Neingulo Krome
Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights
Respected Chair, distinguished officials of the OHCHR, Members of the Expert Mechanism and Permanent Forum, dignitaries, ladies and gentlemen,
First of all, I want to thank the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights for giving me this opportunity to share something about the experiences of the Naga people. I also want to thank the members of the Asia Caucus present at the 11th Session of the UNPFII at New York in May this year for recommending me to participate in this Expert Seminar, which made this possible. So with great privilege I want to share the following few points of agreements or treaties which were by products of the Naga Political Movement since the British rule till the present day Indo-Naga Political conflict, although some of these agreements could not address core issues and others which were not done with the most appropriate political leadership or people’s organizations.
However to begin with, with the Britishers departing from India, and with India gearing up to enter its freedom, although not Independent yet, both the departing British and emerging Indian Political leadership knowing full well that Nagas will not agree to become part of the new Indian Union, in their over-zealousness to keep Nagaland within the new arrangements started negotiating agreements with the Naga National Council.
In this regard, Sir Muhammad Saleh Akbar Hydari, who was the last British-appointed and the first Indian Governor of the State of Assam, negotiated an agreement with the Naga National Council (NNC) in a meeting that was held from June 26 to 28, 1947 in Kohima which came to be known as the 9 – Point Agreement, also called the Hydari Agreement which recognizes the rights of the Nagas to develop themselves according to their expressed wishes with regards to; 1. Judicial, 2. Executive, 3. Legislative, 4. Land, 5. Taxation, 6. Boundaries, 7. Arms Act 8. Regulation, and 9. Period of Agreement, in which; the Governor of Assam as the agent of the Government of Indian Union will have a special responsibility for a period of 10 Years to ensure the due observance of this Agreement and at the end of this period, the Naga National Council will be asked whether they require the above agreement to be extended for a further period, or a new agreement regarding the future of the Naga people be arrive at. This was seen as a somewhat workable proposition even at that time, except for the interpretation of the period of agreement of 10 years, which was seen by Nagas to mean that Nagas will be on their own by the end of the 10 years period, which India interprets as to further renew to be with India which became the issue of contention.
And so, unfortunately, when a 3- Member Delegation of the Naga National Council met the representatives of the Government of India at Shillong on November 3, 1949, to enquire about the status of the Agreement, the Naga delegation was bluntly told that there was no Agreement made with the Nagas. Shri Gopinath Bordoloi, the Premier of Assam himself admitted to the Nagas on November 9, 1949 that the Agreement was no longer considered to exist by the Indian Government.
Subsequently, Nagas continued to assert their political aspiration for a Sovereign Naga State and conducted its National plebiscite on May 16, 1951 in which 99.9% of the Naga population exercising their franchise at that time voted for complete Sovereignty and re-enforced the Declaration of “Naga Independence” of 14th August 1947, one day before India became Independent and the struggle for Naga Independence continued.
But by July 1960, another Agreement called the 16-Point Agreement came into being which the Naga Peoples Convention (NPC) proposed and negotiated with the Government of India and formed the Present State of Nagaland which became the 16th State of the Indian Union, with a mere 16, 579 Sq.kms out of total approximate area of 120,000 Sq.kms that are spread across the present North East Indian states and western Burma (Myanmar) , which was inaugurated on the 1st of December 1963 by the President of India. This further complicated the political conflict and divided the Naga people.
However, unlike other states of India, the state of Nagaland was placed under the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India as per Clause 2 of the 16 – Point Agreement with special protection, under Clause 7, of the same Agreement which has been safeguarded under the Constitution of India in its Article 371A; which reads as :-
Special provision with respect to the State of Nagaland:—
(1) Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution,—
(a) no Act of Parliament in respect of—
(i) religious or social practices of the Nagas,
(ii) Naga customary law and procedure,
(iii) administration of civil and criminal justice involving decisions according to Naga customary law,
(iv) ownership and transfer of land and its resources, shall apply to the State of Nagaland unless the Legislative Assembly of Nagaland by a resolution so decides;
Insofar as these two Agreements or Treaties are concerned, one of the common Constructive Arrangement would be the upholding of the Inner Line Regulation Act (Clauses 8 & 16 respectively of the 9 – Points and 16 – Points Agreements) as embodied in the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act of 1873, which was enacted by the then British India, which requires every non-Naga Indian citizens to enter Nagaland only with an Entry Permit called the Inner Line Permit. This has checked and prevented infiltration of Non-Nagas and other illegal immigrants from entering Nagaland randomly, although of late it has not been as effective as it should be in keeping with the reasons for which the Act has been promulgated.
As for other non-Indian foreign citizens, another special permit called the Restricted Area Permit (RAP) is required, which can be obtained from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India to enter Nagaland, even after you have valid VISA to travel within India. But this part is a deliberate policy of the Indian Government to prevent the outside world from knowing what was happening in Nagaland and the Naga areas under heavy militarization where army atrocities and gross violation of human rights were an everyday affair, and has nothing to do with the provisions of the 16 – Points agreements. But this has also been relaxed since 2004 and foreigners can enter Nagaland without too many restrictions now.
