07/15/2007: "This conflict has to end’ The Morung Express"

This conflict has to end’ The Morung Express
DIMAPUR, JULY 12 (MExN): Expressing concern on the slow progress of the Indo-Naga peace dialogue which has stretched on for 10 years, the Naga International Support Centre today squarely blamed the Centre for intensifying “it’s divide and rule tactics” to weaken “the Naga forces which on behalf of the Naga peoples stand for their right.”
A press note titled ‘Cease Fire between the Government of India and the Naga Peoples hanging by a thread’ enunciated, “Ten years of Ceasefire followed by Peace talks between the Government of India and the Naga Nation have not resulted into anything tangible.”
“This conflict has to end and not just because it is not just one sided. It has to end because it is inhumane. It is India which as a state commits state terrorism. To be respectable the International community to end this long standing human misery, should intervene instantly.”
Reiterating that India annexed Nagaland and divided it after British colonial rule, the NISC stated, “Playing with the mouse Nagaland the elephant India time and again requires the Nagas to come up with proposals to end this conflict but does not seem to have any policy which could lead into that direction. Playing the divide and rule game to the fullest it stalls for time while hoping that way the Naga Society will disintegrate and thus will no longer put up the resistance to the neo colonial rule which India by way force through stationing 200.000 soldiers there. It holds Nagaland in an iron grip.”
“And, now that India occupied their divided lands, still the Nagas have not been conquered.” “Considering the imminent collapse of the Ceasefire and Peace talks which will lead to exorbitant turmoil and bloodshed, the Naga International Support Center calls on all nations and the international press to expose this festering sore which has rotten in obscurity for over 50 years now. On the basis of human rights alone this outrage, this open wound in the side of mankind has to be dressed and the war has to be stopped.”
‘NSCN-IM talks on track’ Staff Correspondent The Sentinel
SHILLONG, July 12: A tangible outcome from the ongoing Central Government-NSCN(IM) peace process will encourage other north-eastern rebel groups to come out for peace talks with the Centre, feels Central Government’s peace interlocutor K Padmanabhaiah.
Padmanabhaiah, who is currently at Shillong, exclusively told The Sentinel, “Centre’s peace talks with the NSCN(IM) is right on the track, and the success will definitely makes other insurgent groups follow the suit”. The statement assumes significance in view of the doubts raised by the ULFA and Manipur-based insurgent groups on the sincerity of the Central Government in understanding their demands.
Rubbishing reports of likely pullout by the NSCN (IM) due to simmering differences with the Government, Padmanabhaiah said, “We might have hiccups, but this is time when both the sides should go for a serious introspection to understand each other’s position. Our own realization will help our efforts to fructify”.
Notwithstanding the NSCN(IM) leadership’s expression of displeasure and the veil threat, the Central Government’s interlocutor said that speculations apart, every hiccups which they encountered was accompanied by a step in the right direction.
“We are going to meet the Naga leaders from July 20, and there we will take another step,” stated the peace broker. He also said that there is no time limit to break the ice, but the objective is to bring back lasting peace in the North-east.

