Dimapur, Jan. 24 (EMN): Terming the “defection” of members from one group to another as “a menace degrading the Naga cause,” the working committee of Naga National Political Groups (NNPG) on Thursday suggested to “jointly identify and isolate defectors who are vying for high positions” in various groups.
A press statement from the committee’s media cell identified this as an “urgent need” for all NNPG leaders including the Khango-led NSCN (K), tribe bodies and gaon burras (GB). “All recent defectors must be sent back to where they came from. Increase or decrease in membership will not impact the outcome of (Indo-Naga) negotiations.
“At this juncture defectors do not deserve respect or honour from any corner. In a national struggle like ours thousands face hardships in civil and military wings yet true patriots do not defect or desert for it is a treachery accompanied by curse,” the statement read.
Considering the urgency and status of the Indo-Naga political negotiations, the committee felt, it was prudent of tribes, hohos, clans and families “to reach out to own members in different political groups against defection.”
According to the committee, defectors were like “rats gnawing away at the hard-earned fabric of Naga unity.” The Naga group leaders, tribe bodies and GBs must jointly identify the defectors, de-affiliate them from Naga political arena and “treat them as persona non grata,” it stated.
