Unresolved Naga issue affecting Nagaland's development: Governor

Kohima, March 22 (IANS) Nagaland Governor La. Ganesan said on Tuesday that due to the unresolved Naga political issue, the smooth march of the state towards progress and development has been affected.

Delivering his first speech at the newly-constituted 14th Nagaland Assembly, the Governor stressed the need for an early solution through the peace process that is honourable, acceptable and inclusive.

He congratulated the legislators for being elected to the House and lauded the entire government machinery for ensuring the triumph of democracy and people's will through the successful conduct of the general elections on February 27.

On the other hand, the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN-IM), the dominant Naga group, said on Tuesday that the politics of 'hypocrisy and flattery' is raising its ugly heads again as the Government of India is only looking for an escape route to dilute the political significance of the Framework Agreement, signed on August 3, 2015.

In his speech on the occasion of NSCN-IM's 44th Republic Day celebration, the outfit's President Q. Tuccu said that the world at large is keenly watching how India handles the Framework Agreement "because it has something to do with the high-sounding speech of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and how he proclaimed before the world that he has solved the longest insurgency problem in Southeast Asia".

Tuccu said: "Our political identity as sovereign people was well-recognised and protected by this agreement. But in the years that followed, the Government of India started to fiddle with what has been agreed upon.

"Today, the fate of the Framework Agreement hangs in balance as the commitment of the Government of India fluctuates wildly every now and then."

The NSCN-IM leader said that they have made their stand very loud and clear to the Government of India on the issue of the Naga flag and Constitution, which are indispensable and inviolable parts of the recognised sovereignty and unique history of the Nagas.

"During the Emergency National Assembly on May 31 last year, we took the stand before God and before the Naga people that NSCN would uphold and protect the unique Naga history and the Naga national principle at any cost.

"We are now simply waiting to see how the Government of India will pick up the threads of the Indo-Naga political talks with correct narrative and not for its own convenience."

Tuccu said that in the event of failure of talks, "we have to work out a survival strategy".

"We must live and this final showdown must be a battle to decide our future. The fight is going to be tough, but it is to be noted that ours is not a contest of strength, it is a matter of right and wrong, just and unjust. Therefore, the truth shall triumph in the long run.

"Notwithstanding the callous manner of handling the Naga issue by the Government of India, we have carried the talks forward with total commitment and conviction, because no sacrifice is greater when it comes to defending the historical and political rights of the Nagas," the NSCN-IM leader said.

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