My experience with NSCN-K-
IKhrielhoulie, former NSCN-K Angami Region Care Taker do hereby solemnly testify the following with truth and honesty and declare to the people of Nagaland about my experience with the NSCN-K.
Enthusiastically, I joined the NSCN-K fold with an intention to devote and sacrifice for the cause of Naga sovereignty and worked under various capacities quite for some time. Out of my experience, five most drawbacks of the NSCN-K governing system compelled me to disassociate myself with the fold.
1. Leadership crisis- The central executive hardly gathered once in a year to deliberate matters regarding welfare of Nagas because of division between leaders of Myanmar and the so-called Nagaland.
2. No transparency in financial matter- Few vested leaders handle the whole account of NSCN-K where funds were not properly utilized for the welfare of the fold, moreover income and expenditures were never audited.
3. Link with Indian Army- All the high rank/leaders were moving around under the shelter of the Indian Army.
4. No political vision- I could hardly sense a political future for the Nagas if to be led by NSCN-K (Visionless politics and indiscipline nature). Their main vision is to disrupt the ongoing talks.
5. No capable leaders lead the fold- Taking into account the policies, plans and programme of the NSCN-K, there is no capable leaders to lead the fold with vision.
Therefore, accessing always and means, I found no confidence and security with the leadership of NSCN-K and their policies, plan and programme in leading the cause of Nagas. Committing myself to work and support the NSCN-IM under the capable leadership of Isak Swu and Th. Muivah for political cause of the Naga sovereignty, I appeal to all fellow Naga brothers and sisters to join the national mainstream to save the national interest with the best of our capacity without any threat or hindrance.
Khrielhoulie, Former NSCN-K, Care Taker, Angami Region
Nagaland oil exploration plan runs into trouble- Nagaland Post
Official plans to start exploration in the Nagalim area of Nagaland for oil and gas have run into rough weather, in the face of opposition from the NSCN(I-M). The outlawed insurgent outfit, now in the midst of talks with the Centre, has indicated that it would not be in Naga interests to allow such explorations now.
Recently, the Government decided to begin exploration in the Nagalim region for natural and gas after preliminary findings. It began consultations with the Canadian firm Canoro, which had the expertise needed for such work. In the process, the Nagaland Government, which supported the idea, was naturally involved.
However, the NSCN(I-M) was not kept informed. In a statement, it referred to the 60-year-old Naga struggle against the Indian government for independence. At present, the outfit was engaged in serious talks with the Government over the future of Nagaland and the Naga people.
At this juncture, the exploitation of the natural resources of Nagaland could not be allowed, despite the argument that if oil or gas could be struck, the region would naturally experience a major economic development.. It also criticised Chief Minister Mr. Neiphu Rio, for having proceeded with negotiations with the Indian Government and the Canadian company. Politics and economics, the NSCN said, were indivisible. To Canoro company, the NSCN(I-M)'s message was: don't proceed with the work at this point of time, but wait for a more opportune moment. Otherwise, the company's reputation would be at stake.
In its statement, the NSCN (I-M) accused the state-owned ONGC of having an "exploiting mindset". However, it also expressed the hope that, in future, it might be possible to allow "the ONGC and other foreign firms" to start exploration work.
Hostilities between the separatist insurgent bodies and the law-enforcing agencies in the Nagaland region have remained suspended for eight years now, during which time several rounds of official talks have been held. The negotiations relate to the future of Nagaland and the fate of Naga tribes within the Indian federation, a proposed realignment of Naga territories, etc. Both the government as well as the insurgents have kept the negotiations going through this long period. This contrasts with the proposed ULFA-Centre talks, which could not begin at all following differences between the two sides.
(IPA)
Criminals serve no one-
The Renegade leaders Th. Muivah and Isak Swu burned down hundreds of houses and granaries in Eastern Nagaland in 1980s and made the people suffer. Also they had burned down 87 Kuki villages in 1990s, but they gained nothing at all for themselves and for the Naga nation. And even now after Muivah and Isak returned home with no hope for their cadres, they have carried out again to arson more than ten school buildings in the Southern part of Nagaland to make the students suffer destroying the precious career of present students. But this will lead them to nowhere. This is why they are attacking the students now. No Naga will say that 'to kill their own people and to make their own people suffer' is serving for the Naga nation.
Killing innocent Nagas, burning down public houses, granaries and school buildings are terrorist and criminal activities only, and criminals serve to no one. The terrorists and criminals represent no nation, no people in the world. The IM group is criminal and terrorist group in the eyes of Naga people. This group is used and sponsored by the Government of India to destroy Nagaland. And therefore they (IM) represent no Naga community; even they do not represent Tangkhuls and Semas, not to talk about Nagaland and Naga people. Our people know all these facts.
The Nagas have no side issue other than aggression case with India. However, Th. Muivah and Isak Swu made many issues such as integration, special federal relationship with India, demanding special provisions under the Indian Constitution, affiliation etc. In fact all these are non issue for the Nagas. Yet for all these non issues, IM group is fighting against the Nagas killing thousands of innocent Nagas including important Naga national leaders, burning down the villages and schools in the past 27 years and made the Nagas suffered a lot. Now it is time for the Nagas to stop IM group by any means from destroying Nagaland.
Chongbui Newmai, Nagaland Youth President, Naga National Council
Ceasefire between Govt of India and the Nagas hanging by a thread Nagarealm.com

