This is my response to the Naga Hoho General Secretary’s statement and the statement of the Chakhesang Public Organization:
“I stand by the story I wrote for the news-organization I work for, ‘Mathrubhumi’, a newspaper published from Kerala that was reprinted in The Morung Express at my behest.
I was told by authoritative sources in India government organizations functioning in Nagaland that Mon and Tuensang districts will seek to dissociate from a greater Nagaland if it comes about. When I cross-checked that information with another arm of the Indian government, I was told that the two recalcitrant districts may settle for an autonomous development council in the process of political bargaining. Both these Indian government bodies are periodically charged with being partial to the Konyaks.
Now, anyone accustomed with the history of the Nagas association with independent India know that the within the proviso of the Art 371 (A) of the Indian Constitution providing special status to Nagaland, Tuensang region had a specific status for ten years after the formation of the Nagaland State. In that light, the possibility of this demand arising did not seem out of synch.
I had raised the issue of the alienation of the Konyaks informally with representatives of the NSCN (I-M). While they had acknowledged the reality, they had sought to convince me how misplaced these grievances were.
With Nienglo Krome, I had formally raised the issue in an interview, which I did not tape record as he would have felt uncomfortable at this change in our mutual norms of interviewing. I had congratulated him at being elected the general secretary of the Naga Hoho as I consider him to be a human rights activist of high calibre. I was even more impressed at he being elected as the representative of his tribe, the Chakhesangs.
I was told the words that I printed in my story. I was also told that the Konyaks have refused to join the Hoho as they had reservations about its current chairman. Additionally, Krome told me that efforts are on to bring the Konyaks back into the fold of the Hoho. Hence, I find his current position contradictory in terms of his stated goal creating harmony among all Naga tribes ahead of the exhausting negotiations with the Indian government for more political and economic autonomy.
Finally, for the Chakhesang Public Organization, my only response is that it is better to know about the pitfalls that lie ahead than topple over them. The Naga people have a right to know about them too. That was my motive for having The Morung Express to print this story. Not any profit motive, either on my part or that of The Morung Express.”
Pinaki Bhattacharya
Correspondent, Mathrubhumi
