DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 23 (MExN): The Nagaland Public Action Committee (NPAC) has urged the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi to tell the Naga people the “truth” about the status of the Naga political talks and not the usual rhetoric that has been the case with Central leaders speaking on the issue.
This was stated in an open letter issued by the NPAC in view of the Prime Minister’s visit to Nagaland on Friday, February 23.
It noted that the negotiation between the Gol and the Naga political negotiators is a story of 26 years running. During these years, it stated that Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs), including tribe bodies and the Church have submitted memorandums after memorandums urging decisive resolution of the Naga issue.
“Nevertheless, in the wisdom of the Gol, it is considered that non-resolution of the Naga Political issue is the better option for the ruling party in particular and for the country in general,” the NPAC observed. It reminded that the Framework Agreement with the NSCN (IM) was signed in 2015 and Agreed Position was signed with the WC NNPGs in 2017; followed by the “false promise” that the political issue would be resolved within 18 months time “which became a damp squib.”
During 2018 State Assembly election, the BJP pacified the Nagaland citizens with the “famously infamous maxim ‘Election for Solution' which remains to be a mere jocularity,” the NPAC stated. It further noted that based on the principles of the Agreed Position and Framework Agreement, “the Gol and the Naga negotiators could overcome all the impediments and contours by exhaustively and mutually completed the process of negotiations on October 31, 2019, giving a high hope to the people that true peace is finally ready for inking and implementation.”
“Whereas, since the sole power to give the final call to the Naga negotiators to sign the agreement with the GoI lies with the latter, the political solution was considered secondary despite all those 26 years of political investments, and thus parked the Naga Political issue at a forlorn location. Undermining the plight and the sufferings of the citizens of Nagaland under the weight of elongated political negotiations by the Gol is discriminous to the very existence of the people of Nagaland,” the NPAC said.
It further said that once again the Gol is trying to “woo the voters in Nagaland with the same old promise that the Naga Political issue would be resolved soon post elections in the ongoing State Assembly elections.”
The NPAC quoted Union Home Minister, Amit Shah on his recent visit to Mon and Tuensang as stating that “our aim is to make peace talks successful and solve the Naga political problem quickly." “It is indeed disheartening to observe that the political negotiations are being soft-peddled and kept alive by the Gol so as to use it as a political plank and fishing bait after every 5 years,” it stated.
The NPAC said that the “ground was ripe and ready for reception of the political solution” at the end of the 13th NLA. However, it said that the chance was allowed to lapse. The NPAC stated that the Gol is “again trying to brainwash the voters with the promise that the issue would be resolved soon post elections. “
It called upon the Prime Minister to be honest with the people of Nagaland as to how exactly the Gol is treating the Naga political negotiations. “We urge the PM to tell us the truth and not the reiteration of rhetoric. Indeed, the time is overdue for the GoI to make it either successful or end the matter in a failure; but not the inconclusive business as the time has come for the Nagas to know what lies in our future,” the NPAC stated.
