Won’t accept any proposal outside Framework Agreement — NSCN (IM)

Dimapur, March 14 (EMN): NSCN (IM) has asserted its stand on the Indo-Naga negotiation by reiterating one of the basic tenets of democracy, which is sovereignty, and has appealed to the Central government to resolve the Naga political issue for ‘peace and progress’.

A statement issued by NSCN (IM) on Sunday said that “any formulation or proposal from any quarter which is outside the parameter of the Framework Agreement shall not be acceptable to the NSCN in particular and the Naga people in general”.

It stated that ‘sovereignty lies with the people, so with the Nagas’ citing that both sides had agreed to end the conflict by solving the problem though ‘shared-sovereignty’.

Stating that the Framework Agreement was ‘in public domain’ and acknowledged the Indo-Naga conflict as ‘political and nothing else’, NSCN (IM) expressed confidence that India and Nagaland would enter into a “new enduring and inclusive relationship of peaceful co-existence of the two entities”.

“Enduring and inclusive new relationship of peaceful co-existence of the two entities means relationship is extra- ordinarily strong, sustainable and durable through trials and pains and the two are to remain interlocked though each maintains one’s own identity. One is not within the other; one is not completely away from the other either. Both shall remain together as two entities as agreed upon,” the statement read.

“In spite of the bloody past and bitterness Nagas are realistic and pragmatic that we have agreed to resolve the problem and reconcile with the Government of India by sharing sovereign power and enter into a new relationship for peaceful co-existence of the two entities.

“We, Nagas are not ignorant of the contemporary situation of the world around us. As agreed, that within this Framework Agreement both the parties are required to work out the details and execution plans for early implementation.

“We call upon the Government of India to be more positive and sincere. We believe there is no human problem which cannot be resolved with human wisdom pregnant with mutual respect and equality as Hon’ble PM Narendra Modi has often quoted. We are for peace and progress,” it read.

It further stated that Nagas would remain grateful to the Indian government under the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, “which recognised the unique history and political situation of the Nagas in July 2002”.

“Historically we have nothing in common. In politics, cultures, social life and traditional ethos too there is nothing commonness. But unfortunately, some Indian leaders are twisting and misinterpreting our unique history and situation in such a way that in India which is a big country with many states and peoples, they have their own uniqueness in culture, language, traditional practices and so are the Nagas.

“Yes, many cultures and languages and social practices are there but politically all of them had joined the Independent union of India in the 1940s of their own choice. Before they signed the merger agreement, they had their own unique history but after merger they had lost their identity. They have now identified themselves with the union of India but the Nagas have not and so is this ‘Uniqueness of our history’. They have also deliberately misinterpreted the Naga political identity as cultural which is but distortion of the agreed two entities and that is never acceptable to the Nagas. “It must also be clear that this violent conflict was not initiated by the Nagas. Nagas are the aggrieved, not the aggressor, it added.