The 16-point agreement failed to stop bloodshed, and Nagas lost many lives again after this agreement, which sabotaged the possibility of any political settlement.
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My beloved Naga People
The Federal Government of Nagaland (FGN) was formed in 1956 when the situation became intolerable and young people took up abandoned Second World War weapons to defend unprotected children, women and people. At this time, the NNC formed its government called the Federal Government of Nagaland (FGN), inaugurated on March 22, 1956. The Naga Army was formed by NNC/FGN and began to fight the superior Indian military forces vigorously and spontaneously in self-defence. Army troops moved into Tuensang by October 1955 and in the war, in a barbaric way, they massacred innocent people in many villages.
The Naga people had no connection with India; they were not Indians and their territories were not a part of the Indian Union. The Nagas submitted a memorandum to the Simon Commission in which they made their legitimate stand very clear that Nagas were never subjugated by any foreign power. Therefore, when the British left India, Nagas should be left alone. They told the Commission the fact that Nagas were not Indians and Nagaland was not a part of India, and that they shall not become part of the new India. The so-called 16-point memorandum was signed in panic, itching for soft ministerial chairs, setting aside NNC/FGN for whom the settlement was proposed. The 16-point agreement failed to stop bloodshed, and Nagas lost many lives again after this agreement, which sabotaged the possibility of any political settlement.
NNC/FGN shall resist the mighty India at all cost:
We had to resist the mighty India just in self-defence because we were compelled to protect our sovereignty, history, land, culture, dignity and identity, not because we thought we could match India’s vastly superior force.
Nagas cannot throw away what is most important for their proper growth in all dimensions of life just because it is too difficult for India to discuss our sovereignty. We can understand India’s problem, which fails to understand the facts of our political history. But that does not mean we are to treat our history as if it is not true or not important for our proper development in our own culture; the purest form of democracy without any caste system or discrimination as a people and a nation.
Tokuho Swu
Kedahge (President), Federal Government of Nagaland