PRESS STATEMENT, the 7th March, 2023 – Release All Naga Political Prisoners of War (NPPoW))

GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF NAGALIM

 Ministry of Information and Publicity

 

PRESS STATEMENT

Oking, the 7th March, 2023

 

Release All Naga Political Prisoners of War (NPPoW)

The political conflict between India, Nagalim, and Myanmar has lasted more than seven (7) decades, making it one of modern history’s oldest international conflicts. The perspectives of India and Myanmar shaped how the international community viewed the conflict; however, for the Nagas, we are defending our own country against forces that are purely an invasion and illegal occupation by India and Myanmar after the colonial British Empire left the Naga homeland. There were no official or informal treaties between the Naga people and the British during the colonial British Empire’s occupation of the Free Naga country. Similarly, on August 14, 1947, as the British were about to leave the region, the Nagas declared independence. Under these conditions, all countries’ sovereignty must be respected. International law, including the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, must be strictly followed. The occupying forces, India, and Myanmar must recognize that all countries, large or small, powerful, or weak, rich or poor, are equal members of the international community.

While India and Myanmar illegally occupied Naga country, they also systematically framed the conflict as an internal issue, viewing the Nagas defending their own country as a security threat to their respective countries. The conflict has resulted in the detention of numerous Nagas by the respective governments, many of whom have been labelled as “insurgents”, “terrorists”, or arrested under “terror funding”. Mrs. Alemla Jamir, a cabinet minister in the National Socialist Council of Nagalim/Government of the People’s Republic of Nagalim/(NSCN/GPRN), for example, was detained by India on December 17, 2019, at Domestic Airport (T-1) in New Delhi and later arrested in a “terror funding case” and remains in Indian custody.

The questions for India and the international community are, if the NSCN/GPRN is a terrorist organization:

  1. Why has India been in political negotiations with the NSCN/GPRN for more than two (2) decades?
  2. Why are the negotiations taken place at the highest political levels in India and other countries?
  3. India’s commitment to the November 18, 2002, Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in Milan, Italy, which clearly stated and understood that the NSCN/GPRN is not a terrorist organization. If this is the case, why are members of the NSCN/GPRN or Nagas being held on terror funding charges?
  4. Why did India sign the Framework Agreement on August 3, 2015, which recognized the issue as an Indo-Naga “political conflict” and was signed as two entities?

We urge the international community to uphold and defend international fairness and justice, to promote an equal and uniform application of international law, and to reject double standards. We oppose the occupation of Nagalim, and the international community must immediately call India and Myanmar’s illegal occupation into question.

The international community should remain committed to the right approach of promoting peace talks, assisting India, Nagalim, and Myanmar in the conflict, and creating conditions and platforms for the three entities to resume negotiations or call for an immediate withdrawal of occupying forces from Nagalim. The occupying countries, India and Myanmar, must immediately release all Naga Political Prisoners of War (NPPoW).

                                                                                                                                                                      MIP, NSCN/GPRN