Says it has yet to officially receive proposal from MHA
Morung Express News
Dimapur | February 15
The Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation (ENPO) rebuffed the statement made by the Eastern Nagaland Legislators’ Union’s (ENLU) Secretary, Lima Onen Chang, on February 14 about a draft proposal reportedly from the Ministry of Home Affairs with the regard to the Frontier Naga Territory.
On February 14, the Eastern Nagaland Gazetted Officers Association had convened a meeting in Dimapur with the various frontal organisations of eastern Nagaland, including the ENPO and ENLU. After the meeting, the ENLU Secretary, disclosed to the media that the meeting unanimously resolved to reject the reported proposal from the MHA. The contents of the MHA proposal was not divulged in detail but Chang said that it appeared to be an arrangement on the line of an autonomous council. Further, he said that the ENPO, as the main negotiating party, has yet to receive the supposed draft proposal from the MHA.
On February 15, the ENPO, while it acknowledged attending the February 14 meeting, said that it made no comment or any resolution was adopted at the meeting as claimed by the ENLU Secretary. ENPO President, Tsapikyu Sangtam told the media, today, that the ENLU brought a copy of the proposal supposed to have been forwarded by the MHA to the Nagaland state government. However, he said, “There was no discussion nor comment from the ENPO and frontal organisations on this matter since we have not received our official draft.”
Terming Chang’s statement as misleading, he said that the question of rejection or acceptance does not arise as it was not discussed. “We did not discuss anything on the draft in yesterday’s meeting,” he reiterated. As the negotiating party, he maintained that if the MHA has at all a proposal, it should come to the ENPO through the proper channel first, and not through any other channel. According to him, there is a protocol to official correspondence or procedure.
He though added that the draft proposal, which was brought to the February 14 meeting, was from the MHA to the state government and not to the ENPO. He maintained that the ENPO will comment as and when the MHA forwards a copy officially to it. According to him, the February 14 meeting did not feature the ENPO’s official “Talk team” or the tribal bodies rendering the meeting inappropriate for taking decisions.
He said that the Home Minister Amit Shah had assured on December 27, 2023 that the issue of Frontier Naga Territory will be settled before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Pending the settlement as assured, he said that the ENPO had requested for a copy of the proposed settlement “so that we can also go through which was agreed and we are waiting for that.”
The ENPO had on June 2023 publicly announced its approval of the Government of India proposing a Frontier Naga Territory (FNT) within Nagaland state in lieu of a separate state or Union Territory.
The ENPO General Secretary Manlang Phom said that the FNT proposal was not the ENPO’s but a GoI proposal, which was accepted after consultation with the stakeholders from eastern Nagaland. Seconding the ENPO President’s stand, he said, “We will know whether to accept or reject only after seeing and receiving the final draft from the MHA.”
While they were assured of getting a copy of the proposal well before the Lok Sabha elections, he lamented it has yet to reach them. He expressed concern that things would get delayed again if the election model code of conduct takes effect.
