EMN
DIMAPUR, APRIL 9
THE Action Committee against Unabated taxation (ACAUT) has asked the Forum for Naga Reconciliation to work out the issue of extortion (”illegal taxation”) with the underground groups even as they enter into an agreement to form “one government”.
The ACAUT, which has come to enjoy wide public support, said that “taxation is an emotional issue” how and the menace must be addressed before the support of the public surround the reconciliation starts to erode.
The media cell of the ACAUT issued a statement on April 9. “The NSCN/GPRN, GPRN/NSCN and NNC/FGN are applauded for listening to the voice of the Naga people culminating in the signing of the Lenten Agreement under the initiative of FNR which ACAUT Nagaland agrees is a step in the right direction to form one national government and prayerfully usher in permanent settlement to the Indo-Naga problem,” the mass-based organization stated.
“However, ACAUT Nagaland is bound to be cautiously optimistic since other Naga groups are yet to join the national initiative of FNR for a common Naga future”.
The ACAUT stated that the forum and the groups should start working out on the “modalities” including the concept of “one tax”, a matter that has become acidic with the public.
“The modalities for one national government, including one tax, should be worked out at the earliest before critical erosion of public support takes place. The signatories should understand that taxation is an emotional issue and any further deferment on this count may imperil the movement for permanent settlement,” the ACAUT stated.
The ACAUT also referred to two other points in the so-stated “Lenten agreement”, namely terms of reconciliation and “transparency” from the forum and the groups.
“As stated in the agreement, the FNR and Lenten signatories should sincerely reach out to the other Naga groups. However, the FNR may state in clear terms that reconciliation is a time-bound process and therefore, the other Naga groups willing to join the on-going process should do so without any pre-condition and within a specific time period since any delay in the formation of one national government at this juncture may jeopardize Naga aspirations for permanent Indo-Naga settlement”. Incase the other Naga groups fail to join the process within a specific window period fixed by the FNR, the ACAUT suggested, the Naga people may have to conclude that such groups have ceased to believe in a common Naga future and therefore are “un-mandated organizations”.
Secondly, the public organization stated, “in the unlikely event of deadlock” between the signatories or inability to move forward post-Lenten agreement, the FNR should “fix responsibility upon the erring group (s) responsible for the deadlock and such should be made known to the Naga people”. Transparency on the part of FNR in fixing responsibility upon the signatory/signatories for any deadlock or intransigence is a critical component of the reconciliation process, the ACAUT stated in its press release.
