JD(U), NSCN/GPRN (IM) Ao region hit back at Imna Along

Dimapur, June 14 (EMN): The Janata Dal (U) Nagaland on Monday expressed displeasure at the statement made by president of BJP Nagaland Temjen Imna Along following the formation of the Core Committee on Naga Political Issue (CCNPI).

JDU stated that Along’s statement made it “loud and clear the limitations of CCNPI” while the working perimeter of the newly formed CCNPI was still yet to be declared.

“In this regard, the JDU Nagaland would like to remind Shri Along that the genesis of the political talks between the Government of India and the Naga National Workers, especially with the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN-IM) which is based on three pre-mediated principles —  at the highest level, i.e., prime minister level, in the third country and without any pre-conditions.

“Since, the talk is directly between GOI and the Naga National Workers, it is absolutely nonsense for any third party to make a curtailing interference. Instead of ameliorating the stalemate that is obviously visible, the pre-conditions set by Along has vitiated the atmosphere of the ongoing talks. He has deliberately belittled the uniqueness of the Naga cause and undermine the agreed principles of the ongoing dialogue,” read the statement.

It stated that the party understood how all political parties are bound to an allegiance to the Indian constitution.

“However, this does not imply that the Naga Nationalism, which is borne of pre-independence of India, should be thrown to the thin air just to safeguard a temporary position. Therefore, the CCNPI as well as the BJP Nagaland must clarify its position as to whether the precondition declared by Shri Along is of his personal statement or of the CCNPI or the BJP party in the larger interest of the Naga people and for posterity,” it added.

Further, NSCN/GPRN, CAO, Ao region expressed its indignation at the BJP president for his “irresponsible utterance” while expressing shock at his “feigned ignorance of his root and the God’s given history and political identity of the Naga people”.

The union, in a statement on Monday, reminded Along the “negotiation that followed after the First Indo-Naga Ceasefire 1964 failed for the very reason of the Government of India not willing to accept the Naga issue as a political issue. Naga negotiators under the Naga National Council (NNC) stood the ground against all pressure and made their stand loud and clear that Nagas will not accept the Indian Constitution.

“Having met the 1964 ceasefire and the Shillong Accord 1975 and learning the lesson the hard way, the present ongoing Indo-Naga political peace process is the result of the initiative taken by the then Prime Minister of India, Narasimha Rao who officially acknowledged the Naga issue as political issue and not India’s ‘law and order’ issue,” read the statement.