New Delhi: Amid reports that the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) along with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) are working closely to find a final solution to the decades-long Indo-Naga peace talks, the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM) on Thursday reiterated that any solution based on "collaborators" will only have the way for a bigger disaster.
"Let it be known that these same people are used and created as a third force/party by the Government of India to defend her interests against the right of the Nagas. We, however, put on record that any solution based on collaborators will only have the way for a bigger disaster. The NSCN is well aware of the forces working hand in glove to engineer re-edited 16 points agreement (2015 Framework Agreement)," the outfit said in a statement sent to ETV Bharat.
The NSCN was referring to the Naga National Political Groups (NNPG), a conglomerate of other Naga armed groups. During the framework agreement signed in 2015 with NSCN, the central government opted to bring other Naga armed groups under the aegis of NNPG. "Let it also be known that even before the negotiation started they have already surrendered and accepted the Indian Constitution without any hesitation. This is against what our great freedom fighters have died for...It would simply be a glittering morsel which will turn bitter later to repeat the blunder of the Indo-Naga history," the group said. It further said that NSCN can't be a party to NNPGs solution.
It is worth mentioning that the demand for a separate flag and a constitution has been the key hindrance before a final settlement of the ongoing talks. The group was referring to a recent statement issued by NNPG where it stated that there was no protest during or after the function (2015 Framework Agreement) and as days turned into weeks, months and years, absurd interpretation of FA is being shoved down the throat of Nagas but there is just one truth. The people have seen and heard enough.
"There is no space to fool or be fooled between the Working Group-NNPG and the government of India and the agreed position, which was signed in 2017, was endorsed by Naga tribes, customary institutions, the church and apex civil societies and consulted with the Ahoms, Meiteis, Kukis and tribal leaders in Arunachal Pradesh," the NNPG has recently said.
Aware of the development, Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio has urged "all concerned" last month to come together and settle the Naga peace talks. "The Framework Agreement between the Government of India and NSCN was signed on August 3, 2015, and the agreed position was signed between the Government of India and the Naga National Political Groups (NNGP) on November 17, 2017, and to reach an amicable solution acceptable to both sides, the talks were concluded on October 31, 2019," Rio has said.
The group accused the Central government representative of the Naga peace talks RN Ravi of re-editing the Framework Agreement signed in 2015. Ravi the incumbent Governor of Tamil Nadu was picked up by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to solve the Naga peace talks. The NSCN-IM signed a ceasefire agreement with the Government of India in 1997 after decades of insurgency which started in the late 1940s.
