DIMAPUR, JULY 3 (MExN): The Naga People’s Front (NPF) has expressed dismay at the Central Government order of extension of the Disturbed Area Act for another six months to the whole of Nagaland.
A press release from the NPF stated that this came at a time when the whole of Naga people is expectant that the Central Government is seriously working for the final solution to the vexed Naga political problem.
"The BJP election slogan, ‘election for solution’ had brought hope to the Naga people with a sigh of relief that the decades old Naga problem will come to a conclusion. However, even after a lapse of more than two years at the helm of affairs, the recent extension of Disturbed Area Act throughout the state clearly exhibits the callousness with which the BJP Government is dealing with the Naga people and its political problem," the NPF claimed.
The Framework Agreement and bringing the NNPGs into the negotiating table, the NPF noted, had generated hope among the Naga people for conclusion of talks. "But the Central Government declaring the whole of Nagaland state as disturbed is highly worrisome," it rued.
"The imposition of the Act has had no tangible contribution to the Peace Process except to create an environment of distrust and an overwhelming feeling of being oppressed in the minds of the Naga people," the NPF said.
It reminded that the Naga people have been extending unstinted support to the Indo-Naga peace process since the Ceasefire in 1997 and have been asking the Government of India to repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act or at least lift it from Naga areas so as to create a conducive atmosphere for the peace negotiations to take place.
"The continued extension of this act might be interpreted as an attempt to exploit the long-suffering condition of the Naga people to impose a forced Accord on us, instead of a mutually agreed and negotiated settlement," the NPF observed.
It urged the BJP led Government to exhibit its sincerity and expedite for a speedy conclusion to the vexed Naga political problem.
