The Opposition Naga People’s Front (NPF) expressed dismay at the recent central government’s order extending the Disturbed Area Act in the whole of Nagaland for another six months.
The Act has been extended at a time when the Naga people were expecting that the Centre is working seriously for final solution of the vexed Naga political problem, the press bureau of the NPF said in a release on Friday.
The NPF said the continued extension of this Act might be interpreted as an attempt to exploit the “long suffering” of the Naga people.
The party pointed out that the BJP’s election slogan “election for solution” had brought hope to the Naga people that the decades-old Naga problem will come to an end.
” However, the extension of the Act throughout the state after completion of more two than two years at the helms clearly exhibited the callousness with which the BJP government is dealing with the Naga people and their political problem,” the NPF added.
The party added that when the Centre signed the framework agreement with the NSCN (I-M) on August 3, 2015, and further strengthened the process by bringing the Naga national political groups to the negotiating table, the entire Naga populace was hopeful of conclusion the talks. But the Centre’s declaration of the whole of Nagaland as disturbed area is highly worrisome, it said.
The NPF said the Naga people had high hopes that solution to the Naga issue will be arrived at with the coming of the BJP-led government at the Centre but instead of exploring for a solution, the government has been repeatedly extending the “draconian Act” in the state
It said the imposition of the Act has had no tangible contribution to the peace process except creating an environment of distrust and an overwhelming feeling of being oppression in the minds of the Naga people.
The Naga people have been extending unstinted support to the Indo-Naga peace process since the beginning of the ceasefire in 1997 and have been asking the Centre to repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act or at least lift it from the Naga areas so as to create a conducive atmosphere for the peace negotiations to take place, the NPF said.
It strongly urged the BJP-led government at the Centre to exhibit its sincerity and expedite for a speedy conclusion to the vexed Naga political problem.