Kohima, February 27 (MExN): As long as the Government of India (GoI) does not acknowledge or respect the role that Naga mothers have played in trying to bridge differences amongst “our armed brothers and bringing a cessation of hostilities,” the Naga Mothers’ Association (NMA) has stated that it will “not be in a position to listen to another litany of updates for the days ahead from the GoI because the future and destiny of our society and people are at stake.”
The NMA stated this in a memorandum it submitted to RN Ravi, the GoI interlocutor to the Indo-Naga peace talks, with copies to the President of India, its Prime Minister, the Governor of Nagaland and its Chief Minister.
The NMA had boycotted a meeting with Ravi alleging “insincerity” if the GoI to resolve the Indo-Naga issue.
“We have watched vested Indian interests trying to take credit for the peace that is hard to come by and fully endorsing patriarchal mindsets even in peace building processes,” noted the NMA in the memorandum signed by its President, Abei-ü Meru and Joint Secretary, Malsawmthangi Leyri.
The leaders found unfortunate that the GoI failed to facilitate a meeting point between different Naga political groups despite having the opportunity to do so.
Maintaining that the “signs thereof are obvious and ominous for resolving” the issue, the NMA stated that the “biggest challenge for seeking peace has been the extension of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) including the latest order of giving powers to the Assam Rifles to search without warrants, thus legitimizing violations of human rights and granting impunity.”
“Whether implemented or not, it has proved beyond doubt that the GoI is playing a cat and mouse game with the Nagas,” the NMA affirmed.
It expressed shock that despite appeals made by the NMA and others, including the NSCN K (Khango), on the withdrawal of NIA cases again government officials in the midst of the peace talks, “the GoI has instead further harassed these Naga officials by trying to shift their cases outside Nagaland.”
Questioning the intentions of the NIA “who are just another long arm of the GoI and their unwillingness to restore peace to these families harassed for years,” the NMA reiterated its slogan of ‘Shed No More Blood’ and hoped that the GoI will work out, at the earliest, a political solution with the Nagas that is “honourable and acceptable in the interest of peace and the future generation.”
“We cannot afford to lose any more lives to the cruel hands of war and bloodshed. We pray for genuine sincerity and the blessings of God at this crucial period in our history,” the NMA stated.