IMPHAL, JULY12 [IFP] : The Naga International Support Center, NISC, has said in a press release from Amsterdam that the ten years of ceasefire followed by peace talks between the Government of India and the Nagas has not resulted in anything tangible. On the contrary, instead of working towards peace the Government of India intensified it`s divide and rule tactics weakening the Naga forces which on behalf of the Naga people stood for their rights.

The right to self determination is a universal right for all people of this earth. All nations united in the United Nations have underwritten this right. On disputable grounds and by way of sheer force the Government of India of the then emerging independent nation, which became free of domination from the British colonial empire itself, annexed Nagaland and divided it, the release said. Playing with the mouse Nagaland the elephant India time and again requires the Nagas to come up with proposals to end this conflict but does not seem to have any policy which could lead into that direction. Playing the divide and rule game to the fullest it stalls for time while hoping that way the Naga society will disintegrate and thus will no longer put up the resistance to the neo colonial rule which India by way force through stationing 200,000 soldiers there. It holds Nagaland in an iron grip, it said.

The international community honors India`s independence and along with it the disputable annexation of Nagaland; consequently it determines the Indo-Naga long term conflict as a domestic one. The peace talks, however, are held on the basis of two nations talking to each other, so one thing India did right: it recognized the unique history and situation of the Nagas acknowledging Nagaland ethnically, historically, religiously and culturally in no time in history had any relations. Not even the British colonialists who were responsible for the dubious handover of Nagaland to the emerging Union of India, conquered the Nagas fully. And, now that India occupied their divided lands, still the Nagas have not been conquered, it said.

