In his speech to mark the 76th Naga Independence Day he said , “Sovereignty is our birthright, which should be defended at all costs. If we cannot defend our sovereignty, our future will be decided by others. If we cannot defend our land, the aggressors will possess it. If we cannot defend our people, we will become foreigners in our own land. If we cannot defend our freedom, we will become a lost people. If we cannot defend our history, it will be uprooted. If we cannot defend our culture, it will be assimilated. And if we cannot defend our identity, we will be proselytized.”
He added, “we see no meaning in the cease-fire that does not embark upon political negotiation. And we see no meaning in negotiation if it cannot deliver solution.”
He said that the irony is that the Government of India is keeping pretentious silence over the Framework Agreement it has signed on 3rd August, 2015. But the truth shall prevail in the long run. “The 31st May, 2022, Emergency National Assembly is one of the turning points in the history of the Naga political movement. We have taken the stand before God and Naga people that NSCN will uphold and protect the unique Naga history and the Naga National principle at any costs. The Naga flag and constitution are indivisible parts of the recognized sovereignty and unique history.”
He continued the ball is now in the court of the Government of India to make the right move and to fulfil the commitment given to the Nagas.
Several Naga organizations hoisted the “Naga national flag” and organised programmes in Nagaland and at many villages in the Naga dominated areas of Manipur on Sunday.
Naga tribals inhabited in many of the 16 hill districts of Manipur while there are Kuki tribals in these hill districts, bordering Nagaland, Assam, Mizoram and Myanmar.
Manipur based All Naga Students’ Association (ANSA) in a separate statement referring to a Manipur government notification said that the blanket order to hoist Indian National Flag on August 15 circulated in various departments including the education department whereby “directly and indirectly confronting the rights and sentiments of the Nagas and provoking us is condemned”.
The statement signed by the ANSA Information and Publicity Secretary Thohrii Khrasi said “for the Nagas we have been celebrating our Independence Day on August 14 since 1947 and we hope the Government of Manipur will take note of this history whereby a political negotiation has also been undergoing at the Prime Minister level Indo-Naga Peace Talk as two entities”.
“Such (government) order negates the spirit of Framework Agreement and negotiation between the two entities. We will not allow any imposition of flag hoisting. Mention may be made that the notification of the Education Department’s blanket compulsion to hoist the Indian national flag in all schools reminds us of the government wilfully denying us the quality education for decades since Independence.”
It said that the recent expenditure statement of the allocated budget of four years reflects a mere 5.7 per cent of the total proportion in the hills.
“An insult such as this cannot be celebrated with hoisting of Flag on Independence Day rather it amounts to rubbing salt in the wound. In order to avoid confrontation we are cautioning the departments, especially the education department, to refrain from compelling people to hoist flags in our villages,” the ANSA statement said.
For all the latest world News Click Here
