DIMAPUR, MARCH 21 : After 14 years of truce and more than 60 rounds of peace talks between the Government of India and NSCN/GPRN, a breakthrough seems to be in the air as the NSCN today disclosed that there is a “significant change” in India’s approach to the Naga issue.
“Allow me to say that there is a significant change in their (India’s) approach. They no longer ignore the rights and history of the Naga people,” said NSCN general secretary Th Muivah.
The NSCN leader in a message to the Naga public on the occasion of the 32nd Republic Day celebration of the NSCN/GPRN, said that the question now is how much sovereignty can Nagas exercise and how much sovereignty can India exercise.
Muivah who is the chief negotiator of the NSCN/GPRN in the ongoing political talks, said that after more than 13 years of talks and meetings with three Prime Ministers, India can no longer say that it doesn’t know the Nagas and their problems.
He said that after years of tough talks where the NSCN had persistently insisted that there can be no solution as long as Naga history and identity is not respected and as long as Nagas and their land are divided, Indian leaders have finally admitted that Naga history cannot be ignored.
And that is why three successive Indian Prime Ministers including late Narasimha Rao, AB Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh, have also assured of a solution “honourable and acceptable” to both parties.
Muivah also said that during he and chairman Isak Chishi Swu’s recent meeting with Manmohan Singh, the latter proposed a solution through negotiations and not guns “outside the box” since Nagas have outrightly rejected any approach from the Indian Constitution.
“If we take the commitments of the three Prime Minister, solution may not be far off,” the NSCN leader said.
On earlier media reports that GoI will not talk about Naga “sovereignty and integration,” Muivah said, “We raised the issue some 2-3 years back and told them (GoI negotiators) that if that is the case, ‘you go your way, we will go our way,’”
Now, no question of sovereignty or integration is being raised, he added. Muivah however said it was his view that “Naga sovereignty Nagas alone and Indian sovereignty India alone is also difficult…now question is how much sovereignty Nagas can exercise and how much sovereignty India can exercise.”
He also said that Nagas cannot blame India all the time as Naga history has shown that Nagas have also committed a couple of great blunders in the past. Turning to the Naga people, Muivah said, “Unless Nagas take the right decision, we are a lost people. But as long as we stick to our rights, we are honourable and respectable people.”
The NSCN leader assured the Naga public that as per the commitment given to the Naga people during the 2004 consultative meeting, the NSCN will not go ahead on its own but always come back to the Naga public whenever any decision of national importance is to be taken.
