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Dimapur, March 1 (EMN): The Working Committee, Naga National Political Groups (WC-NNPG) on Tuesday said that the blame game on the 16-Point Agreement of 1960 and the Shillong Accord of 1975 should end and Nagas want to know the “real architect”.
The WC-NNPG claimed in a press release that Ralengnao Khathing Tangkhul alias Major Bob Khathing, who become Nagaland Chief Secretary in 1967 after serving in various capacities, including Mokokchung DC, Indian Frontier Administrative Service and Asst. Commandant in the Assam Rifles, among others, was the real architect of the 16-Point Agreement.
It said Khathing exhibited a very strong anti-Naga nationalist stance as a bureaucrat and thousands of lives were lost in the military operations from 1951 till Nagaland attained statehood. “For the act of brutally suppressing the Naga political movement, the Indian Government awarded him Padma Shri in 1957,” it stated.
Khathing was instrumental in the demarcation of Nagaland state boundary and minimised the physical boundary and segregated Nagas, it claimed.
‘History clearly says he was a primary member in the committee who finalised the draft of 16-Point Agreement, playing a key role in dividing Naga ancestral land into Nagaland, Manipur, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Burma (now Myanmar),’ read the press release.
It stated that R.C Chiten Jamir was sent to Ukhrul and other Naga areas to invite Naga brothers in Manipur to join Nagaland prior to statehood but the appeal was rejected. Upset with the demarcation, “the Naga National Council (NNC) and Naga nationalists rejected the 16-Point Agreement and condemned the NPC,” it added.
The WC-NNPG went on to claim that Khathing, with an intention to curve out a state for Naga-inhabited areas of Manipur, convinced young educated people to join the Naga political movement. “Very soon Ino Th. Muivah enrolled in the Naga movement at Viswema in February 1965,’ it added.
‘He was instrumental in the formation of Nagaland Armed Police (NAP) and Naga Regiment which further eroded the strength and capability of Naga nationalists,’ it said, adding that as the Chairman of Administrative Commission, Nagaland, he had a role to play in the steep division within NNC which led to the signing of the infamous Shillong Accord.
The group also accused him of chasing the “laurels of Indian Government by exterminating his own people with both sword and pen without any compunction”.
The media cell of WC-NNPG issued the press release days after the NSCN (IM) accused the group’s Convener N Kitovi Zhimomi of toying with the rejected 16-Point Agreement.