole Konyak, Isak Chishi Swu, Mr Q Tuccu, Th Muivah or Mr Tongmeth Wangnao if the Government of India (GoI) fails to handle in the manner demanded by the nature of the issue that has dragged on for too long and try to undermine the Naga issue in the manner of the Shillong Accord or the 16 Points Agreement.

These two mistakes have brought much bloodshed in the Naga political struggle.

To put on record, if the GoI is pondering over the Naga issue away from the Framework Agreement and repeat the same mistakes of history, then the Naga political struggle will go on, said the outfit.

Naga leadership will come and go but the burning issue will never die as long as an honourable settlement remains elusive, it said.

Needless to repeat, the Framework Agreement came into being because the past agreements like the 16 Points Agreement and Shillong Accord miserably failed to solve the Indo-Naga political issue.

NSCN and Naga people have waited for more than five years for the Government of India to act on the Framework Agreement with all seriousness as per the spirit of the agreement.

But the passage of time indicated that the GoI is having something else much below the Framework Agreement, it remarked.

This is going to set off another long drawn struggle as Naga people will never barter away the political rights given to them by God.

It is absolutely abhorrent to think of such a political blunder after more than two decades of Indo-Naga political talks, the outfit continued.

NSCN is not short of intellectual ability to intensify the struggle.

There are galaxy of highly qualified individuals holding degrees in science, medical, engineering, information technology, etc.

There are equally dedicated leaders to handle military leadership to keep pace with the changing situation, it claimed.

"But military struggle was never our option as political issue demands political solution.

This is the meaning of the 1997 ceasefire and the decades old Indo-Naga political talks", it said.

It is, however, a matter of undermining the Naga political issue as the Government of India is deliberately misinterpreting the Framework Agreement to justify their proposed terms and conditions for the settlement of the Naga issue.

This is going to go totally against the spirit of NSCN in particular and the Naga people in general who wanted to usher in permanent peace in Nagalim and the whole region of South-East Asia, it added.

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