EMN
KOHIMA, AUGUST 20
HOME Minsiter G Kaito Aye today made an impassioned plea for peace and a stop to fratricidal and factional killings to the underground Naga groups. This perhaps is in the backdrop of his mandate to “bring peace as a pre-requisite to find a tangible solution to the decades long Indo-Naga political issue”, his top priority at the time of taking office.At the same time, the Minister categorically indicated that patience and time was running out for this to end.
In a press statement issued on Wednesday, Kaito said “enough is enough”. He contended that the continuing stand off between the groups despite repeated appeals from all quarters of the Naga family and State government is destroying the “very basic foundation they had set out to achieve in their common goal”.
The brewing storm, he said, is narrowing down options for the State Government. He warned that the government cannot remain a “mute spectator” to the “continuing acts of factional kidnappings and killings”. If the factional killings continue then push could come to shove and the “State Government may have no option but to intervene for the larger interest of the Naga people,” the release stated.
This could prove detrimental to the peace process and all that has been achieved in the last 16 years of ceasefire between the Naga underground people and the Government of India. Kaito said the Naga heart is constantly yearning for a permanent and final settlement to the protracted Naga political issue. He said the time to live in peace is at hand.
The Home Minister’s statement then goes on to outline the crucial role of the State in the ceasefires between the parties concerned and that this effort should be protected.
He said bearing these factors in mind, he had made fervent appeals to various non-Naga armed groups allegedly operating from our soil particularly Dimapur city to vacate the areas in view of the peace process that has been going on between the Naga underground people and the Government of India. He said it was with genuine intents that he sought the reconciliation of the cadres of various factions to the mutually agreed upon ceasefire ground rules because they are under the purview of the ceasefires with the Government of India. He added that factional clashes, kidnappings and killings are contrary to the ceasefire ground rules.
Kaito expressed concern that the violence continues unabated and spilling over in the civilian areas and disturbing the atmosphere of peace. The statement also conveyed that factional killings in the vicinity of hospital such as the one in the Kohima Naga Hospital complex and more recently another at the gate of the Kohima Naga hospital are despicable. Such open violation of the norms and rules by those who have mutually agreed to a ceasefire are not in order, he added.
The press release implored the warring brothers to pause and see the corpses which are being recovered by the police jawans. They are none other than those of “our own brothers and sisters”, he said.
The release ended on a note of appeal for “all the factions to completely stop kidnappings and killings amongst them in the spirit of unity & reconciliation for the common cause of the Nagas”
