Framework Agreement signed without knowledge of Nagaland government, stakeholders, says WC-NNPG

Dimapur, July 11 (EMN): The Working Committee, Naga National Political Groups (WC-NNPG) has claimed that the Framework Agreement (FA) was signed without the knowledge of Nagaland state government, Naga tribes, the apex civil societies or the Church”, which is why ‘the government of India was forced to sign the Agreed Position with genuine stakeholders on November 17, 2017’.

In a press statement issued on Monday, the group claimed that there is no mention of political elements like “sovereignty, greater Nagalim, out of the box solution, supra state, integration, Pan Naga Hoho (PNH), flag and constitution” in the FA signed between the GoI and the NSCN (IM) in 2015.

It alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the NSCN (IM) leaders into “National Mainstream” in his address to the nation in the evening of the same day.

The WC-NNPG also accused certain elements (without naming anyone) of self glorification through frequent press statements and carrying out “malicious, illogical campaign” against it and leaders of Naga apex organisations.

In a clarification, the group stated that its convenor N Kitovi Zhimomi and other members had never travelled to Tirap, Changlang and Longding (TCL) Naga areas of Arunachal Pradesh in the last couple of years, so ‘the Assam Rifles escorting his convoy is someone’s figment of imagination’.

It added that Tirap, Changlang Longding People’s Forum; Tirap Changlang, Longding Students’ Federation; and Tirap Changlang Longding Women’s Association met WC-NNPG at Oking on June 4 and endorsed the Agreed Position on their own volition.

Maintaining that P Tikhak, Ato Kilonser of NSCN (Reformation), shares a close relationship with the TCL and Arunachal Pradesh, the group said “the question of having some of his close or far relative within CSO in the TCL does not arise”.

The group also went on to accuse the NSCN (IM) of using the “Naga political talk as a license to extort Nagaland state government and common people alike for three decades”.

“Naga people want immediate political solution that fulfils Naga aspiration in Nagaland state, for Nagas in Manipur, Nagas in Arunachal Pradesh and Nagas in Assam, through practical structure and approach,” it stated, adding that it has the “full backing and confidence of the Naga tribes and relevant apex CSOs”.

It said the drama of the NSCN (IM) should end ‘because the patience of the Naga people has reached its limit’.