Published on Aug 17, 2020
By EMN
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Dimapur, Aug. 16 (EMN): The NSCN (IM) has launched another scathing attack on the Centre's interlocutor for Indo-Naga talks, RN Ravi, accusing him of working hand and glove with the former chief minister of Nagaland, SC Jamir, an old nemesis of the Naga group.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the NSCN (IM) said that given the nature of Ravi’s handling of the Indo-Naga political issue, it is pertinent to point out that the talk is on Naga political issues for all the Nagas and covering all the Naga areas.
"But surprisingly Mr. Ravi reduces the talk to the state of Nagaland only. This is not only a mockery of the framework agreement (FA) co-authored by him representing the prime minister of India but insult to the Nagas as a whole.
"Ravi’s oft-repeated catchphrase is 'one issue one solution' but he signed two agreements—framework agreement with NSCN and agreed position with NNPG. Where is he trying to take the Nagas to? He simply wants to keep the Naga people divided by signing a parallel agreement. After manipulating the contents of the FA he tutored his favoured Naga groups on how to look at FA, that FA is simply the recognition of Naga past history and nothing beyond that. The same way he misled the parliamentary standing committee," read the statement.
According to the NSCN (IM), Ravi had 'got himself a good partner in ex-chief minister of Nagaland SC Jamir, who is tooth and nail against Naga solution defending the 16 Point Agreement'.
It accused the duo of surreptitiously working together and 'holding the NNPG in their grip, misleading the government of India, particularly the prime minister'.
"For all purpose, Ravi stood firm behind NNPG to wreck the FA and manoeuvred the NNPG to do his bidding. At the end of the day, Ravi’s hidden agenda was out in the open. But by then he had achieved what he desperately wanted, to bring confusion among the Nagas and design groups to oppose the FA," it stated.
It went on to state that Ravi, "with his overbearing attitude and hidden agenda up in his sleeves", went against the will of successive prime ministers of India and the chief of Indian Army who declared on more than one occasion that the Naga problem is a 'political issue' and not 'law and order'.
"Much to the indignation of the Naga people, Ravi went against their commitment to pull down the Naga political issue to constitutional law and order problem. As a result of his newly founded stratagem, we have seen the killings of NSCN members, house raids, arrest and manhunt by the National Investigation Agency under his supervision. The ubiquitous Assam Rifles has gone hyperactive since Ravi became the governor of Nagaland," the statement read.
On the ongoing 'informal talks', the NSCN IM) asserted that the negotiations have not been reduced from prime minister-level to intelligence bureau-level.
"Interlocutor carries the mandate of the PM. NSCN has been talking to Ravi as interlocutor and not as governor. But since Ravi created imbroglio in the talk process, the PM give mandate to continue the talk to a team of IB as a fast track channel for communication and clear the pending points in the competency. Once everything is clear, the agreement will be at political level of the prime minister," it stated.
Also, the NSCN (IM) furnished what it stated were copies of the original framework agreement and Ravi's alleged 'manipulated' version "for public scrutiny on how RN Ravi misinformed and misled the government of India".
"The battle over the framework agreement is now before the public domain. There is no running away from either party but to set the record straight in order to reset the Indo-Naga political talk in correct perspective. It is a matter of restoring the credibility of the government of India that was badly damaged in the hands of its representative Mr. RN Ravi," it stated.