SOME HARD FACTS ABOUT THE SHILLONG ACCORD AND ITS AFTERMATH

Kaka D. Iralu
May 4, 2013

Although others as well as I have written extensively on the Shillong Accord of 1975, it appears that many Nagas still don’t understand what the Shillong Accord is all about. I am therefore - at the risk of repeating myself - constrained to once again write about the Shillong Accord in the hope that our people would once and for all understand the Shillong Accord for what it was and is. 

To repeat myself, the Shillong Accord was a document signed under terrible military oppression where the last remnants of the Naga army were desperately fighting against overwhelming odds. On top of this, at the political level, there was a National Emergency declared at the Central level and a President’s Rule imposed in Nagaland during that period. As a result of the full fledged Indian military operations, entire brigades and battalions of the Naga army were either wiped out or had surrendered in all the other Districts except Kohima and Phek Districts. Even in these two Districts, only 141 soldiers and civilian members remained. As for the civilian population, almost every village in the interior regions were under curfew and heavy shelling of the jungles with artillery, mortars and light armoured tanks were ceaselessly going on. As for the ripened fields of the villagers, herds of cows buffaloes and wild animals were eating them away and many villagers had started to starve.

In the light of all these horrible suffering and situation, the signing of the Shillong Accord was neither a traitorous act on the part of the Federal Government of Nagaland (FGN) or the Nagaland Peace Council (NPC) which arranged the meeting at Shillong. In fact, the NPC members risked their lives to save the Naga villagers by going into curfew bound jungles seeking to contact the last remnants of the NNC, FGN and Naga Army personnel. In this dangerous mission, many times, they were nearly shot or even blasted to pieces by the heavy bombardments. As for the Shillong Accord, it was neither a traitorous or betrayal document because of the following reasons:

1.Though clause 1 of the Shillong Accord states that the Underground Representatives volitionally accepted the Constitution of India; Clause 3 of the same accord counter nullified the first clause by granting that the Underground Representatives would be given sufficient time to formulate other issues for a final settlement. As such, the Shillong Accord was more of a process than a final political settlement between the Government of India and the Underground Representatives.

2. When this Shillong Accord agreement was brought back to the Federal Government authorities, Zashei Huire, the then President of the Federal Government of Nagaland (FGN) send back the accord to Shillong stating that because of Article 139 and 140 of the Naga Yehzabo (Constitution), his government (FGN) was not morally or legally competent to accept Clause 1 and 3 of the Shillong Accord. In this context, Article 139 of the Yehzabo states: “The Naga National Council shall be the only political institution in Nagaland.” Article 140 (1) further states: “There shall be a Central Executive Council which will guide and control the political policy and decisions of the nation.” Based on these two articles of the Naga Yehzabo, Zashei stated the inability of his government to accept the two most damaging clauses of the Shillong Accord. To put it in Zashei’s actual words, the statement went like this: “THEREFORE, the Naga Federal authority is morally and legally not competent to include the number (1) and number (3) of the SHILLONG ACCORD until this subject is taken up by the competent authority.”

This means volitional acceptance of the Constitution of India as a final settlement of the Indo-Naga conflict WAS NOT accepted by the FGN but was handed back to the Central Executive Council of the Naga National Council (NNC) and the Government of India to resolve. As such neither Zashei Huire nor the FGN are guilty of treason to the nation as alleged by some Nagas. 

(Details of the three paged “Statement of Zashei Huire on the Shillong Accord” can be published if the Naga public desires to see the full document. This document was drafted after three days of intensive deliberation by the Naga Federal Emergency meeting held at Dihoma village from November 29 to December 1, 1975 ie.19days after the Shillong Accord was signed on Nov.11, 1975).

