• Extend ceasefire to all Naga inhabited areas: ANSF urge interlocutor RN Ravi
• Within the Naga solution we want to stay independent state or Union Territory
DIMAPUR, MARCH 7 (MExN): Nagas living in Tirap, Changlang and Longding district of Arunachal Pradesh would wish to stay as an “Independent State or a Union Territory” within the Naga solution.
This was conveyed to the Government of India (GoI) through Interlocutor to the Indo-Naga Peace Talks, RN Ravi by a delegation of the Nagas inhabiting the three districts of Arunachal on February 29, 2016 at a consultative meet.
The meeting which was held at Dibrugarh, Assam was convened by Arunachal Naga Students’ Federation (ANSF), with the objective of having better interaction between the two parties.
According to a press statement received from ANSF president Nokchai Boham and general secretary Pharo Khamthin, the people of Tirap, Changlang and Longding while welcoming the ongoing peace talks between the GoI and the Naga people stated that “within the Naga solution we want to stay independent state or Union Territory comprising three Districts (Tirap, Changlang & Longding).”
The delegation also apprised RN Ravi on the various problems encountered by the people of the three districts, like for instance, military torture as a consequence of the many insurgent groups in the Naga territory.
It blamed the GoI for neglecting the Naga people living in the three districts of Arunachal.
The delegation also urged the interlocutor to extend ceasefire to all Naga inhabited areas, especially in the three afore mentioned districts of Arunachal.
The ANSF statement also reported that RN Ravi has assured the delegation that the GoI would not take any decision without the knowledge of people and that the ball is now in the court of the people, as per the latest development of the peace talks.
The ANSF further stated that RN Ravi informed the delegation that such consultative meetings would be ongoing till the final accord is signed. In the coming days, a meeting of such nature would be held in the territory of Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts, he is said to have assured.
The ANSF meanwhile said a democratic process is a perquisite for the peace talk.
Stating that Naga people of the three districts have suffered a lot in the past, the students’ federation pointed out that they were not included during the 1951 plebiscite, excluded from the Nagaland statehood in 1963.
As a consequence, the Nagas of Arunachal have been living with extreme backwardness in terms of job opportunities, infrastructures and the denial of political and social freedom, it stated.
