Staff Reporter
DIMAPUR, SEPTEMBER 12
The fear of a violent aftermath – a revisit to those dark and forlorn years of factional killings, the wounds of which Nagas are still nursing today – if the NSCN (IM) does not take the other Naga political groups on board, following the signing of the framework agreement, was the recurring theme shared by the panelists today at the public discourse organized by ACAUT at DDSC in Dimapur.
Already discarded, quite curiously, by the Naga Hoho, the Naga Students’ Federation and the Naga Council Dimapur, it initially appeared that the turnout to the event would be quite low but as the evening began to cool down, the crowd swelled.
On the public discourse initiated by the ACAUT, and the criticisms it has attracted, Niketu Iralu said that the event was something that the Naga Hoho and the NSF should have initiated.
Niketu also shared that the NSCN (IM) must “sit down with the other NPGs and have an honest discussion among themselves” before coming to the Naga public for consultation.
Fellow panelist, and principal emeritus of Patkai Christian College, Rev Dr Tuisem Shishak echoed similar sentiments while asserting that “Muivah and the NSCN (IM) leaders should reach out to the other groups.” He shared that instead of forming a “united national government” to fight for a common cause, the Naga “national workers” have split and fight among themselves.
“I believe we have nothing to lose by welcoming the accord, for that matter any accord by any Naga political groups,” he said while appealing the Naga people to give NSCN (IM) the benefit of the doubt. Conversely, he said, the NSCN (IM) should also print the whole text of the framework agreement “for the widest circulation” among the people.
He reasoned that by delaying to reveal the contents of the agreement would only make matters worse by way of “creating more suspicions and divisions” among the Naga people. “I also have my doubts but let as show a willingness to study the contents (of the agreement) on their own merit,” Shishak appealed. Retired bureaucrat and panelist, Khekiye K Sema also sounded a warning that Nagas will find themselves on the path to a civil war if the NSCN (IM) cannot provide room to the other Naga political groups. He said that the Naga people will shower them with applause if they could bring even a chicken, much less sovereignty, as one united group.
“It is our appeal to the NSCN (IM) that it is possible to regenerate the Naga plebiscite of 1951 and raise our voice together as one.” He also reiterated that the contents of the framework agreement should be made public and that it would be folly to endorse or reject the agreement without knowing its contents in the first place.
Dr Visier Sanyu Meyasetsu, panelist and also the president of Overseas Nagas’ Association, said that the NSCN (IM) must be honest and inclusive for their own sake and for the sake of Naga people. “Make no mistake, there is no greater Nagaland or smaller Nagaland but only one Nagaland.
“Our ancestral land belongs to us and no one else. A solution has to be worked out through dialogue with our neighbors,” he said. On the nomenclature of “Nagalim”, he suggested that “all groups must agree” in order to legitimize it “or else go for a referendum.”
Rev Dr Mazie Nakhro, another panelist, shared his hope that the framework agreement would be used as a stepping stone towards achieving the aspiration of the Naga people. Another panelist and clergyman, Rev Dr VK Nuh, shared that “nobody has the political contract” and that it belongs to the people.
As announced earlier, the organizers reiterated that purpose of the event was not to sabotage the talks between the NSCN (IM) and New Delhi but solely to engage in an intellectual discourse on the current political situation in Nagaland.
