Naga Hoho flays order to declare relations with Naga groups, ban on sales of dog meat

Dimapur, July 21 (EMN): The Naga Hoho has flayed the recent orders of Nagaland government, asking its employees to self-declare if they have family members or relatives in any Naga political groups, as well as ban on dog trade and sale of its meat in the state.

In a press statement issued by its communication cell on Tuesday, the Naga Hoho stated that all political parties in Nagaland have been pursuing the Indo-Naga political issue for an honourable settlement since the first election to the Nagaland Legislative Assembly and that the Assembly had discussed Naga political issues on various sittings and adopted resolutions in the floor of the house.

 “Even today, every individual and organisations claim to be the stakeholder of the Naga political problem on the question of political settlement. The Naga people, be it government servants or layman cannot deny their involvement and contributions to the Naga political struggle one way or the other and so also every family have been facing the wrath of the occupational forces directly or indirectly,” the statement read.

 “Having said that, the directives issued by the state government on the 7th of July 2020 asking the government employees to sign the declaration about the involvement of their relatives in the Naga movement for self determination is really shocking and beyond comprehension,” it added.

The Naga Hoho stated that at no point of time, after more than 70 years of political struggle and 23 years of cease-fire agreement, had the government of Indian or the state government ever asked its employees to make such declaration.

 “We question the wisdom of the concerned authorities and the people in the power corridors for imposing such irresponsible orders making the government servants insecure of their sincere and dedicated service. The order also implies lack of trust and confidence on its employees,” it said.

It went on to say that it had earlier appealed to the governor of Nagaland and India’s interlocutor for Naga peace process “to come out with clarity as to why Naga political groups (NPG) should be termed as “Armed gangs”. “In the same manner, we appeal to the government of the day and the governor of Nagaland to tell the Naga people the reason behind the signing of self-declaration by the government employees,” it added.

‘Nagas won’t stop eating dog meat’

The Naga Hoho has termed the decision of the state cabinet to ban commercial import and trading of dogs in the markets and sale of both cooked and uncooked as “ridiculous” and asked the state government to review the order.

 “Nagaland was never a part of Indian princely states and the history of migration; their customs and tradition and food habit and social life of the Nagas cannot be compared with the people in mainland India and therefore the right for food cannot be taken away by any authority on earth,” the statement read.

 “We wonder whether the state government is there to protect the rights of indigenous Naga people or to just follow the orders according to the whims and fancies of the GoI. Among many reasons, Naga people at large consider and value the dog meat as medicine and part of food habits. No forces can stop and alter the food habit and culture of another community whether through legislation or force,” it added.

Stating that any directives from the government of India cannot be made into law without proper discussion in the Nagaland Legislative Assembly, the Naga Hoho said it’s dog meat today and “tomorrow all forms of alien culture may be imposed on us thereby the sanctity of our existence will be perished if we are unable to protect ourselves from such invasion against the rights of indigenous people”.

“We fervently appeal to the state government to review such order as Naga people are not going to stop eating dog meat and thereby the law itself will become a mockery,” it stated.