The NSCN (IM) on Sunday reiterated its stand on a negotiated settlement of the Indo-Naga political issue.
In his 42nd Naga Republic Day speech, NSCN (IM) chairman Q Tuccu said they believe the Indo-Naga political problem can also be settled through political talks.
“We strongly believe Indians and Nagas can walk together, work together, live together and fight together through agreement both in the time of peace and war,” Tuccu stated.
Stating that they don’t believe in the philosophy of stopping war with war, he pointed out that all wars in history and all human problems are settled with the politics of negotiation and agreement.
The NSCN (IM) said it understood the fact that the Indo-Naga political solution will not come from the east or the west, but it will come only from the bilateral talks between the Nagas and Indian leaders.
Tuccu also stated that the Nagas are highly political people. He said the Nagas are issue-based and principle-based people who can never be lured and purchased with quantum of money or high sounding promises.
Asking the Government of India not to repeat the wrong colonial ‘carrot and stick policy’, he said colonialism is a thing of the past already condemned by the world today.
He said the Indian leaders admitted that the so-called 16-Point Agreement and the Shillong Accord did not solve the Naga problem. Therefore, the Government of India invited the NSCN leadership to have political dialogue with them for a lasting political solution.
“But we can assuredly say any agreement that is not based on the issue is no solution at all,” he stated.
Tuccu said he believed that the Indian leaders of today will not commit the mistakes of the past. As for the Nagas, they survive if they hold fast to the issue but will perish if they drop it, he added.
He reiterated that after a long series of talks, the Government of India proposed the Framework Agreement as a formula of a win-win solution.
Tuccu stated that the Framework Agreement is the meeting point of the sovereign people.
“Sensible Nagas understand that this is one of the options where the Indians and the Nagas can come closer to each other because it serves the purposes of both the parties,” he said.
“It would be a great loss for them if they would betray the Framework Agreement or miss the chance. But as for the Nagas, we will keep the Framework Agreement,” Tuccu asserted.
He said the second Republic government of the Nagas called the Government of the People’s Republic of Nagalim was formed on March 21, 1980, after the legitimacy of the Republic government called the Federal Government of Nagaland formed on March 22, 1956, ceased with the signing of the Shillong Accord in 1975.