DIMAPUR, JULY 31 (MExN): The Eastern Naga National Workers’ Forum (ENNWF) - NSCN (IM) has censured the statement made by the Working Committee (WC) of Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs) on RIIN dated July 22 that “any person(s) living in Nagaland including those Nagas from outside present Nagaland state who came after 1st December, 1963 shall not be entitled indigenous status” and has termed it as a “distortion of Naga history.”
In a rejoinder, the Forum maintained that the term Nagaland Nagas, Assam Nagas, Manipur Nagas, Arunachal Nagas and Burma Nagas are derogative language of the colonial powers and therefore all Nagas without exception are indigenous in their homeland.
The Forum sought to point out that indigenousness of a Naga should be traced from a common history, common bloodline, common culture, common territory and common identity. It is a natural entity and it can never be traced from the 16-point agreement or any political accord.
It also stated that all Nagas are equal partners in the national resistance movement and the Eastern Nagas are no exception. “No one would deny the fact that the Eastern Naga people have also selflessly contributed immensely towards the cause. We have suffered horrible persecutions and oppressions in the hands of the enemies for defending every inch of Naga territories.”
Despite this, the Forum lamented that the WC-NNPG leaders have taken different route-they have forgotten “how people in the east fed them with the fattest animals and how we sheltered them from dangers for decades. They made eastern people beasts of burden on their account.”
Taking exception on the ‘venomous’ political statement of the WC of NNPGs, the Forum said the spirit of oneness of the Nagas however will not be dampened by such ‘deceptive language’ and no force can separate them from one Naga family under one political umbrella.