3. As for Clause 2 of the Shillong Accord, following the suggestion of Governor L.P. Singh to de-link the peace process from the political process, a supplementary agreement was signed on Jan. 5, 1976 and one hundred forty five derelict arms of the FGN were deposited (not surrendered) into the custody of the Nagaland Peace Council (NPC). The NPC at this time was acting as mediators between the GOI and the FGN. These deposited arms are not in any Indian armoury but still kept under lock at Chedema Peace Camp under the joint custody of the Deputy Commissioner Kohima and the Nagaland Peace Council. On the other hand, as demanded by the FGN, in exchange for the deposition of these arms, more than six hundred Naga prisoners of war were released from Indian jails with all their cases withdrawn. All Indian army operations were also withdrawn from the interior parts of Nagaland and starving villagers were finally allowed to harvest their over-ripened fields. On top of this, forced fines of Rs.1, 18,062.50 which were earlier imposed on poor villagers as punishments for aiding the Naga army were all reimbursed to the villagers. Thus, in this political bargain, by depositing 145 derelict arms, the Federal Government of Nagaland extracted all these overwhelming benefits for the Naga people. In this way the Shillong Accord signatories completely outwitted the Indian Government in the Shillong Accord political game.

4. As for the political process which was to be resolved by the NNC Central Executive and the Government of India, the issue came to a tragic and ignominious end when Morarji Desai the then prime Minister of India in his official meeting with A.Z. Phizo in London on June 14th 1977 told Phizo that without any compunction he would exterminate all Naga rebels. Desai met Phizo at the request of both Naga and Indian well wishers. But in the interaction, when Phizo raised the issue of the Indo- Naga conflict, Desai’s reply was: “No, I will not talk about Nagaland. And if you want to talk about Nagaland this is the end of the meeting.” The Shillong Accord political ball was thus in the end, thrown out of the Shillong political court by the Indian Prime Minister. This was an event similar to the 1964 bilateral ceasefire which in the end was unilaterally abrogated by the Indian Government in 1972. Considering all these facts, Zashei Huire, just before his death in his one paged statement wrote thus: 

“Viewed from every angle, the Shillong Accord has become a non issue. It has lived its life and died a natural death. This is therefore not the time for national workers to quarrel over matters that have already gone into the pages of history.” (Statement and declaration of Zashei Huire, dated May 11, 1996).

5. As for Phizo’s alleged silence on the Shillong Accord by the breakaway factions, the following are some excerpts from a one-paged statement that Phizo wrote in the London Times on November 25, 1975: 

“Sir your correspondent in Delhi reports in your issue of November 20 that…as a result of an agreement reached with the Indian Government, they (Nagas) have now accepted that Nagaland is an integral part of India... Mr Phizo the underground leader living in London is reported to have accepted it and that he was kept informed during the negotiations” In refuting the press report, Phizo went on to write: “May I be allowed the courtesy of your column that there is no truth in this report. The fact is this. A message from my people dated October 25, 1975 asked me to be ready at a short notice to go to Delhi for discussions. The message said that the only stipulation so far agreed was that any solution must be honourable and acceptable to both sides. I am still waiting a call… since early September twenty four hours curfew has been enforced to prevent the harvesting of the rice crops. It is difficult to envisage a freely negotiated and honourable settlement under such conditions.” (This statement was given 14 days after the signing of the Shillong Accord. The Shillong Accord being signed on November 11, 1975).

Besides this, in another three paged statement to P. Pushu Venuh, the then Vice President of the NNC, Phizo wrote: “I had nothing to do with the Shillong Accord. However, if India thinks that a settlement has been made though the Shillong Accord, then let them raise the issue and I will reply them.”

Phizo also wrote personal letters to General Mowu, General Thinuoselie and others exposing the total absurdity of the Shillong Accord. As for the other Naga national leaders who had safely escaped into Eastern Nagaland before the signing of the accord, they did not experience the horror of the pre-Shillong Accord Indian army operations.  

In summary the following facts are reiterated:
1. The Shillong Accord was not a final settlement between the Government of India and the Federal Government of Nagaland. Hence the Shillong Accord was not an act of treason to the nation as alleged by some Nagas.

2. The Shillong Accord was just an accord signed by an Indian Governor (not a Cabinet Minister of the Indian Government or even a Member of Parliament) and some underground Representatives. It never became a settlement or agreement between the Indian Government and the Federal government of Nagaland because the accord was never ratified by either of the two Governments. 
3. As for A.Z. Phizo- the then President of the Central Executive Council of the  NNC, he was not silent on the Shillong Accord but brushed it aside as an invalid document signed by some Indian Bureaucrats and some Underground Representatives.

