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11/30/2009: "Centre ready with Naga proposals A STAFF REPORTER Te Telegraph"

Centre ready with Naga proposals A STAFF REPORTER Te Telegraph


Swu , Muivah photo
Guwahati, Nov. 29: The 12-year-old Naga talks have reached a decisive phase with the Centre now ready with its own set of proposals for discussion with the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah).
Union home secretary G.K. Pillai today said the government has invited the NSCN (I-M) leadership for a discussion on the proposals.
“We have invited them to discuss the proposals,” Union home secretary G.K. Pillai said today, adding that the outfit was yet to respond.
“The invitation was sent last week,” he said.
NSCN (I-M) chairman Isak Chishi Swu and its general secretary Th. Muivah have been holding talks with the government since the ceasefire in 1997.
“They (the leaders) live in different places and would need to consult among themselves before getting back to us. This might take a little time,” Pillai said.
He also said the talks would be held in the country but declined to divulge the framework of the proposals without first placing it before the NSCN (I-M).
“We have to discuss the proposals with them first,” he said.
A source said with the Centre now ready with the proposals, the long drawn dialogue with the NSCN (I-M) could reach its logical conclusion.
“This is the decisive stage. Much consultations have taken place over the past 12 years and more. The government’s proposals in response to the NSCN (I-M) would now pitchfork the process of dialogue towards a final settlement,” a source said.
The proposals were worked out after the government held wide-ranging discussions with Naga civil society, tribal Hohos and other principal organisations of Nagas from Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh besides Nagaland.
During his visit to Nagaland in October, Pillai had said the government was working out a solution that would be “honourable and acceptable” to both the Centre and Naga people.
The government’s proposals do not have any economic clauses, as the NSCN (I-M) had not asked for any economic package when it had submitted its own set of proposals.
The underlying principle of the NSCN (I-M)’s proposals was the “basic urge of the Nagas to manage their own affairs according to their own genius without undue interference from outside”.
Given the Naga “desire” to run their own affairs, the NSCN (I-M) said it was of vital importance to agree upon allocation of competencies, some of which would be exercised only by Nagaland government. Some responsibilities will be jointly held by the Nagaland government and the Centre while others only by the government of India.
It said the Centre would be responsible for the external defence, foreign affairs, currency and communications.
About security forces, it said the Nagaland government would have its own armed forces, which will be exclusively responsible for the internal security of Nagaland, while the armed forces of India and some from Nagaland will be jointly responsible to tackle external threats.
Apart from security forces, 21 other subjects for discussion will range from customs duty to naming of the legislature as Tatar Hoho to control over the state’s natural resources.
On the contentious issue of integration of contiguous Naga-inhabited areas into one administrative entity, the NSCN (I-M) said the government would have to take “active measures” to address it.
The source said this was the “tricky” area, which could make or mar everything.
“Both the government and the NSCN (I-M) have to display exemplary diplomacy and flexibility to seal the issue once and for all,” he said.
Nagaland assembly recognizes underground movement ICT by IANS
Kohima, Nov 30 (IANS) The Nagaland assembly’s decision to give legitimacy to the six-decade-long insurgency has been generally hailed by political observers in the state.
“I think this is an astute political move to recognize the underground movement. It gives the movement a sense of credibility,” Monalisa Chankija, editor of the mass circulation English daily Nagaland Page, told IANS.
The 60-member legislature Friday unanimously resolved to “recognize” the Naga underground movement and their leaders, saying they have “selflessly worked, fought and sacrificed for the aspirations and the rights of the Nagas, and also to those who continue to follow the tradition of selfless sacrifices for the common cause of the Nagas”.
The resolution, moved by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, is significant as the entire 60-member house, including 19 opposition Congress party legislators, endorsed the move.
“There is no public reaction, but then, the move seems to have gone down well as it is probably aimed at uniting all underground groups and ending violence and bloodshed,” Changkija said.
