DIMAPUR, JANUARY 31 (MExN): Using the occasion of the 32nd NSCN Raising Day celebration held at Camp Hebron on January 31, Steering Committee Convener Gen Rtd VS Atem has send out a message to the Government of India slamming the latter for what he termed as the “tricks and intrigues” played on the Nagas despite more than 13 years of engaging between the Nagas and the government of India at the negotiation table.
Top NSCN/GPRN leader questions GoI on ‘tricks & intrigues’
While pointing out that Nagas have been patient enough in engaging with the government of India at the negotiation table to find honorable and mutually acceptable solution to the long drawn-out political conflict between India and Nagalim for more than 13 years, yet the top NSCN/GPRN leader openly voiced out that “sincerity and honesty and respect for its own commitment seem to be unavailable in the lexicon of Indian politics and diplomacy”.
“Tricks and intrigues raise their ugly heads here and there and now and then which tend to drive the Nagas away farther and farther instead of winning their confidence and bring them closer”, he stated while reminding that on its part the collective leadership had done whatever it could. “No stone have been left unturned in the interest of peace and security of both Indians and Nagas who are to live as neighbors till God and time permit”.
Atem then signaled to the Government of India that the “NSCN will not go for a solution or for peace so long as their land and people are kept divided and sub-divided through arbitrary boundaries”. Further he stated that the “NSCN also will not compromise on its inalienable right of distinct identity through its Unique History”.
The Steering Committee Convener even went to the extent of saying that “we have every right to move heaven and earth even the hell” and that “we will even take the devil to cross the bridge” “to protect our land and the right to exist in the community of nations”. “Therefore, every member of the NSCN shall now tighten our belt and prepare for the worst”, Atem stated. “Only let us stand firm and be true to God and to our people”.
Atem also spoke about how thirty years ago, on this day, the 31st January 1980, the Naga people “under the dynamic and visionary leadership of Messrs. Isak, SS. Khaplang and Th. Muivah in their collective wisdom fired with the spirit of live or die for the sovereign right of Nagalim gave birth to this fearsome National Socialist Council of Nagalim”.
