DIMAPUR: NSCN-IM general secretary Th Muivah, on Monday (August 14), said the government of India (GoI) had officially acknowledged the issue of integration of all Naga areas as a legitimate right of the Nagas and that it will be finalised accordingly.
Addressing the 77th “Naga Independence Day” celebration at the NSCN-IM council headquarters at Hebron in Nagaland, Muivah said after 18 year-long political talks, the government of India and the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN) finally signed the historic Framework Agreement on August 3, 2015, on the foundation of recognition of the unique history and sovereignty of the Nagas, and shared sovereignty and coexistence of the two entities.
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Claiming that the NSCN-IM is the one and only authentic political organisation of the Naga people, he said the agreement is a mutually agreed official document.
“This Framework Agreement is our legacy. We must defend what we have achieved with our own sweat and blood,” Muivah stressed.
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On separate Naga flag and constitution, Muivah, who is leading the NSCN-IM in talks with the government of India, said these are “naturally inseparable” from the sovereignty of a people.
“It is universally an accepted truth that the flag and constitution are constituent parts of sovereignty. There is no ambiguity about it. The Indian leaders understand it too. They must take the stand to speak the truth,” he added.
Muivah further said that Nagas are proud of their past dynamic leaders, who “took the right decision in declaring the Naga national independence on August 14, 1947, on the eve of the British departure from British India”.
“It was a historic step that gives new meaning to the Naga national identity and saved the future of the Nagas,” he said.
“The heart of the matter is that the Nagas are a sovereign people, who have been living in their own land from time immemorial,” he said.
Muivah reiterated that the Naga national resistance movement is all about defending the inherent sovereign right of the Nagas and their land.