This conflict has to end and not just because it is not just one sided. It has to end because it is inhumane. It is India which as a state commits state terrorism. To be respectable the international community to end this long standing human misery, should intervene instantly, it said. Considering the imminent collapse of the ceasefire and peace talks which will lead to exorbitant turmoil and bloodshed, the Naga International Support Center called on all nations and the international press to expose this festering sore which has rotten in obscurity for over 50 years now. On the basis of human rights alone this outrage, this open wound in the side of mankind has to be dressed and the war has to be stopped, the release further said.
Nagaland flays Assam’s self-righteousness Anaki ‘C’ very much within Nagaland Morung Express News
Dimapur If at all the government of Assam is serious to lifting the economic blockade, it can do so easily by invoking the Essential Commodities Act; unfortunately it is acting all “wishy washy,” an unhappy Nagaland government today lashed out. Further, Assam government is reminded that Anaki ‘C’ village – the scene of the July 5 killing of two laborers – is very much within Nagaland even by the 1925 constitutional boundary set towards Nagaland.
“If Govt. of Assam is serious about lifting this economic blockade it can do so easily by invoking Essential Commodities Act and declare the blockade as illegal and then arrest those violators as per the provision of the Act” Additional Chief secretary and Nagaland Commissioner TN Mannen stated in a release today. But Assam’s government is “wishy washy about invoking such actions which give a strong doubt about the sincerity of Assam to ease the border tensions” Mannen lamented. The Commissioner took note that Assam’s Border Minister had made a declaration that Assam will strengthen the border police outposts and will also open new police stations in places like Sonapur and others.
“Such announcement and the action by the Assam Govt. involving the senior political leader is very provocative and will aggravate the border related clashes between the two neighboring states instead of easing the tension” the government reminded. It added that contrary to Assam, Nagaland government has been appealing for calm and restraint, at the same time to take appropriate action after thorough investigation against those murderers if they are found to be from the Naga Community.
In regard to the July 5 killing of two laborers, Mannen stated that Assam is creating a distorted picture claiming Anaki ‘C’ as being within Assam’s territory. Mannen made clear that the two victims (immigrants) were tenants of Anaki ‘C’. “Therefore, the question of Anaki ‘C’ villagers killing their own tenants does not arise and the claim that the land belonging to Assam is also baseless” he stated. Evertheless, he informed that a case has been registered at Tuli Police Station and a thorough investigation is going on to ascertain as to how the incident has taken place and who are really been involved.
In this context since the place of occurrence is adjacent to Geleki R/F land it is the responsibility of both the Assam and Nagaland administrations to work closely with each other to find the truth to avoid any suspicion with each other, ACS Mannen stated. He also reminded Assam government of the February 29, 2007 killing of late Alemmongba by Assam police personnel. “There are eyewitnesses to the cold-blooded murder committed by Assam Police because in that Alemmongba’s farm there were three women laborers working on that fateful day. After killing Alemmongba, and when those women raised alarm they were threatened to keep quite unless they are also willing to face the same fate as him. After the cold-blooded murder, Assam Police had run away from the scene” he stated adding that the DC of Mokokchung is in constant touch with DC of Sibsagar and SP Sibsagar “to hand over those Assam Police murderers or at least to arrest them with charge for murder.” Sadly, Assam Police conveniently continues to deny their involvement in the case of Alemmongba’s murder inspite the clear witnesses, Mannen lamented.
Mannen further lamented that Assam is now claiming that the murder and burning of houses that had taken place on July 5 was a “retaliatory vengeance” committed by Anaki ‘C’.
In fact, the place of occurrence is very much within Anaki ‘C’ land and even within the 1925 Constitutional Boundary line towards Nagaland side; immediate land adjacent to this Anaki ‘C’ is Geleki R/F area, which is under dispute between Assam and Nagaland and is covered by Interim Agreement of 1972. “Even Ladaigarh village ‘A’ & ‘B’ are Nagaland recognized villages having Village Council under Nagaland Village Council Act 1972 and has school from Nagaland. Assam is now claiming that the entire Geleki Forest areas and adjacent areas are all Assam land and completely ignoring 1970 Interim Agreement with Govt. of India, Nagaland State and Assam accusing the Nagas of land encroachment with the assistant of underground specially the NSCN (IM) “is absolutely baseless and mischievous” he stated.
He said that the traditional relationship of peaceful co-existence between Ahoms and Nagas is well known; the Nagas even today strongly feel that not all the section of the residents of Assam are interested in such aggressive land-grabbing activities along the border areas except by those who are driven by the greediness for the land. “They are engineering these encroachments to drive away the Nagas from their traditional land” he observed.
“Unless there is a hidden agenda, there is no justification on the part of Assam to say that the entire machinery is helpless to control the agitators especially when a small section namely the AJYCP is the only one still continuing with the economic blockade supported by the Adivasi, Nepalese and the other illegal immigrants. Before the situations go out of control, both Assam and Nagaland sides must restraint instead of indulging in distorted allegations and misleading the people by propagating false information” the Commissioner stated.
Economic Blockade lifted, with conditions After nearly a week the economic blockade imposed by the student bodies of Assam on Nagaland, it has been lifted at 5 pm today. The AJYCP and the other minor associations declared the withdrawal of the blockade at a public meeting which was held at Namtola today. It was reported that the student bodies had withdrawn on humanitarian grounds, after appeals from the Naga Mothers’ Association, Naga People’s Movement of Human Rights and the Naga Hoho. The protesting student associations however made known its intention to continue its demand for the handing over of the culprits of the July 5 killing, with a procession in the near future and to pursue the matter with the Centre. Conversely, the Nagas seem unmoved with the new development after the enormous inconvenience they had been subjected to during the blockade. Conveying little enthusiasm, Konyak Union’s president confirmed that vehicles are now plying the border but said that he was ignorant as to why the blockade had been implemented in the first place and why it had subsequently been withdrawn.
An Ahom prince’s sojourn in Nagaland The Morung Express
DIMAPUR, JULY 12 (MExN): The story of an Ahom prince who took refuge in the Naga Hills, and his intimacy with the daughter of a Konyak Angh, was brought to life today as Abiogenesis Society enacted the saga on stage at Dimapur’s Town Hall. ‘Howey’ music infused life into the story which attempted to portray the benevolent side of the Nagas as against popular notion of a savage head-hunting race.
Synopsized, ‘The Sojourn of the Ahom prince in Naga Hills’ amounts to this: Godapani, who was to become the king of the Ahoms, had to ultimately flee to the Naga Hills for fear of his life, which was hunted by Lora Rajah.
This evening’s musical demonstrated the hospitality of the Nagas, and their good nature which prevented the Ahom prince, who had to disguise himself as a Naga, from being betrayed for money. Guru Temsurenla of NEZCC played the role of Watlong, the Angh’s daughter while popular actor Zhakoi, lead actor of the Nagamese film ‘Revenge’, donned the role of Godapani.
The story depicted the broadmindedness and the cross-cultural acceptance of the Nagas by allowing the Naga princess to be wedded to the Ahom prince in the drama.

