Dimapur, January 3 (MExN): The resurrection of AFSPA vis a vis the December 4, 2021, Oting massacre should be the wake up clarion call to resolve the protracted Indo-Naga political issue once and for all, the ACAUT Nagaland stated today.
The upcoming young generation of Nagas should be dignified global citizens, proud of our cultural identity and factual historical foundation, based on truth and respect, it asserted in a statement.
The delay in settlement has led to the decay of basic Naga tenets and ethos, it said, further stating that the competencies and agreed positions should be publicly discussed through the apex Naga tribal bodies with a sense of urgency under a given deadline.
“Every Naga citizens as the major stakeholders should be part of any concluding agreement, as the will of the people reigns supreme,” ACAUT noted.
Justifying its argument, the ACAUT pointed out that expediting the Naga political settlement was one of the key resolution of its public rally on way back in 2013, later reaffirmed on August 26, 2017 in another public rally.
ACAUT wholeheartedly was part and parcel of the Core Committee of Nagaland Tribal Hohos and Civil Organisations (CCNTHCO) which stood for “Solution before Election” in 2018, which has its precedent set in the 1998 election, it said.
However, it went ahead with ‘Election for Solution’ coined by the BJP incharge of Northeast India Ram Madhav, it maintained.
However, the formation of the opposition-less United Democratic Alliance (UDA) government by all the elected members of the 13th Nagaland Legislative Assembly is the “logical step taken to bring solution before next election as mandated,” it added.
In this connection, ACAUT demanded that elected legislators should resolve during their short remaining tenure to resign “in mass to prove their commitment and pave the way for the Centre to take a final call for early solution”
“Otherwise, the Nagaland electorates should reject all the present elected members in the next year election,”
ACAUT further reminded that 2022 is the silver jubilee for one of the longest running ceasefire in the world and said that Nagas should deliberate whether it merits jubilation or introspective analysis.”
For the general public, the ceasefire has instead “granted legal licence for multiplying factions with unaccounted weapons issued under various categories, monitored by an effeminate Ceasefire Monitoring Group,” it asserted.
While one hand, the dozen of recognised Naga Political Groups(NPGs) are contented with the status quo, it resulted in the flooding of multiple and unabated taxations making life unbearable for the general public; on the other, the cancerous growth of unchecked corruption has rendered the fruits of statehood concentrated in the hands of a few, it said.
“The horrendous Oting massacre is a major symptomatic eruption of a dysfunctional state where an animal life has more rights than a human life,” ACAUT also highlighted, further stating that provisions of AFSPA not only curtails the fundamental rights of a citizen under the Indian Constitution but treats people living under the disturbed area as “suspects and can be killed without question.”
“For 64 years long Nagas have endured extra judicial killings, random unaccounted rapes, unwarranted arrests and excesses that have degraded human dignity without a ray of hope for justice,” it said.
It also noted that the Supreme Court of India continues to be a “stoic and gagged spectator against its own citizens when it upheld the imposition of AFSPA in 1997 after 15 years of lawsuit.”
Against this backdrop, the ACAUT emphasised the Oting incident should be the wake up clarion call.
The Hornbill Festival preceded the Oting massacre and the overwhelming mourning period brought about an abrupt ending to the festival of festivals, exposing the contradictory events and paradoxical world with which the Nagas live every day, it pointed out.
It further reminded that it was in the same festival in 2014 when Prime Minister Narendar Modi emphasised on showcasing the Nagas “unique cultural heritage” to others and make Nagaland and India beneficiaries.
However, the rupturing of the sensitive political wound of Nagaland's “unique history”, every now and then curtails and punctures the window of hope and opportunities especially for the youths, it alleged.
“India as a signatory of the United Nation Universal Declaration of Human Rights is not only belittling its commitment but also committing apartheid among the mongoloid Nagas in the eyes of the world,” ACAUT further charged.
The Anti-corruption watchdog further noted that the December 20 NLA’s resolution to repeal APSPA has been made a farce by overriding the “Article 371(A) provision which state that no Act of the Parliament shall apply in Nagaland unless the State Assembly decides by extending the APSPA for another 6 months.”
“The Pied Pipers’ tune of the politicians for early solution during every elections has taken the Naga public for a ride… the New Year should be a harbinger for the Nagas to stomp our feet together and declare, enough is enough of everything that is rotting in Nagaland,” it said.
“We are at the threshold of transition and when the right time comes to rise to the occasion, the onus will be on us to roll,” exhorted the ACAUT in a statement issued by its Convenor Tia Longchar; Co-Convenor Simon Kelio, and Secretary Hetoi Chishi.
