Dimapur, august 25 (MExN): The FGN today declared that peace and unity should not come at the price of selling out the historical and political rights of the Nagas and that the people should know sovereignty, freedom and liberty can by no means be compromised.
A press note received here today from FGN “kedalio” Zhopra Vero, which group not specified, responded to the reported statement in some local dailies recently that the Naga Consultative Meet (NCM) held in Kohima March 5-7 was attended by all sections of the Naga civil society, political parties, overseas Nagas and the underground groups. The note declared that the FGN did not attend the meet. It said that the FGN “did not see the necessity to attend the meet organized by the state government” as, the note alleged, the state government owes allegiance to the constitution of India and that the FGN had ‘apprehensions of hidden agenda to compromise the rights of the Nagas.’
In this regard, the FGN, while asserting that the 16th Point Agreement, 1960 signed between the Government of India and the Naga People Convention (NPC) sowed the ‘seeds of distrust and disunity and brought fratricidal killings among the Nagas,’ stated that the Nagas for the last decades have been shedding tears and blood “not for a state within India nor to have some concessions in the Constitution of India of India” but have been defending “our natural and historic right.”
Saying that “it is the unified desire to protect and shield what is ours that has given us the courage to go on despite deliberate, concerted attempts by the Government of India and her mercenaries to obliterate Naga nationalism”, the note however said that many Nagas have failed to understand this and “have fallen prey to the policies of India who after realizing that Naga nationalism cannot be wiped out through guns have chosen a more covert ways of obliterating our goal”.
“By propagating statements like “not losing sight of the realities of the day”, “changed global scenario”, “the might of India”, while talking about solution to the Naga political problem, they seek to confuse Nagas,” the FGN Kedalio, Zhopra Vero stated. However, the release stated that the “reality” is that the Nagas are a peace loving people and that the Nagas are not the initiator of the conflict with India or Myanmar. “We desire peace with all our neighbors whether mighty or weak and have been making every effort to settle out issues by peaceful means.”
Just because India or Burma is mighty or the world is changing, the Nagas cannot afford to compromise their rights or their land be occupied by sheer military force “of the aggressor”, it said and asserted that the Nagas would be forced to resist the invading forces so long as they are there. Besides, the FGN also stated that money in terms of thousands of crores are being poured in to “entice greedy Nagas” who in turn try to falsely educate the Naga mass that the Nagas will not survive without India’s financial assistance. In this connection, the release stated that “this question” can be openly answered by “the Father of our Nation” AZ Phizo who said and the release quoted: “Money, Finance and Economy viability: These are frightening words for the educated man who never realized that their illiterate - forefathers never worried these things. Only a clerk-minded personality worries because he cannot see one end ahead of his writing-hand.”
Clarifying on the terms like “underground”, “hostiles”, “insurgents”, “Rebels” etc by India and the FGN said that none of these terms apply to “us” as the problem between Nagaland with India and Burma is not a dispute, nor is it an issue as the Nagas are not demanding or claiming Independence from India and Myanmar, and that “these imperialist” forces have no legal claim over the Nagas.
“Our problem is against the invasion of our land by these imperialist forces and their contention is to obscure this basic fact. Nagaland is a sovereign Nation whose rights over our own land are historically unquestionable and is a universal fact and therefore the question of negotiation on India’s favour or to accept solution under the Constitution of India does not arise,” the release declared.
In this regard, the FGN declared that whatever the circumstances may be, Nagas must know that some things can be changed by things like sovereignty, freedom, and liberty can by no means be compromised. “These were the foundations of which led to the Declaration of Independence of 1947, and the Plebiscite of 1951 by our forefathers, for which tears were shed and thousands of lives were sacrificed here and in foreign lands,” the release declared.
The FGN, while acknowledging that every Naga is yearning for peace and that the Naga needs need to reconcile and unite and collectively march forward to their envisioned destiny, asserted that peace and unity should not come at the price of selling out “our historical and political rights” but rather it should be based on “these rights”.
Reminding the people have to beware that they do not betray the aspirations of the people and the pledge made by the people more than six decades back and the sacrifices that have made and hardships they have endured, the release stated that in Naga tradition and customary practices if the people betray and forget the pledge that binds them, then the curse of our ancestors will fall upon us and out future generations.
