First of all I want to thank our two respected leaders for responding to my article where I had mentioned that I would be grateful for any correction from our former leaders. I however wish to reiterate the following facts so that the Naga national records are not distorted by prejudice or unconfirmed reports.
1. The Shillong Accord draft was never “prepared” or co-drafted by Zopianga, Ramuny, Keviyalie and Z.Ramyo “tranquilly on their own accord” as asserted by you. According to information I have gathered from interviewing some of the actual signatories of the Shillong Accord, the Naga delegation never knew anything about the contents of the Shillong Accord until they were presented the draft on November l1, 1975 at the Raj Bhavan in Shillong. I was told that on reaching Shillong, Ramyo became seriously ill and could not even attend the meeting that day. The meeting at Shillong was arranged by the Liaison Committee of the Nagaland Peace Council. Prior to this meeting, the Liaison committee as the mediators between the Government of India and the Federal government of Nagaland had had several meetings with both the parties at both Chedema and Shillong. The Naga delegation at first refused to sign the document but when they were told that in that case, they could go back to the jungles and face the Indian army, they were compelled to sign the Shillong Accord. By this time of the conflict, there remained only a handful of the Naga Army and the Civil wing that were already totally encircled by thousands upon thousands of Indian soldiers. If the two leaders however have evidences that are contrary to what I have stated, I will be most grateful if they can disclose it to me as well as to the Naga public so that I can be proven wrong.
2. As for the charge that I had remained silent over the betrayal of the national struggle by the Naga People’s Convention, you may please refer to my lengthy condemnation of the same as recorded in my book “ Nagaland and India , the blood and the tears” or “The Naga Saga” from pages 15 to 22. In addition, you may also refer to my six paged article “16 Point Agreement- the greatest betrayal in Naga history” dated Feb.15, 2003 and published in all the Nagaland local papers.
3. As for AZ Phizo’s purported silence over the Shillong Accord and my failure too to condemn Phizo, I personally did not find any necessity to condemn Phizo when he had already clearly condemned the Shillong Accord in his letter to the Times of London on Nov. 25, 1975 as well as in his letters to T. Venuh the then Vice President of the NNC as well as to Generals Mowu, Thinoselie and Dusoi. If some other Nagas think that Phizo should have done more then that, I will simply respect their opinion.
4. Lastly, I would like to clarify that I am not blaming the Revolutionary Government or any of its leaders of playing any part in the signing of the Shillong Accord. What I simply wanted to state was that the surrender of the Revolutionary Government was a terrible blow to the Federal Government of Nagaland and that it weakened the FGN to such a condition where the Shillong Accord became inevitable. In case my language had been a bit too harsh, I apologize to these leaders whom I hold in high esteem.
Most sincerely,
Kaka D. Iralu
