Dimapur, March 31 (MExN): The NSCN (IM) on Wednesday reiterated that the issue of the Naga national flag and constitution (Yehzabo) cannot be put on the bargaining table in exchange for anything.
The Naga national identity symbolized by the Naga flag and constitution cannot be sacrificed, it said in a statement issued through its MIP on Wednesday.
It said the Indo-Naga political talks were carried on the basis of two entities (nations/governments).
According to the NSCN (IM), the flags that represent the national identity of India and Nagalim are the natural pictures to be seen in any Indo-Naga political talks.
“This inadvertent lapse has been misconstrued by the Government of India and thereby is creating unnecessary obstruction by making an issue out of it,” the NSCN (IM) stated.
Stating that consultation with the Naga civil societies is a different matter, the NSCN (IM) said certain diplomatic norms cannot be sidelined whenever Indo-Naga political dialogue takes place. It said that the NSCN entered into an agreement to hold political peace process after the GoI agreed to accept Naga issue as political and stated that “The serious deadlock that has emerged on the issue of the Naga national flag and Constitution after more than two decades of political dialogue is a matter of diplomatic error.”
“Ironically, diplomatic norm is the missing point that is driving the Indo-Naga political talk to almost nothingness as it makes no difference with the past accords and agreements which were rejected outrightly,” it added.
It further stated that the Nagas cannot be insulted by asking them to stand by the Indian national flag at the cost of dishonoring the Naga national flag that defines the Naga political identity as a nation.
This is the crux of the issue that the Naga people simply cannot compromise, it asserted while adding that it would be unjustified for the Government of India to make a roughshod of the unique history of the Nagas that it has given official recognition.
The NSCN recalled that till the 1970s, the state of Nagaland was placed under the Union Ministry of External Affairs, signifying that “Nagaland was never a part of India by any agreement.”
“It was forcefully occupied and India continues to suppress the political rights of the Naga people by placing the Naga areas under the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA),” it asserted.
