Latest round provides ‘promising’ outcome

Our Reporter Dimapur, Oct. 28 (EMN): Despite failing to break the deadlock, the latest round of talks between the representatives of the government of India and the NSCN (IM) on Monday has delivered a ray of hope to all concerned—especially to an anxious Naga populace whose worries are not helped by panic-inducing reports that some news outlets continue to produce daily. An NSCN (IM) leader involved in the negotiations told Eastern Mirror that the meeting with RN Ravi on Monday, though inconclusive, has ‘set an atmosphere where the two sides are seriously pondering over the difficulties faced by either side’. Describing the outcome of the meeting as “promising”, he said that ‘both the sides are committed to explore further’ when they meet again on October 29. Asked about the October 31 deadline set by the government of India, he reiterated that the NSCN (IM) will not be bound by the deadline. “I am sure that the government of India too will go by the necessity of talks continuing till we come to an agreement which is honourable and acceptable to both sides.” According to a Times Now report, ‘all indications are that (the government of India) will not adhere to the October 31 deadline’. It reported that the government of India is “softening, mellowing” probably because of the fact that on October 31, Ladakh as well as Jammu and Kashmir will officially become union territories. ‘The government is expecting some trouble from Pakistan….and they don’t want any other theatre to flare up all of a sudden,’ according to the news channel. “Even if the peace talks take a month or two longer, the government can live with it as it has lived with it for more than two decades. So that is the thought process,” it reported, while adding that it does not mean the negotiations will be limitless. ENNWF urges for inclusive solution The Eastern Naga National Workers Forum (ENNWF) has stated that ‘the imposed solution with some economic packages that the WC of NNPGs is vying for is a pure mockery and betrayal to the Naga living history.’ In a statement issued on Monday, the forum maintained that when the Naga movement started, the eastern Nagas, “who are now despised as Burma Naga within our own family”, had sheltered the movement in their soil bearing untold sufferings. “Naga national fighters irrespective of eastern, western, southern, northern or central were given shelter and provided all that we have even when our living condition is down to the lowest with the hope that we would stand together and achieve together as a unified people against all the odds. The contributions in terms of material and immaterial the eastern Nagas made for the struggle are still a living witness in the history of Naga people and their struggle, and they are not meant for just a section of Nagas within the Naga family. “The atrocities and catastrophe experienced by the eastern Nagas from both India and Burma are uncountable and words will not qualify them to express the picture of actual suffering. They cannot be erased from the annals of Naga history and these are historical facts, which cannot be twisted or betrayed by anyone however big or tall because these sacrifices are meant for the true cause of Naga people to live as one people with freedom and dignity based on the unique historical fact,” read the statement. According to the forum, it is not human-drawn boundary lines but disunity and misconceived pride that divide Nagas in reality. “Our position as inclusive solution should not concern other Nagas that, we the eastern Nagas, are trying to, for instance, settle in the Nagaland state.” It called upon every Naga, regardless of tribes and regions, to reject ‘such a deal’. “…we remind NNPGs once again that solution must be acceptable and honourable which encompasses all the Nagas wherever they live,” it stated.