Another significant resolution was to integrate all Naga-inhabited areas in the northeast, a demand that has for long been raised by the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM).
“It is the desire of the Nagas to live together as one family and this house has rightly voiced the cry of the Naga people,” Rio said in the assembly.
The NSCN-IM, one of the oldest and most powerful of about 30 rebel groups in India’s northeast, was earlier fighting for an independent homeland for the Nagas but has scaled it down to a “Greater Nagaland”, to be formed by slicing off parts of adjoining states that have Naga tribal populations.
The governments of Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh have rejected the demand for unification of Naga-dominated areas.
New Delhi too has earlier rejected demands for unification of all Naga inhabited areas.
The Indian government is already holding talks with the NSCN-IM after the group entered into a ceasefire in 1997. The rival NSCN faction headed by guerrilla leader S.S. Khaplang too is in a ceasefire since 2001, although formal talks are yet to begin.
The rival NSCN factions are fighting a bitter turf war for territorial supremacy in Nagaland since they split in 1988. The internecine war has claimed more than 500 lives in the past five years.
The Naga insurgency dates back to India’s independence in 1947 with an estimated 25,000 lives lost in the past six decades, including of security forces fighting the guerillas.
‘Nagaland’s one need: Peace’ morungexpress
Governor’s message on 46 years of statehood
Dimapur, November 30 (MExN): Governor of Nagaland Nikhil Kumar today said what Nagaland needs is ‘stable and permanent’ peace if at all development of the state and her people are to take place. The governor addressed the people of Nagaland as the state commemorates her 46th anniversary, reminding of the one need Nagaland has, peace, to bring in progress.
“It is indeed the chief objective of all of us – not the least of all, the central government –to usher in peace that is stable and permanent for it is only through peace that we can put in place plans for the development of the state and which could lead to progress and prosperity. Our state needs this most of all…” Governor Kumar stated in his address. With joint efforts from all, he said, “we are determined to bring about development, banish poverty and usher in emotional integration in this lovely state of different tribes and communities.”
Yet, the governor observed, while Nagaland has achieved much during the last four and half decades of statehood, there are still many unfinished tasks at hand. “There are poor and marginalized people in the state whose lives still remain untouched by the various developmental endeavors. Further, there are regions which continue to suffer because of inadequate development,” he said.
The governor expressed confidence that the implementation by the state government the National Rural Employment Scheme and the Swarnajayanti Swarozgar Scheme of the Central Government will benefit the people of Nagaland. “Let us all make a commitment today to redouble our efforts and ensure the delivery of the fruits of development to every person and to every nook and corner of the state,” he said.
The governor said that in 1963 “our position on the development ladder was quite low.” Nevertheless, Kumar acknowledged that the state has been doing its bit in securing assured and appreciable growth in various fields. He cited “making appreciable strides in all the sectors.” He observed that “there has also been a strengthening of our self-belief and confidence in our capabilities” by being successful in regularly planning and hosting various regional and national events. He cited as instances a number of sports’ events in the recent times held in the state. “The Hornbill Festival from tomorrow which among others has people from abroad will no doubt once again prove the capabilities of our people in every way,” he added.
The governor of Nagaland also took to mind “our young men and women,” who he said are the ones who will “soon enter adulthood” and on whose shoulder the future of Nagaland will rest. “It is of utmost importance that they understand the vital role that they are going to play and I would urge them to remain fully observant to the various changes happening around them, not only here but outside too,” Governor Kumar said. He wished to see Naga young men and women being provided with all the opportunities to ensure that they are at par not only with the rest of the country but the whole world.
Kumar also referred to what he said is “nice to see that in recent times the initiatives of the leaders of all walks of life have borne fruits and there has been a marked decline in the incidence of violence in the state.”
The latest initiative of the state’s legislators in joining hands without any political color to work towards peace is laudable he said. “On the statehood day I would like to call upon all, especially the grass root leaders - our venerated Gaon Buras and village elders to leave no stone unturned to defeat any evil designs to destabilize the peaceful environment in Nagaland” Governor Kumar said.
