Mokokchung, 25 July (MTNews): In a startling development, the Working Committee of the Naga National Political Groups (WC NNPGs) has claimed that there is a group of people, mostly retired politicians and bureaucrats from Eastern Nagaland People’s Organization (ENPO) area who have secretly drafted a proposal, collaborating with Indian agents, and submitted to the Government of India (GoI). The WC NNPGs stated that, among many, there are two points that have the potential to invite serious repercussions and are antithetical to the Naga political aspiration.
The first point according to WC NNPGs is that, “The present National Workers from ENPO areas are all misguided and anti-social elements and when the ENPO issue is resolved with GoI, all of them will be made to surrender along with arms. The leaders will be provided with one licensed arms each.”
The second point is, “After ENPO/GoI agreement, all ENPO areas along Myanmar border will be fenced and sealed in order to prevent insurgents, drugs, arms smugglers from indulging in cross border illegal activities.”
The NNPGs stated that this would be a betrayal of the Naga political aspiration and would prevent the free movement of Nagas between India and Myanmar, while maintaining that it would be “crime of the highest order if ENPO matter devalues Indo-Naga political issue.”
“WC, NNPGs is aware that half of Nagas are living in our ancestral land in Myanmar and under negotiated terms, free entry and exit of Nagas from both India and Myanmar, a huge extension from the current Free Trade Regime (FTR) was negotiated and agreed upon,” it said. “Can the Konyaks, Khiamniungans, Yimkhiungs, etc further wall off their blood brothers and sisters living across arbitrarily demarcated boundaries in Myanmar?” it asked.
Responding to the emerging controversy, the WC NNPGs have expressed their strong opposition to the proposal, stating that the two points are “antithetical to the Indo- Naga political aspiration.”
“The fickle minded author(s), chasing name, fame and wealth, at the cost of the innocent ENPO public, had no second thoughts about committing heinous political crimes against the very people they claim to stand for,” the WC NNPGs said.
“If the territorial Integration of Naga inhabited area under one political entity (is not possible), further disintegration of Nagaland into ENPO area is undesirable. It is a ploy to further dismember Naga families,” it further said.
Amidst heightened uncertainty and speculation surrounding the motives behind the alleged proposal, the WC NNPGs said, “If the territorial Integration of Naga inhabited area under one political entity (is not possible), further disintegration of Nagaland into ENPO area is undesirable. It is a ploy to further dismember Naga families.”
It further said that ENPO leaders must therefore desist from any political arrangement that seeks to swallow the Naga political aspiration. “ENPO people in particular and Nagas in general must have clarity on this issue before it is too late,” it cautioned.
While questioning the ENPO leaders “playing with fire” and inviting “curse upon their offsprings,” the WC NNPGs said that it appears there is “tacit understanding” among former politicians from ENPO area, collaborating with Indian agents, to devalue the negotiated ‘Agreed Position’ between GoI and WC NNPGs.
The WC NNPGs also said that its stand on ENPO demand has always been pragmatic and consistent. “WC, NNPGs would welcome all GoI and ENPO initiatives whereby, priority sectors such as infrastructure, health sector, education and human resources development sectors must be developed on a war footing,” stating that the region has been much neglected over the decades by the state government and also by the ENPO elected representatives themselves.
“The state government cannot wash its hands off the aggrieved ENPO. Nagaland state has been divided into three tiers in the development graph, brazenly more so in the last two decades. The allocation and distribution of developmental activities in the ENPO area is pathetic and grievous. All Chief Ministers in the last quarter of a century have failed to understand that development and economic progress of ENPO people will fuel economic growth and strengthen the social fabric of all Nagas,” it said.
The WC NNPGs also said that the Indo-Naga issue is a political and historical issue that includes all Nagas, regardless of where they live. They said that the resolution of the Indo-Naga political problem can adequately address the grievances of the Eastern Naga area.
“WC, NNPGs would make it very clear to ENPO leaders at all levels that Indo-Naga issue is a political and historical issue inclusive of Nagas in Nagaland, Naga people and land in Manipur, Naga people and land in Assam, Naga people and land in Arunachal Pradesh and Naga people and land in Myanmar,” it maintained.
Whereas, it said, the GoI-ENPO talk is primarily to “relook, fix and compensate for the economic deprivation of six Naga tribes of ENPO by Nagaland state government in the last many decades.” It further said, “The resolution of the Indo-Naga political problem can adequately address the grievances of the Eastern Naga area and therefore priority must be accorded to inking the Indo-Naga political Agreement.”
The WC NNPGs further said that the state government must not use the ENPO issue as a pretext to divert attention from the “impending Indo-Naga solution.” They said that there should be no strings attached as far as the Indo-Naga political issue and ENPO demands are concerned.
“As it is, WC, NNPGs and GoI have concluded the negotiations and therefore ENPO should not address Naga historical and political matters because highly regarded and acknowledged leaders from among ENPO tribes have been integral part of the Naga negotiating team,” the WC NNPGs concluded.
