NPMHR urges India to uphold peace with honour

Kohima, February 11 (MExN): The Naga People’s Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR) has charged India of deceiving the Nagas and proving itself unreliable to its own agreed principles.  

While reminding India of not just being a signatory of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) but also making important contributions in drafting the same, the NPMHR in a statement on Sunday argued that, India time and again proved unreliable to its own agreed principles in the courses of the peace discourses with the Naga National Movement which, it maintained, was born “out of the inherent, legitimate and expressed will of the Nagas”.  

The NPMHR reminded that the 9 Point Agreement and the first Indo-Naga Ceasefire of 1964 were both unilaterally abrogated by the Government of India which resulted in “war being waged to which the innocent civilians, women and children were the worst sufferer.”  

Ultimately, NPMHR maintained that India admitted this is a political problem which cannot be solved militarily and the second Indo-Naga Ceasefire between the Government of India and the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN-IM) was declared on July 25, 1997, which came into effect on August 1, 1997, the NPMHR recalled.  

“It is more than two decades now since political negotiations have taken place and many hurdles have been overcome, with India coming to terms with some of issues that are dear to the Nagas, without which Nagas will also be unable to come to terms with the needs of India,” it stated.  

However, the Naga Human Rights body alleged that the GoI had, at various stages of the dialogue, attempted and is still attempting “to undo its very own agreed principles”. This, it argued, was proven again when India pushed for a solution within its convenient parameters if Nagas wants “solution and not election”.  

It asserted that the coming together of the 6 Naga National Political Groups, the various tribal hohos and civil society organizations, including the different Indian state political parties and groups, along with the NSCN-IM which has been holding talks for the last more than 20 years, had provided the “finest opportunity to settle the Naga issue”.  

But not surprisingly, GoI chose to seek another delay tactic, the NPMHR stated – “A tactic which has caused many losses to the Nagas both physically and psychologically including those of tiring out both people in the national movement and the Naga public.”  

In this regard, the NPMHR maintained that it will be mutually beneficial and that India too will be doing itself a big favor if the Naga issue is settled honorably “on the broad-based laid down parameters from that of respecting the unique history and situation of the Nagas towards a Peaceful Co-existence between Indians and Nagas as two entities at the earliest possible time.”  

As such, the NPMHR also urged the world not to remain silent any longer and, instead, muster the moral authority to prevail upon India to resolve “in earnest” one of the world’s longest political conflicts – the Indo-Naga political impasse.