Dimapur, Feb. 9 : The parliamentary secretary for Science Technology, & Jails, S. Hukavi Zhimomi, on Thursday issued a statement offering his views on the conflict and controversy in the state following the government’s deciding to conduct the municipal polls with the 33% women reservation.
The parliamentary secretary criticized the stances of a number of community leaders spearheading the current agitations against the government.
“As a layman, I am not familiar with legal points and implications. But I failed to understand how a reputed lawyer like Mr Supu Jamir, after admitting that part IX A and Article 243 T is mandatory and Nagaland is not exempted from its application, could mislead the public like he is doing in the last one month or so,” the statement began.
The parliamentary secretary stated that a delegation of JCC members met with the chief minister on January 25 and had told the chief minister that the stand taken by the government was “absolutely right but that they, the JCC members need some time to convince the angry mob to avoid bloodshed.”
Further, the legislator stated, the Joint Convenor of the JCC “Mr Chophy,” who is also the vice chairman of the Naga Council of Dimapur, had also stated that “they understood why election to the Urban Local Bodies was absolutely necessary but requested at least 14 days (two weeks) to convince the people.”
The statement explained that the chief minister “told them he alone cannot postpone the election process and that only the cabinet is competent enough to decide and recommend to the State Election Commission for consideration.”
However, the same evening, Parliamentary Secretary S Hukavi Zhimomi stated, the JCC went ahead to declare a bandh in Dimapur.
Again, on January 30, the statement said that a joint meeting with the government and the JCC was initiated by the NBCC at Chumukedima where Supu Jamir reiterated that “they will convince the protestors for conduct of free and fair elections to the ULBs with 33% reservation of seats for women, provided time was given to the JCC to have dialogue and consultations with the public!”
After going through all these interactions he and his team understood the whole concept, the legislator stated in the press release.
However, the legislator explained, on January 31, before the NBCC team reached Dimapur with the decision of the cabinet to have further consultations with the JCC, the incident where the lives of two innocent boys were lost took place.
“If any confrontations had taken place in any of the towns where election took place, it is understandable. But the ugly incident took place in Dimapur where election had been deferred for 2 months as desired by JCC!” the press release stated.
Further, during these few weeks of turmoil “created by the JCC leaders, we could see the flow of liquor in Kohima and Dimapur,” the press release stated. “This is much more than talibanisation of our land where the mafia with money power is trying to rule the State! Mr Supu Jamir, along with his other colleagues, must apologise before the church and the Naga people before he designs another drama in our peaceful towns,” the statement asserted.
The legislator referred to the factional killings and how the public and the business community were often under threat and intimidation with the people living in constant fear. The parliamentary secretary claimed: “This trend was thankfully found to be diminishing after Mr TR Zeliang took over the government and we were hopeful that the Naga political problem too, would be resolved soon and that permanent peace would prevail in our land...”
The legislator added: “This is nothing but taking undue advantage of the non-confrontationist approach of the government! If the government of the day uses an iron hand to contain the situation, no one will dare to come out in this manner like in English horror films!”
Stating that the government had now fulfilled the d emand sof the agitators nand the elections having been declared null and void, he said, every citizen must ensure that normalcy returns without delay.
