Our Correspondent
Kohima | May 15
Minister for Forest, Environment & Climate Change, Imkong L Imchen today said that the Nagaland State Government is fully committed to bring about unity of the Naga political groups in order to enable them to present a common agenda to the Government of India (GoI) for early resolution of the vexed Naga political issue.
During an interaction with media persons in Kohima today, the Minister while appreciating the signing of the Framework Agreement between the GoI and NSCN (IM) however said, “Unity of Nagas is pre-requisite for achieving solution.”
He informed that the present government under Chief Minister Dr Shurhozelie Liezietsu has constituted the Political Affairs Mission (PAM), which already held its first round of dialogue with five Naga political groups on April 8, while a separate interaction with NSCN (IM) will also be held soon.
He said since Nagas consider the Framework Agreement very important for their destiny, it is quite natural to express apprehension so as to make the agreement a commonly acceptable one. Imchen opined that there is enormous trust deficit between the negotiating parties and the Naga public, including political parties in the State, and stressed on the need to bridge this.
Pointing out that there are at least seven Naga political groups, who are outside the purview of the ongoing political talks, he questioned: “why the negotiating parties should not sincerely approach them with open minds is difficult to discern.” “At the same time these 7 Naga underground factions are also not coming to a single platform to present a comprehensive and common agenda for the cause of the Naga Political Issue and its solution therein,” he added.
The Minister also expressed hope that the Government of Nagaland should be taken into confidence by the negotiating parties, and maintained that there are recognised political parties in the state besides the government who may also have wisdom laden ideas and proposals to contribute to the political talks.
“The Nagas cannot afford to lose the present opportunity in shaping the destiny of their future,” he said while also appealing to the negotiating parties to exhibit benevolent diplomacy and statesmanship devoid of arrogance. This is the time to demonstrate the good quality leadership while ironing out the obstacles and difficulties, he added.
Meanwhile, the Minister also clarified that he was speaking at his personal individual capacity without any ill-will towards anybody.
