Kohima, July 4 (MExN): The Naga National Council has stated that the Naga people have “nothing to do” with the Panglong Agreement or the 21st (century) Panglong Conference in Burma. Any Eastern Naga leader’s participation in the Conference will, thus, be deemed as an “act of treason against the Naga nation.”
The Panglong Agreement was reached between the Burmese government under Aung San and the Shan, Kachin, and Chin peoples on February 12, 1947, with the objective to lead a united struggle against British colonisation as well as to recognise autonomy of the ethnic peoples.
A second Panglong-style conference is set to be held soon to address issues pertinent to Burma in the 21st century, particularly between the government and signatories of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement.
Reminding that the Nagas have always lived as a “free and independent people since time immemorial,” a press release from W. Shapwon, Joint Secretary of the NNC, noted that even as Burma gained independence, the NNC stood firm in remaining an independent nation.
In those days, he maintained, the Naga national stand was “clearly made known” to the Burmese leaders as well as the Indian leaders by Naga leader AZ Phizo. The Nagas therefore, “did not involve in the Panglong agreement of February 1947 nor signed to join the Indian Union.”
“When the neighboring countries had disregarded the will of the Naga people and sent their Army to Nagaland in an attempt to invade Nagaland, the Naga had been relentlessly and tenaciously defending their sovereignty at all cost in the last nearly seventy years,” Shapwon maintained.
