The Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland or NSCN (IM) has said its status as a State of the Indian Union was the outcome of a few “treacherous Nagas”.
The group also slammed Nagaland Governor R.N. Ravi for reflecting a ‘divisive’ agenda while commemorating the 58th Nagaland Statehood Day on Tuesday to “protect the 16-Point Agreement at all costs”.
Nagaland, once part of Assam, attained statehood on December 1, 1963. This followed the 16-Point Agreement signed in July 1960 between the Naga People’s Convention (NPC) and the Centre. A section of Naga leaders had formed the NPC that a majority of the extremists did not recognise.
The first point of the agreement stated that the areas comprising present-day Nagaland would form a State within the Indian Union while the second point said the State would be under the Union Ministry of External Affairs. According to the third point, the Governor of Nagaland is vested with the executive powers of the State government.
“The history of Naga political struggle and the ongoing Indo-Naga political talk is a living testimony that the present Nagaland State is the brainchild of a few treacherous Nagas that showed up in the name of NPC hijacking the Naga issue without the concern of the bona fide freedom fighters,” the NSCN (IM) said in a statement timed with the Statehood Day.
“The IB [Intelligence Bureau] was at its divisive game after getting hold of a few Nagas, especially government employees to join the bandwagon, taking the name as NPC. Without the consent, support and participation of the Naga people, the NPC arrived at the 16-Point Agreement that was responsible for the creation of Nagaland as the 16th State of the Indian Union,” the outfit said.
Statehood, it said, fragmented the “Indian-occupied Naga territories” by placing them into different administrative units of Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.
The mention of the IB was an allusion to Mr. Ravi’s stint as top officer of the intelligence agency, particularly the northeast desk. A 1976 batch IPS officer of the Kerala cadre, he retired as the IB’s Special Director in 2012 and went on to become the Centre’s interlocutor for the Naga peace process.
The NSCN (IM) also condemned Mr. Ravi’s stand on the peace process, a solution to which has been elusive since the outfit declared ceasefire in 1997.
In his pre-Statehood Day speech on Monday, the Governor made it clear that there would be no separate flag and constitution. The NSCN (IM) has been firm on its demand for a ‘Naga flag’ and Yehzabo (constitution) as part of the final peace deal.