Played out in English, the play was an adaptation of what Late Subongnuklu, a man who lived to see India’s partition, had written at another time and place when he was stationed in Assam.
He would have been proud of his son, Moa Subong, a core member of Abiogenesis who directed the music and production of the effort. As Nagaland Post Editor Geoffrey Yaden, the chief guest for the evening, put into words, “Culture is not stagnant. Culture is assimilation. It moves.”
A small step into the cultural journey of the Nagas, one might say.
India, China: Read between the (border) lines Nagarealm.com

As China becomes more aggressive over the Sino-Indian Himalayan border dispute, New Delhi takes a soft stance, hoping that trade relations are enough to keep the dispute at civil level.

"We are Indian and will remain loyal to the country for ever," Jaro Bagang, a government official in East Kameng, Sepa district, in Arunachal Pradesh, tells ISN Security Watch. "We never wished to go under a communist and repressive regime across [our] border and the recent Chinese claim is utterly atrocious," Bagang said when asked to comment on the recent Chinese claim on Arunachal Pradesh and its people. Bagang belongs to Nishi tribe, one of the state's most populous. Similar responses can be heard across the state. "We are inalienable part of India," Sangay Jampi, a Monpa, and presently secretary of the Tawang Monastery – a major bone of contention between India and China, told the daily Times of India on 25 June.

India and China share over an over 2,000-mile barren, icy and rugged border in the Himalayas that stretches from India's Jammu and Kashmir in the north to Arunachal Pradesh in the east. While China claims 35,000 square miles of territory within India's jurisdiction, the later disputes Chinese occupation of over 15,000 square miles on the Tibetan plateau. Multiple rounds of parleys spanning over two decades have failed to resolve the contentious territorial disputes, and recently, China has become more aggressive in its claims. China even backtracked from a recent agreement that prohibited both parties from laying claim to the disputed territories' inhabited areas. The Sino-Indian border talks were initiated in the early 1980s, with both countries signing the Peace and Tranquility Agreement in September 1993 and reaffirming their commitment in subsequent confidence-building measure meetings and accords. A breakthrough of sorts took place in 2005 when China accepted Sikkim, another bordering state, as an integral part of India, while the later reciprocated by recognizing the Tibet Autonomous Region as part of Chinese territory. Last year, both countries agreed to resolve remaining border disputes politically, rather than "technically," under an 11-point roadmap.

