Government of India ‘entirely’ responsible for delay in Naga solution, says NSCN (IM)

RN Ravi and AK Mishra never said during official talks that flag and constitution aren’t in the Framework Agreement

Dimapur, July 25 (EMN): Amid pressure from various quarters to end the Naga political issue by inking a final agreement, the NSCN (IM) has held Government of India (GoI) “entirely” responsible for delay in arriving at a solution.

In a press statement received here on Monday, the group said that ‘the Nagas are reeling with utter confusion about the Indo-Naga peace talk and have subsequently started expressing their total discontentment, pointing fingers on the very people who brought the ceasefire and the peace process’.

“Some people misconstrued that the peace talk is delaying because of the flag and constitution issues. Whereas it is not the case because the flag and the constitution are the component ingredients embraced in the Framework Agreement (FA),” it stated.

Clarifying the confusion, the NSCN (IM) stated that the GoI had “recognised the uniqueness of the Naga history and its position that the Nagas were never part of Indian Union either by conquest or consent”. “Naturally, how can a Naga national movement be without a flag and a constitution?” it asked.

It said the flag and the constitution are the embodiment of the FA, which “acknowledged and accepted the declaration of the Naga Independence Day on the 14th August, 1947 and the Plebiscite of 1951”.

Maintaining that “sharing of sovereign powers”, “new relationship”, “co-existence” and “two entities” mentioned in the FA, mean “acceptance of the Naga sovereignty” and as “two separate people”, the group asked how can one say that there is no flag and constitution in the FA.

“The irony is that this matter was already resolved long back but the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) factor came in between questioning how there can be two flags and two constitutions,” read the statement, adding that the actual point of delay started as RSS manifesto sharply contradicts the principle agreement of the FA.

The NSCN (IM) went on to claim that neither former Indian government’s interlocutor of Naga peace talks, RN Ravi nor the current interlocutor AK Mishra have said during the official talks that flag and constitution aren’t in the FA.

“Ironically, the twists and turns of the flip-flopping habitual betraying character of the GoI comes up to take the center stage and sown the seeds of confusion in order to disown the FA. Certainly, GoI is entirely responsible for the delay. The Nagas have had enough of the GoI’s overly pretentious appearance on the Indo-Naga peace talk. It is high time for the GoI to come clean,” read the press statement.

It went on to allege that the two agreements — Framework Agreement and Agreed Position – signed by the GoI had divided the Naga people.

“If the GoI is genuinely sincere to go for an early solution, why is it pursuing two agreements for one people and one common issue?” it asked.

“These two agreements are parallel in nature, one is within Indian constitution and the other is outside the purview of the Indian constitution. With this unwarranted policy the Government of India is testing the nerve of the Nagas and delaying the whole process,” it added.

Maintaining that the GoI should make it clear which of the two agreements would be used for the final agreement, it said “simply inviting the NSCN to New Delhi for peace talk without going through the detoxification process will not help expedite the Naga political solution”.

It also asked if the legitimacy of the FA, ‘as proclaimed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’, be put in the bargaining level with another agreement.