Whereas, even though after more than half a century, some very crucial and important points of Agreements remained unfulfilled and unattended, such as the consolidation of forest areas and contiguous Naga areas under the State of Nagaland as specified under Clauses 12 & 13 of the 16-Points Agreement, for which there has actually been no much persuasion. The reason being, the un-resolved political conflict, wherein, the leaders of the Naga National Political movements did not recognize this Agreement as legal nor binding to the Naga people as a whole
Under this background, while the Government of India runs a supposedly democratic Government in the States of Nagaland, Manipur, Assam or Arunachal Pradesh, where Nagas inhabits, the Naga National Political movements too continue to control the areas where ever Nagas live, with a running conflict with government forces. Therefore, to make a very long story short, Government of India signed and declared ceasefires as is done in all cases of wars at various intervals to try and resolve through political means.
The First Ceasefire between the Government of India and the Federal Government of Nagaland was signed in 1964 on the 24th of May, according to Rev. Michael Scott of the Nagaland Peace Mission – 2 days before Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru died. (It is said by people who were close to him, that Pandit Nehru died with two disturbing thoughts – Nagaland and Kashmir) But the actual cessation of armed operations and formal declaration of the ceasefire happened only on September 6, 1964. But the Peace talks could not sustain for long as both the Government of India and the Federal Government of Nagaland under the Naga National Council stuck to their respective positions where India insist that Nagas should accept the Constitution of India, while the Naga leaders wanted nothing short of Sovereignty or a complete Independence. This led to the breakdown of the first ceasefire which the Government of India is said to have unilaterally abrogated and brought the State of Nagaland under the ambit of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India in sharp contradiction of Clause 2 of the 16 – Point Agreement in 1972.
This was followed by another period of “letting hell loose” on the entire Naga population, where students, politicians, innocent villagers and even civil servants were not spared, and at a time when entire India was under a “state of Emergency”, another agreement called the “Shillong Accord” was signed on the 11th of November 1975, between Representatives of “Underground organization” and the Government of India, which triggered a new level of conflict in the most destructive manner. Under this Accord, the signatories seemingly accepted the Constitution of India on their own volitions, and arms were deposited at appointed places. All said and done, the Government of India conveniently destroyed all the arms that were deposited in good faith.
This period was soon followed by the formation of a new revolutionary Government under the nomenclature of National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) as the name of the Political organization and Government of the People’s Republic of Nagaland (GPRN) as the name of the Government by erstwhile leaders of the Naga National Council who condemned the Shillong Accord. From thereon, military engagements became the order of the day where the winners were only those who died and would not have to go through them again.
However, realising the futility of seeking a military solution to the Naga issue, Indian Military Generals started openly saying that military solution is not possible and that the problem can only be solved through political negotiations. Based on this premises, the Government of India walked the extra miles to seek the leaders of the Naga movement who were based in foreign lands and negotiated for peace.
As a result, the Government of India and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak – Muivah) agreed to Ceasefire, which was announced in the Indian Parliament by the Prime Minister of India at New Delhi and the Chairman of the NSCN from The Haque, in the Netherlands on the 25th of July 1997 respectively, stating; “For securing a peaceful political solution, discussion has been held between the Government of India and the NSCN leadership. It has been mutually decided to cease fire for a period of three (3) months with effect from the 1st of August 1997 and embark upon political level discussions”. After which, the ceasefire was extended for another three months on October 25, 1997 to facilitate the finalization of the Ceasefire Ground rules and modalities, which materialized on the 12th of December 1997, where the 2 Governments mutually agreed that the Political Talks between the two entities will be based on the following three principles;
1. Without any condition
2. At the Prime Minister’s level
3. In a third Country
With this Ceasefire, and under the three principles as mentioned above, Political negotiations were held in different countries and cities which will be completing its 15th year by the end of this month, July 2012.
Side by side, Government of India have also entered into ceasefire agreements with other Political Groups on the 28th of April 2001, with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland led by S.S. Khaplang and Kitovi Zhimomi, and more recently with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland led by Gen. Khole and Mr. Kitovi Zhimomi on April 27, 2012. On the other hand, the Government of Burma has also signed a ceasefire Agreement with the NSCN (Khaplang) on the 12th of April 2012, which was questioned by Government of India but they too renewed their Ceasefire agreement. Likewise, India has entered into numerous ceasefire agreements with almost every revolutionary or insurgent groups as of now and are negotiating with many of them all over across India.
What kind of Treaty, Agreements or other Constructive Arrangements will emerge at the end of the day from the on-going ceasefires and political talks, time only will tell. But speaking from the experiences we have gone through, I wish to urge that there is a great and undeniable need for the United Nations to monitor the implementation of any treaty or agreements between various stakeholders through its various mechanisms and agencies, in whichever part of the world indigenous peoples may be engaged with states for any problem. Only then we will be able to say that real partnership between Indigenous Peoples and States have been strengthened.
Thank you very much.
(The above is a paper presentation by the writer on “Strengthening Partnership between Indigenous Peoples and States : treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements”, organised by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) from July 16 to 17 2012 at the Palais des Nations, Room XI, Geneva, Switzerland)