Visa fracas China's assertiveness over its perceived territory came to the fore in early May this year, when a couple of lawmakers from Arunachal Pradesh raised the issue of Chinese incursions in the state. The incursion story - though downplayed by the administration as political gimmick on the part of opposition parties - the subsequent denial of travel permission to an Indian bureaucrat by Chinese authority on grounds that "being from Arunachal Pradesh he was [already] a Chinese citizen," awoke the slumbering political elites. Beijing refuses visas to people from Arunachal Pradesh under the pretext of considering all inhabitants of the region as Chinese; hence, they do not require visas to travel to China. Jing-dong Yuan, associate professor at the Monterey Institute of International Studies believes China's visa stance perfectly reflects the unresolved nature of the Sino-Indian territorial dispute.

"For China, granting visa to a person from Arunachal Pradesh prior to the final [territorial] settlement is tantamount to recognizing the State as part of India, which Beijing is not willing to accept at the moment,” Yuan told ISN Security Watch. Reva Bhalla, director of geopolitics at the US-based private intelligence organization Strategic Forecasting Inc, largely agreed. She told ISN Security Watch that "even though there is no real danger as such coming out of China's Tawang overtures, [it seems] the Asian giant wants to make it clear that AP is still a disputed territory and doesn't want to give any de-facto recognition that the territory is under India's control by granting the travel permit."

Dragon fire engulfs It used to be that China – described by Indian officials as "truculent" and "inscrutable" – had its eyes largely on Tawang valley in Arunachal Pradesh, but lately it has been asserting claims on the entire state. Only last year, Chinese envoy to India, Sun Yuxi, confirmed Beijing's claim to the entire Arunachal Pradesh. The British-drawn McMahon line that forms the boundary line between the two Asian giants was never recognized by China. Ma Jiali, a research professor at the China Institute of Contemporary International Research in Beijing, points out that Tawang has important cultural and historical links with Tibet.

"Tawang is birthplace of Dalai Lama and Tibet's local government has ruled that area till 1951,"Jiali told ISN Security Watch. "Even though the [geographical and political] situation has changed after India's independence from the colonial yoke, China never recognized the illegal line marked by the British," Jiali said. His earlier comments for the media on the Tawang issue had spurred a debate in India when he stated that India should return the area to China in order to resolve the border issue as Beijing did not want to see instability in Tibet. One senior official in New Delhi criticized the Chinese for the ongoing dispute, saying that Chinese fears about instability and a possible Tibetan uprising over the issue were farfetched. Speaking to ISN Security Watch on condition of anonymity, he pointed out that India had already acknowledged the Tibetan Autonomous Region as part of China, and that these latest assertions showed that Beijing was holding out for more, perhaps even the "geographical extremity of what was Tibet in the pre-1950 era." "China perceives that a movement is brewing - which is false - in Indian Dharamsala, where the Tibetan government-in-exile is located," he said.

Cause for alarm? For now, the atmosphere appears grim, with a pre-1962 scenario being relived on both sides of the border, where the Chinese and Indian armed forces are reportedly building infrastructures to strengthen their ground positions. Alarmists recollect the Tibet-Sinkiang road construction of late the 1950s, which brought Chinese enforcements dangerously close to India's border, triggering a poor response by India and finally a brutal war.

Possibly, present geopolitical interests have reinvigorated Chinese interest in Arunachal Pradesh. A prosperous Arunachal Pradesh is important to sustaining isolated and impoverished Tibet. A Lhasa (Tibet)-Tawang corridor would not only bring China closer to Assam, Meghalaya and Nagaland in Indian's northeast, but it would also connect Burma (Myanmar) with Tibet, facilitating overall trading activities. It also could open up routes eventually to the Indian Ocean and Bangladesh. Following the footsteps of Burma, Bangladesh has recently embraced China for the development of its infrastructure, including road networks and gas pipelines. The most significant of these developments is the planned laying of a gas pipeline for carrying crude from Chittagong to Yunnan through Burma. A Dhaka-Yangon-Beijing axis may dampen India's "look east" policy and ambition to influence Southeast Asian trade and commerce, and for China, it seems that Arunachal Pradesh holds the key to that axis. Yuan, however, optimistically places New Delhi-Beijing's growing economic activities ahead of all speculations and axis calculations by saying that "the bilateral ties have been developing rather positively over the past few years in all areas: political, economic and security." However, he lamented, "as long as the territorial disputes remain unresolved, normalization cannot be regarded as complete and the potentials of cooperation cannot be fully exploited."

