An apex body of the Naga communities in Manipur has demanded an early resolution on the protracted “Indo-Naga” peace process while cautioning the Centre against any attempt to address the demands of any other community that could lead to the disintegration of the land of the Nagas.
The United Naga Council (UNC) timed its demands, raised during a peace rally across the Naga-inhabited areas of Manipur, with the talks between the Centre and Kuki leaders in New Delhi on Wednesday.
The UNC warning is seen as a counter to the push for a “separate administration” by Kuki organisations following an ethnic conflict that has affected Manipur for three months, claiming the lives of close to 200 people and displacing more than 50,000 others. The conflict is between the Kukis and the Meiteis.
The Meiteis, Nagas, and Kukis are Manipur’s three major communities.
Joint memorandum
In a joint memorandum submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi via district heads at the end of the peace rallies demanding a settlement on the peace process with the extremist National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah), the UNC and other organisations said any act that would adversely affect the interests of the Nagas would not be accepted. The other organisations that signed the memorandum were the Naga Women’s Union, All Naga Students’ Association, Manipur and Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights (South).
“...We can only state that such misadventures will have serious ramifications that will provoke further senseless violence with different communities,” the memorandum read.
“However, we wish to make it clear that any other community living in the Naga ancestral homeland will not be left out of the final settlement in consonance with the mutually agreed upon competencies (in Framework Agreement),” it said.
The Framework Agreement was signed between the Centre and the NSCN (I-M) on August 3, 2015.
The organisations also demanded an “acceptable and honourable” solution to the Naga political issue in the true spirit of the Framework Agreement.
“…In the propitious rallies held today…, the Naga people in the present state of Manipur wish to register once again our collective sentiment and earnest desire to the Government of India for exercising its political will to conclude the protracted negotiation on Indo-Naga political issue in the true spirit of Framework Agreement…,” the organisations said.
“The United Naga Council, the apex organisation of the Naga people in Manipur, encompassing 20 Naga tribes, reiterate our uncompromising political aspirations and strong desire for translation of the Framework Agreement into a political reality for enduring peace,” they further said.
The organisations said they were aware of the stalemate surrounding the Framework Agreement on the interpretation and accommodation of the principal issues of the Naga national flag and constitution as “envisaged and implied” in the Framework Agreement.
“We call upon the Government of India to honour the Framework Agreement in letter and spirit by accepting the universal fact that sovereignty lies with people and by extension, that the Naga national flag and constitution must be an integral part of the shared sovereignty,” the organisations demanded.
