GUWAHATI: Even as the Kukis in restive Manipur raised the pitch on a “separate administration” in the wake of the ethnic violence, some Naga organisations in the state on Wednesday cautioned the Centre that while it attempts to address the demands of any other community, it must not take any steps that will disintegrate the land of the Nagas.
Nagas, Meiteis and Kukis are Manipur’s three major communities. There are also some smaller tribes.
In a memorandum submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the end of rallies organised in the Naga areas of Manipur demanding an early solution to the Naga political issue, the organisations said the Nagas would not accept any act that would adversely affect their interests.
“...We can only state that such misadventures will have serious ramifications that will provoke further senseless violence with different communities,” the organisations – United Naga Council, Naga Women’s Union, All Naga Students’ Association, Manipur and Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights (South) – wrote in a joint memorandum submitted to Modi.
“However, we wish to make it clear that any other community living in the Naga ancestral homeland will not be left out of the final settlement in consonance with the mutually-agreed upon competencies (in Framework Agreement),” they said.
Further, they demanded an “acceptable and honorable” solution to the Naga political issue in the true spirit of the Framework Agreement signed between Centre and insurgent group NSCN-IM on August 3, 2015.
“…In the propitious rallies held today…, the Naga people in the present state of Manipur wish to register once again our collective sentiment and earnest desire to the government of India for exercising its political will to conclude the protracted negotiation on the Indo-Naga political issue in the true spirit of Framework Agreement…,” the organisations said.
“The United Naga Council, the apex organization of the Naga people in Manipur, encompassing 20 Naga tribes, reiterates our uncompromising political aspirations and strong desire for translation of the Framework Agreement into a political reality for enduring peace,” they further said.
The organisations said they were aware of the stalemate surrounding the Framework Agreement on the interpretation and accommodation of the principal issues of Naga national flag and constitution as “envisaged and implied” in the Framework Agreement.
“We call upon the government of India to honour the Framework Agreement in letter and spirit by accepting the universal fact that sovereignty lies with people and by extension, that the Naga national flag and constitution must be an integral part of the shared sovereignty,” they demanded.