Some post Shillong Accord supplementary facts and developments:

1. In the one paged document of the Shillong accord, the word “Naga” or “Nagaland” was not mentioned even once with reference to a settlement. (The word Nagaland was mentioned once with reference to L.P. Singh’s designation as “Governor of Nagaland.”) The Accord therefore was just a document signed between a Bureaucratic head of a puppet Indian State and some so called “Underground Representatives” whose designations in the Naga army or FGN were not even mentioned. To consider such a document as the “settlement document” of a twenty eight years war between two nations (1947-1975) is the height of absurdity and credulity. Both Phizo as well as the Government of India must have realised this absurdity and did not ratify or pursue it further. Only some politically naïve persons and others with personal political ambitions tried to make the Shillong Accord a mountain out of a molehill.

2. After the signing of the Accord, most of the Naga political prisoners who had languished in different Indian prisons for six seven many years returned home. The rest of the national workers were accommodated in nine Peace Camps established in different parts of Nagaland. Also in order to have a central place with easy vehicle accessibility, a Transit Camp was established in Mission Compound, Kohima. The Government of India also provided a financial assistance of Rs20, 000 per month for maintenance of these Peace Camps. This assistance was discontinued after 1990.

3. On the part of Zashei Huire, the then president of the FGN, beginning from March16, 1978, he wrote four official letters to Th. Muivah and Isak Swu who were at this juncture holding the posts of General Secretary and Vice president of NNC and were on an Alee (foreign) command. In all the four letters, the last of which was written on Nov.1, 1984, Zashei tried to explain the Shillong Accord as well as sought their advice for future actions. However, none of his letters were ever replied. Also, Federal emissaries like Keviyalie and Ramyo Zimik waited for a long time from the Pangsha Peace Camp in order to contact the Alee command members who on their return from China had taken shelter in the eastern parts of Nagaland. However, strict orders were issued by the leaders in the East that no Naga Army personnel or civil authorities would be allowed to enter Western Nagaland or vice versa.

4. These Alee Command leaders in the East had by August 1976 re-written the Yehzabo of Nagaland and centralised the Government system after a Socialist Communist pattern. Without even bothering to inform the Home Government, this Alee (Foreign) Command even re-assigned A. Z. Phizo’s portfolio by making him both President of the NNC as well as the FGN. Though all these drastic moves and changes were opposed by the majority of the national workers in the East, by Jan 31, 1980 a new Socialist government called The National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN) was formed. This new government was announced after killing all the top leaders in the East who had opposed the new government. The 15 victims included the NNC vice President, the Speaker of the Tatar Hoho, Kilonsers and Naga army officers of different ranks. They were all killed between Nov.29, 1979 and January 1980 and the Shillong Accord was used as a scapegoat for killing them. From thenceforth, further divisions emerged and a killing spree was unleashed which spread from the east to the west. The total number of deaths from this killing spree today stands at over five thousand victims which include victims of starvation deaths when entire villages were burnt to ashes especially in the eastern parts of Nagaland. (For more details and victim’s names, see W. Shapwon’s book: “Nagaland and Th. Muivah’s  terrorist activities” or “Genocide 2006” compiled by the erstwhile NSCN K)

5. As for the present inmates of the Transit Peace Camp in Kohima, over the years many statements have been issued to the general Naga public stating their position on the Shillong Accord and countering the many allegations brought against them for continuing to stay in the Transit Peace Camp. The author, would however like to end by quoting two sentences out of a two paged statement entitled “Statements on Reconciliation, Plebiscite and the Shillong Accord’ issued on May 12, 2003 by Melio-Deputy Kilo Kilonser, Federal Government of Nagaland. The two sentences read as follows: “The Transit peace camp has nothing to do with the government of India. To stay or leave is entirely the choice of the campers as they are in our own lands.”

6. As for the general Naga public, all that they have been doing from the signing of the Shillong Accord to date has been one of pursuing their own life’s ambitions and criticising the Peace campers and the Shillong Accord for all the ills that had befallen the nation from 1975 onwards.

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The Morung Express is introducing “Public Space” as part of our intention to provide deliberate space for the opinions of the people to be expressed and heard through this newspaper. Nonetheless, The Morung Express points out that the opinions expressed in the contents published in the “Public Space” do not reflect the views and position of the newspaper or the editor.

 



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