Nagaland Tribes Council lambasts the United Naga Council of Manipur

Last Updated on February 17, 2023 by SPN Editor

The Nagaland Tribes Council lambasts the United Naga Council and said that it totally disagrees with one of the resolutions adopted by the UNC at its recent presidential council meeting, which said “Nagas must take our own time” for a solution, asking if 25 years of negotiation is not a long time.

“What logic the UNC has to get better dividend out of longer period of negotiation?” it asked, adding if UNC can ensure indefinite ceasefire between the GoI and the Naga negotiators in order to continue the talks. Terming the resolution as senseless, it said “people of Nagaland are tired of multiple taxations”.

A press release from the Nagaland Tribes Council (NTC) has called upon “the NSCN (IM) to be transparent and bring out its competencies to the public domain”, saying that people cannot wait any longer for the Naga solution with the negotiations between the government of India and the Naga negotiators having completed 25 years.

In a statement issued after its general session held on May 31 in Kohima, the NTC said the NSCN (IM) should take a call without wasting any more time as the GoI is clear on its parameters of negotiations with the understanding that has reached on October 31, 2019.

NTC president Toniho Yepthomi on Tuesday also asserted that “the destiny of the Nagas of Nagaland shall never be allowed to be decided by the outsiders so long as the integration of land is not possible”.

The NTC president further appealed and urged all tribal bodies in the State to take its respective decisions on the issues that were in public domain and collectively work to deliver what was honourable and acceptable to the “native people” of the State.

The NTC also accused the Core Committee on Naga Political Issue of misusing its role by projecting itself to be the indispensable broker between the GoI and the Naga negotiators. The committee is at best a facilitator, so its members giving statements on any agenda of any of the negotiators is uncalled for, it said.

‘This is not the season for any facilitator including the core committee to assert so as to claim political mileage out of the prevailing situation by misguiding the gullible public and such ambition has to be restrained. Indeed, everyone’s effort, be it the negotiator or the facilitator, must be focussed on the solution alone and not otherwise,’ read the statement.

The council also said the panel member’s statement that the core committee would meet the central leaders after some time and would need the support of Assam Chief Minister and NEDA convenor Himanta Biswa Sarma, implied that the outcome of its meeting with the NSCN (IM) would be submitted to him, who will then “convey it to the GoI”.

Rejecting such a move, it said Nagas have official negotiators in NSCN (IM) and WC-NNPG as well as the legitimate state government, who have access to GoI through the official emissary. It went on to warn the committee “not to over indulge or to expose the competencies on the negotiating table sacred to the Nagas”.

“Be it the facilitators or the negotiators, whoever is using delaying tactics to thwart the political solution are indeed the exploiters of the bona fide citizens of Nagaland,” it added. It also said that it ‘detest the attempt of a political group to curtail the stakeholders from expressing their opinion’.