Mokokchung, 16 January (MTNews): The Global Naga Forum (GNF) has urged Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to champion the resumption and completion of peace negotiations with the Naga people, including the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) and the protection of the Free Movement Regime (FMR) agreement with Myanmar.
In a memorandum submitted to Gandhi during his visit to Nagaland as part of his Bharat Jodo Yatra, the GNF expressed its hope that he would stand with the Naga people in their pursuit of self-determination and a just resolution to the decades-long conflict.
In the background of its memorandum, the GNF welcomed Gandhi to the Naga homeland, expressing the belief that he holds the goodwill of the Naga people spread across four states in the North-East, as well as in the Naga Self-Administered Zone in Myanmar and around the world.
“Our goodwill comes from a common public interest you have with the Nagas: interest inIndia as a secular, democratic republic both in vision and in practice — like your great-grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi and their colleagues envisioned modern India to be,” the GNF said.
“Neither majoritarian Hindu Bharat, nor Islamic Indian state, nor Christian nationalist India, etc. will do for us,” it stated.
The Forum rejected “Reducing India to any of these regressive and exclusionary regimes would be a gross betrayal of the progressive India that the people of the country deserve, and the rest of the world expects of India.”
Stating that Gandhi’s personal and political ancestry has merged with India’s public history as well as the future, the GNF highlighted to him that postcolonial India has also been tied up with the fate of the Naga people.
In the interest of “truth and a better future, not in bitterness,” it further reminded Gandhi that in 1953 Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and U Nu drew, “without the consent of our people, an imaginary boundary between their newly independent countries.”
This resulted in creation of “artificial separation of the Nagas and our lands across the international border,” it contended.
When the two national governments decided to divide them, the Nagas “stood up for our right to be a free people and demanded political self-determination and autonomy,” it added.
The GNF outlined the historical struggles of the Nagas, including military invasion, armed resistance, ceasefires, peace missions, bloodshed, and the imposition of extra-judicial military law (AFSPA, 1958). It noted broken agreements, such as the 9-Point Agreement with the Naga National Council in 1947 and the indefinitely stalled negotiations based on the Framework Agreement made between the Indian Government and the NSCN/GPRN in 2015.
The GNF also alleged that Indian government, in collusion with the Chief Minister of Manipur, is considering reneging on the FMR which would not only criminalize Nagas visiting one another across the border, but render establishing social and cultural ties extremely difficult, as well as make next to impossible the nurturing of ties and communities for mutual assistance in times of need.
“These would all be a violation of international law and of the indigenous rights of the Nagas. It would also be most unworthy of India’s high standing in the world. And the Naga people would be altogether justified in losing faith in the Indian government,” GNF said.
However, the GNF stated that this was not the time for confrontation and recrimination and told Gandhi that as he undertakes the Nyay Yatra for justice, it was a good time for “reconciliation and peacemaking on the basis of mutual respect and redressing historical wrongs.”
The GNF memorandum, appended by its Convenor, Chuba Ozukum, and Co-Convenor, Prof Rosemary Dzuvichu, also expressed solidarity with Gandhi for India as a secular, democratic republic, emphasizing respect for the rule of law and human rights for all. It also extends best wishes to him for the remaining portion of the yatra.