20 MLAs of eastern Nagaland request ENPO to suspend ‘public emergency’

DIMAPUR — The Eastern Nagaland Legislators’ Union (ENLU) has appealed the Eastern Nagaland Peoples’ Organisation (ENPO) to suspend the ongoing ‘public emergency’ in the greater interest of Frontier Nagaland Territory (FNT).

Making the appeal through a letter dated March 18, the ENLU briefed the ENPO on its meeting with the interlocutor, AK Mishra and Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, among others.

Notably, the ENLU informed that the purported ‘draft Memorandum of Settlement (MoS)’, which it received from the Nagaland Chief Minister, was “actually not a draft but a ‘working paper’ given to the state government for observations and comments,” according to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

Providing context, the ENLU said that it apprised the MHA about the chain of events after the chief minister shared the supposed draft MoS with the ENLU for observation and discussion with the ENPO on Dec. 21, 2023.

Subsequently, the document was brought up for discussion by the legislators during the Feb. 14 consultative meeting convened by the Eastern Nagaland Gazetted Officers’ Association (ENGOA) at Tourist Lodge, Dimapur.

However, the ENPO refused to comment on the document, stating that it was yet to receive the draft officially from the MHA or government of India (GoI) and also due to its lack of authenticity.

The consensus among the members present at the meeting was that the draft was unsatisfactory, and they, therefore, refused to accept it, it said.

The ENLU said that it also apprised the central leaders on the ‘public emergency’ in the eastern areas and the decision to abstain from any central or state election, which was spurred by the GoI’s delay in providing a settlement to the FNT issue, and sought the MHA’s intervention.

In this context, the MHA stated that the ‘working paper’ will come to a final stage when all the stakeholders — talk team, government of India, MHA, state government and ENPO — agree to the draft in the spirit of tripartite talks for a permanent and lasting solution, the ENLU said.

“The MHA has appealed to the ENLU to convey to the state government and other stakeholders to discuss the draft and forward it to them,” read the letter.

The letter was appended by the 20 legislators from the eastern Nagaland region namely: P Paiwang Konyak, CL John, P Bashangmongba Chang, K Konngam Konyak, W Chingang Konyak, S Keoshu Yimchunger, S Kiusumew Yimchunger, Sethrongkyu, Wangpang Konyak, A Nyamnyei Konyak, Naiba Konyak, C Kipili Sangtam, P Longon, Y Mankhao Konyak, B Bangtick Phom, A Pongshi Phom, Lima Onen Chang, Imtichoba Chang, Benei M Lamthiu and C Manpon Konyak.