Dimapur, August 18 (MExN): The Naga Hoho has acknowledged the ‘wisdom and understanding’ of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda for his recent appeal asking all parties in the Indo-Naga peace talks to put aside distrust and reach a settlement at the earliest. “It was in fact, the magnanimity of HD Deve Gowda in reaching out to the Naga leaders in Zurich in February 1997, which changed the course of the Naga struggle from war to path of peace,” Naga Hoho President HK Zhimomi and General Secretary K Elu Ndang said in a statement on August 18. Stating that first Prime Minister of India and his successors “have failed to really understand and find a conclusion to the decades old Naga issue,” it said that Gowda’s recent statement and perseverance towards solving Indo-Naga political problem has “assured once again that ‘our problem is political and not law and order,’” and has given the Nagas a reason to believe that “those years of struggle will not end in vain.” The Naga Hoho fully affirms the commitment of the former Prime Minister to ensure that peace accord is reached at the earliest, it added.
