GOI, NSCN-IM should now be pragmatic: Kaushal
Dimapur, Dec 27 (MExN): 10 years of Indo-Naga peace talks have been spent in writing minutes to hammer out a solution for a “just cause” like the Nagas’ and these all, is part of a blunder the Government of India made in not negotiation with (late NNC leader) Phizo, says Swaraj Kaushal, former emissary of the Government of India to the Indo-Naga peace talks.
Addressing NSCN-IM General Secretary Th. Muivah and others at a Christmas programme on the 25th in New Delhi Swaraj Kaushal said the Nagas’ cause is a just cause and accords such as the Shillong Accord is a “fraud” accentuating the “historic blunder” of GOI not negotiating with Phizo.
Opining that about time the government of India thinks differently and “quite differently from what are the manner in which things have been thought of or considered in the past”, the former emissary stood by the NSCN-IM’s stand: “It is definitely not an anti-national demand. I believe one should never miss a historic opportunity when you have leaders of Muivah standing to whom you can negotiate and ensure a proper implementation of the accord. I think it was a historic blunder not to have negotiated with Phizo. When it comes to saying the Naga areas together one may differ with the view point of the NSCN but I certainly believe that this demand is not anti-national. It is no different from the manner in which Karnataka lays its claim on Belguam or Maharashtra lays its claim on Belguam. It is no different from the demand of the state of Punjab for Chandigarh or the demand of the state of Haryana for that city.”
“I hope and pray that the stay will usher in you better times for negotiations and will be able to achieve a political settlement in the months to come. At the same time I do feel that 10 years is a very very very long time. I think we have spent years holding meetings and writing minutes. That’s not what the talks were meant for. I do believe that the Naga cause is a just cause” Kaushal said.
He also pointed out that the Shillong Accord was a “fraud”. “I believe that the Shillong Accord was not a document of peace. If I try to be little frank about it I think it was not an accord. It was a fraud. A document of surrender can never be an accord. I think enough time has been taken. Let us think differently. Let the government think differently and let NSCN be more pragmatic. I believe an accord is definitely possible” he asserted.
Pointing out that time is ‘running out’, the former emissary reminded that ‘it is not everyday that we get this opportunity everyday.’
“The only thing is to think out of the box, think of new solution and come forward but early. Ten years is a very long time. It is time to write some useful, purposeful document of history and history will remember people who participated and write the record” he added.
