GUWAHATI: The Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN-IM) asked Nagaland governor RN Ravi, who is also the interlocutor in the Naga peace talks, to prove his commitment by focusing on the settlement of vexed “Naga issue” and not resort to “mischief”.
“… But one cannot forget that the Naga issue involves blood, sweat, and tears of not only Nagas but of Indians. It is the call of the Nagas that Ravi should settle down to prove himself his commitment to focus on Naga political solution and not resort to mischief,” the editorial of NSCN-IM’s monthly news bulletin “Nagalim Voice” reads.
The statement was made against the backdrop of Ravi’s stinging letter to Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on the state’s “worsening” law and order situation.
“Ravi’s bombshell is a reflection of his mishandling of the Naga political issue. It speaks of his frustration and arrogance. It speaks of his insincerity and deceitfulness. It also speaks of his inclination to turn the clock back by terming the very groups he has been talking across the negotiating table as armed gangs,” the NSCN-IM said.
The outfit also said that Ravi’s assessment that the law and order had collapsed was not supported by ground realities even as it said he was undoing his own credibility as the interlocutor.
“There is trust deficit on his role as interlocutor as he is desperately on the roll to undermine the Naga issue. The biggest question pricking the mind of the Nagas is if Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi has planted a wrong person to help him solve the longstanding Indo-Naga political issue,” the NSCN-IM added.
In the June 16 letter, Ravi had said the unrestrained depredations by over half a dozen organized “armed gangs, brazenly running their so-called governments” and challenging the legitimacy of the state government without any resistance from the state law and order machinery, had created a crisis of confidence in the system.
Army crackdown continues in Myanmar, claims tribal outfit
The Eastern Konyak Union, an organisation of the Konyak Naga tribe in Myanmar, alleged that the deployment of Indian and Myanmar Army personnel in “every village” on the border areas had instilled fear in the minds of locals.
Stating that public houses are not rebels’ nests, the union appealed to Indian and Myanmar governments to stop their military action in the areas.
It urged Naga NGOs and Naga People’s Movement for Human Rights to raise the issue on humanitarian ground as “Eastern Konyaks are suffering due to inhuman activities by Indian and Myanmar governments”.
The Nagas have a sizeable population in Myanmar. They live in villages along Myanmar side of the international border with Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.
In May this year, Myanmar had handed over 22 long-wanted insurgents from Manipur and Assam to India. The country launched a crackdown against militants from the Northeast in January last year.