Dimapur, January 4 (MExN): The “Sumi Concerned Church Leaders” (SCCL) today strongly opposed, what it called, the ‘cheap propaganda’ spread by ‘some vested interest groups’ that the recent unification move is a venture of a few sections of certain “council for the purpose of grabbing power, money and land to exploit the interest of other Nagas.” The SCCL declared that such ‘callous attitude’ is in itself a ‘murder’ of ‘Naga conscience and vision.’
“At this juncture when no stones are being left unturned to venture boldly into bringing all the Nagas together under the banner of peace and reconciliation, it is a shameful and inhuman act to point fingers at others without valid rhyme or reason,” the SCCL said in a press release which was appended by eleven Sumi church leaders.
Asserting that it is a ‘childlike blunder devoid of the ability to perceive’ what is right or wrong, true or false, the release said that pointing fingers at the Western Sumi Hoho or a single tribe regarding the authority or right to speak out about Naga history would only invite hatred and mockery from Naga citizens.
“It is a disgraceful play on other’s intellect and wisdom thereby automatically losing people’s confidence and support,” the Sumi church leaders said while making it known that the relative use of the word “peace, forgiveness and reconciliation” for one’s own convenience only makes one a laughing stock of the “public.”
The SCCL also maintained that the silence of the many Naga public does not mean that they are ignorant or approve of such despicable acts or propaganda, ‘rather the seeds of mistrust and lies that has been sown will grow into public unrest and resistance in due course of time as witnessed in human history including our very own Naga history time and again’. Also giving a moral boost to the “unification team,” the SCCL stood firmly behind the actions of the dismissed NSCN (IM) Kilo Kilonser, Azheto Chophy. Chophy, though dismissed as a ‘national traitor’ is a “hero,” the Sumi clergy claimed, in the eyes of the common “Naga people.” It added that “the threat of the same stigma remains on those who along with him had joined the unification team.”
The SCCL urged the “unification team” not to feel threatened but remain steadfast in their decision because it is the “will of God” that the Nagas stand united in true Christian spirit of peace, forgiveness and reconciliation. The SCCL also wondered what the NSCN (IM) actually stands for, since it openly claims that it stands for or supports the initiative of anyone on the issue of peace and reconciliation on one hand and terms the stand for peace and reconciliation made by Azheto Chophy as an act of treason on the other hand.
“It is high time all responsible Naga citizens to speak up for what is right and what is true in the eyes of God and in the common interest of all the Nagas,” the SCCL stated.
