The NSCN (I-M) said the Naga political struggle will not end if the Government of India is pondering over the Naga issue away from the Framework Agreement.
It asked the Centre not to try to undermine the Naga issue in the manner of the Shillong Accord or the 16-Point Agreement.
“These two mistakes have brought much bloodshed in the Naga political struggle,” the ministry of information and publicity of the group said in a release.
The NSCN said the Naga struggle will not end if the same “mistakes of history” are repeated. It also stated that the Naga political issue will not end if the Government of India fails to “handle in the manner demanded by the nature of the issue” that has dragged on for too long.
The group said the Naga leadership will come and go but the burning issue will never die as long as an honourable settlement remains elusive.
The NSCN said the Framework Agreement came into being because the past agreements like the 16-Point Agreement and Shillong Accord miserably failed to solve the Indo-Naga political issue.
The NSCN and the Naga people have waited for more than five years for the Government of India to act on the Framework Agreement with all seriousness as per the spirit of the agreement, the release said. “But the passage of time indicated that the Government of India is having something else much below the Framework Agreement,” it stated.
The group said this is going to set off another long-drawn struggle as the Naga people will never barter away the political rights given to them by God. It said it is absolutely abhorrent to think of such a political blunder after more than two decades of the Indo-Naga political talks.
Saying that it is not short of intellectual ability to intensify the struggle, the NSCN there are a galaxy of highly qualified individuals holding degrees in science, medical, engineering, information technology, etc. It added that there are equally dedicated leaders to handle military leadership to keep pace with the changing situation.
However, the NSCN said the military struggle was never its option as the political issue demands a political solution. “This is the meaning of the 1997 ceasefire and the over decades of Indo-Naga political talks,” it stated.
It alleged that the Government of India is deliberately misinterpreting the Framework Agreement to justify their proposed terms and conditions for the settlement of the Naga issue. It is a matter of undermining the Naga political issue, it said.
The NSCN added this is also going to go totally against its spirit in particular and the Naga people in general who wanted to usher in permanent peace in “Nagalim” and the whole region of South-East Asia.