Dimapur, Nov 2 (MExN): The NSCN-K has called upon the Naga students’ community to debate with seriousness and concern the affiliation issue and to accept the contentious matter as a challenge to decide on their future.
“This statement has to be treated seriously as a matter of great concern by the young Nagas of Nagaland, especially the students’ community and this issue is debated thoroughly at their own appropriate platforms” an MIP/GPRN release suggested. The NSCN-K asked that the students’ community accept this as a challenge and make use of the opportunity to decide their future. The people also, must not remain “mute spectators” on this issue, because, it stated, it would have far-reaching consequences for the common man for generations to come. “It is a socio-economic issue and as such Nagaland state politicians should not think on partisan lines. But Naga people in all strata of society should think seriously on this big issue” the NSCN-K stated.
The NSCN-K also reacted sharply to Education Minister Imkong Imchen’s statement that the state government would not remain silent on the affiliation of schools of Naga-dominated areas of Manipur to the Nagaland Board of School Education (NBSE) but pursue the matter ‘aggressively’.
“The issue of affiliating the schools in the four districts of Manipur to Nagaland Board of School Education is not a political one, but it is a socio-economic issue. Hence in the socio-economic interests of the Nagas, the NSCN/GPRN had already registered its strong opposition to the move” the NSCN-K stated. The release took note that students from the said areas have begun getting admitted to Nagaland schools to sit for the forthcoming examinations which, according to the NSCN-K, “will certainly culminate into questions of scholarships, selections to technical branches like medical, engineering etc etc”.
“Then which district or tribe or community of the Nagas will share and spare their chances or opportunities to the students of Manipur? Again, which tribe or community in Nagaland will sacrifice their employment opportunities for the Manipur people?” the NSCN-K questioned.
“Nagas, if this selfish ambition of the Neiphiu Rio-led state puppet government and opportunist NGOs gets materialized, only those tainted government bureaucrats, NGO leaders and politicians like Imkong Imchen, Minister of Education who got embroiled himself as a minister by creating a furor on the process of selection to technical education through Joint Entrance Examination 2006, will roast the toast and students from Manipur state will be facilitated at the expense of talented Naga students” it stated while cautioning that Rio and Imchen “and even their children” must be answerable for this “blatant sell-out of Naga rights and opportunities to those people who are not entitled or deserved”.
