Naga Political Issue: Modi urged not to delay result of peace talks

November 23, 2022 43 Views No Comment

Dimapur, November 232 (MExN): Eight Nagaland-based civil society organisations have submitted a representation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him not to delay the results of the 25-year long Indo-Naga political negotiations as the people of Nagaland are no longer capable of bearing the brunt of the delayed solution.

In the representation dated November 18, the Conference of Civil Society Organizations of Nagaland comprising eight organisations, acknowledged PM Modi’s ‘relentless initiatives’ which could bring the political negotiations between the Government of India (GoI) and the two Naga negotiators to the level of “inclusiveness and its dynamical completion of formal talks on October 31, 2019.” According to them, the people of Nagaland “believe that the process of negotiations during the last quarter of century have bridged the gaps, the contours of contentions leveled and left nothing unturned except the signing of the agreement.”

Underscoring the need for a result, the signatories stated that the ceasefire and the political negotiations are but a means to a political solution. It is imperative to elicit the ground realities that the 25 years of negotiation has taken an immense toll on the people of Nagaland in particular, it maintained.

“By any standard, be it physical developments or be it the wellbeing of the citizens, Nagaland has retrogressed by decades under the weight of elongated negotiations,” the representation further stated, while adding that it would be akin to rubbing salt to the injury, should the negotiations become a fiasco, despite the sacrifices of the people of Nagaland.

It went on to state that the GoI or the Naga negotiators should not take the people for a ride while adding that there can never be a better opportunity for the GoI to resolve the decades old Naga political issue than what is now at the disposal of the Naga negotiators.

In this context, the signatories urged PM Modi not to delay the results of the negotiations, but rather “give a call to the negotiators to respond as it is time for any negotiator to take it or leave it.”

“If 25 years investment on peace process cannot bring out any solution, we see no reason as to why it cannot be recalled and let the people decide its own destiny (Sic),” it added.

Meanwhile, the representation also stated that “When any Naga political group is given further extension of ceasefire, the GoI has to provide fund for its maintenance as the public of Nagaland are no longer capable to bear the brunt of inordinate negotiations indefinitely.”

The eight organisations included the Nagaland People’s Action Committee (NPAC), Nagaland Gaon Buras (Village Chief) Federation (NGBF), Nagaland Tribes Council (NTC), Central Nagaland Tribes Council (CNTC), Against Corruption and Unabated Taxation (ACAUT), Senior Citizens’ Association Nagaland (SCAN), Ex-Parliamentarian Association of Nagaland (Ex-PAN), and the Confederation of Nagaland Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CNCCI).

The representation was submitted following a resolution adopted during a Conference of the Civil Society Organizations of Nagaland on the issue of the pending Naga political solution on November 18.

Source: https://morungexpress.com/naga-political-issue-modi-urged-not-to-delay-result-of-peace-talks