The Working Committee of the Naga National Political Groups has criticised the Nationalist Congress Party in the State for its commenting that the proposed oil exploration in the unresolved areas of Nagaland-Assam border and the Naga political talks were ‘different issues.’
The spokesperson of NCP Nagaland, MLA Toiho Yeptho had on Tuesday said, “Peace talks is a different issue altogether, and this is about the revenue generation programme. I think it is ok to go ahead with that,” when asked if the proposed MoU with Assam would impact the ongoing peace process.
To this, WC, NNPGs asserted that the political issue and the petroleum issue were woven in a single fabric and questioned, “How can natural resources in Naga ancestral soil, for which thousands of Nagas from the time of Britishers, sacrificed their lives for, and continue to do so, be separated from the Naga political discourse?”
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The committee also reprimanded NCP and other ‘restless’ individuals and organisations for ‘itching’ to grant legitimacy to Assam Government, at one stroke, to co-own and extract oil from oil-bearing areas belong to Nagaland. It warned that the proposed MoU, ‘treachery of the highest order’, would encourage other claimants and insisted that the deal be called off.
Further the WC, NNPGs stated that the ‘so-called the dispute boundary’ between Nagaland and Assam would be resolved by a third neutral central body as per the negotiated terms with Government of India. It added that the terms clearly ‘defines a path on resolving the boundary issue between Nagaland and Assam, the Gol and NNPGs have, in no uncertain terms, agreed that Naga people are the sole masters of their land, every element on the surface, below and above their head!’
The reality is, Ahoms and Nagas will co-exist as has been for centuries, it added.
The Committee reiterated that the State Government was but a ‘caretaker government’ and ‘a Rio or a Himanta’ signing an MoU for joint exploration of oil ‘seeking royalties from companies or neighbouring states will not serve the purpose’ when the GoI and the WC, NNPGs are working towards an inclusive Indo-Naga Political Solution.
While berating Naga leaders and intellectuals who have become ‘puppets’ blinded by money power, it also stated that ‘vocal, courageous tribal leaders and Naga intellectuals’ still exists and urged them ‘to stand and be counted’.
The statement from the WC, NNPGs ended with ‘Nagas must avoid committing a HARAKIRI.’
* Harakiri is a “ritual suicide by disembowelment with a sword, formerly practised in Japan by samurai as an honourable alternative to disgrace or execution.”
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