India remains cautious So far, India's defense and interior ministries have taken a soft stance on the Chinese gambit, with the only strong statements coming from the Foreign Ministry, under pressure from rising domestic criticism, mostly from Arunachal Pradesh. After substantial groveling, New Delhi rejected Chinese claims on Arunachal Pradesh at the highest level, but cautiously. Cautious or not, for Bhalla, "China does not consider it as a substantial political barrier for bilateral relations, though these border disputes will remain a thorn between the two countries for some time to come." Arguably, New Delhi does not want to be locked into an antagonistic relationship with its powerful neighbor and is not in a mood to force Beijing to resolve the longstanding boundary dispute, which also involves the delineation of the over 4,000-km Line of Actual Control (LAC).

China's insistence on this Northeast Indian state makes two things clear: that the ongoing border talks are not moving in the right direction and that the talks are not only about the peaceful demarcation of the LAC. Sooner or later, the proposal for a territorial swap will surface. Not surprisingly, India's soft diplomatic maneuvering and appeasement tactics in the face of China's apparent aggressive posture on border issues has invited obvious domestic criticism.

But one development at least has shown that New Delhi may be prepared for a tougher response. India, unlike other major powers and Southeast Asian nations, has pursued a pragmatic engagement with Taiwan, sticking to a "One China" policy. However, according to C Raja Mohan in a June commentary for ISN Security Watch, India's signal earlier that month that it had diplomatic options for Taiwan that might not be comfortable for Beijing could indicate that India might change its traditionally "One China" policy in response to the Arunachal Pradesh developments. [Animesh Roul in New Delhi for ISN Security Watch ]
UNC-backed MLAs` request to Nagaland govt to allow affiliation turned down The Imphal Free Press

IMPHAL, Jul 12: In an interesting backdrop to the recent arson of government schools in the Naga-dominated areas of the state it is learnt that the six-UNC sponsored Naga MLAs of the Manipur legislative Assembly attempted to pressurize Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio to amend the relevant act governing the functioning of the Nagaland board of secondary education to allow the affiliation of schools from other states.

The effort however, went in vain, according to highly reliable sources. The six MLAs, namely Morung Makunga, dr Khashim Ruivah, Danny Shaiza, Wungnaoshang Keishing, K Raina and Awangbou Newmai, in solidarity with the campaign by the All Naga Students Association, Manipur, ANSAM, for affiliation of schools in the Naga dominated districts to the Nagaland board, travelled to Kohima in the last week of June to urge the Nagaland CM for bringing about an amendment to the governing act for the Nagaland Board of Secondary Education to allow such affiliation.

At present, it may be mentioned, like all other state boards, the Nagaland Board only allows affiliation to schools situated within the territorial jurisdiction of the state of Nagaland.

As per the sources, the six MLAs first approached the Opposition leader in Nagaland, Imkong, urging him to take up the issue of the proposed amendment.

Imkong reportedly advised them to ask the Nagaland chief minister to move the required amendment in the next session of the Nagaland Assembly, promising support on his part and on the part of other Opposition MLAs. Later, the six Manipur MLAs met Neiphiu Rio and raised the matter, but the latter did not respond favourably, reportedly stating that it would be difficult for the Nagaland government to take up the matter in the Assembly. It was just three days after the return of the six MLAs from Kohima that miscreants believed to be volunteers of the ANsAM burnt down several government schools in Ukhrul, Chandel and Senapati districts.

It may be mentioned, following the campaign by the ANSAM and other Naga bodies, a number of students from Manipur appeared in the public examinations conducted under the Nagaland board. Their poor performance in the examination had given serious concern for guardians and parents. In view of uncertainty as far as the students` future career is concerned, large number of students have started taking admission in government schools in the Naga dominated districts.

Nagalim.NL News

07/15/2007: "This conflict has to end’ The Morung Express"