ETHNICALLY ‘TENYIMIA’ IS NOT A TRIBE Nagaland page Thepfulhouvi Solo
When the pioneer British Colonial Forces entered the territory of the present Zeliang Area from Cachar in the West about the first quarter of the nineteenth Century, they enquired from the indigenous Zeliangs as to what kind of people live in the East beyond their territory. In those days, people calling themselves “TENGIMIA” particularly the neighboring warlike Villages of Khwünoma and Mezoma, used to have an indecent trait of coveting the Zeliang properties particularly their grand domesticated animals that ranged freely in the jungle and the “Tengimia” people could not control themselves of some self-help of the irresistible domesticated properties of their neighbors.
It is said the good natured Zeliangs abhorred excessive Wind in their mountain Villages, leeches in their jungles and in moments of intemperate exasperations they sometimes called the “Tengimia” people in terms of the class of things they detested like excessive wind and leeches! And when the White man enquired of the kind of people beyond their territory in the East, the intelligent Zeliangs told the uninvited Visitors that ‘Kergami’ –Thieves in Zeliang tongue- lived in the East beyond their territory. From then on the White man recorded the “most boisterous of the wild Nagas” who called themselves ‘Tengimia” as ‘ANGAMI’ -a corrupted form of ‘KERGAMI’.
The Khezamas, the Sopfümas (Mao), the Zeliangs and the Rengmas never hitherto took themselves as “Tenyimia”; these Naga Tribes, each has its own distinct Laguage and Culture, it was only after the State of Nagaland came into existence that in political wisdom of ‘Kevi u Uya’: the Better Part is mine’ that the ex-pression ‘Tenyimia’ gained momentum.
The Tenyimia is not a Tribe has no distinct Language of its own, each constituent Tribe has its own Language, not Dialect. A Tribe usually has a common Ancestor, Language and similar Culture: there is no common CHAKHESANG Language because ‘Cha-khe-sang ‘ is not a Tribe, but a GROUP OF TRIBES comprising of Chakrü, Kheza and Puchuri tribe inadvertently recorded as Sangtams by the British. The Puchuris have now been separated out from ChaKheSang Group as a separate distinct Tribe.
The Angami and the Chakrü (Chokri in Dialect) have principally the same Language with only tonal differences. The Chakrüs were initially Angamis known as “Eastern Angami” (no less Angami or not more Angami than the Angamis but exactly like the Northern or Western Angami today) but during the re-organization of Kohima Elekha just after Indian Independence into a District, all the areas of the Elekha in the East from Kanjang in the Burma Border to Sidzü River were Grouped as Chakhesang Area, then Anagami Area in the middle and then Kachanaga – Kuki Areas in the West as Zeliang Area.
These Areas, each binds the people into a strong Group of Nagas just like a Kingdom bound the people into a strong Unit in the ancient past. Kingdom or Empire no longer makes People into a compact ethnic Group today, rather it is Ideas that bind modern people into strong political Group or State. Today, it is ideas like EQUALITY, FREEDOM of RELIGION and HUMAN RIGHTS that unite people into strong political Nation-States rather than Tribal ethnic relationship or Race. Democratic Glues bind diverse people into stronger compact Nation-States than racial or ethnic connections.
Today, diverse Mongolian communities living in the Hills of the North East India calling themselves Naga aspire for a NAGA Nation. However, these Mongolian racial glues would not be a Glue strong enough to stick the people into a compact political packet without the Principle of Democracy,.
UNITY OF THE NAGAS is the most challenging Issue today for Nagas and if any of the many Groups in the Naga Community has any silent Agenda to dominate others or tries to gain a position of Pre-eminence over the others, that would be the beginning of the disintegration ‘Soviet Union’ of Nagaland; within 70 years the once mighty Soviet Union disintegrated into many democratic People. The very Communist Force that made the Soviet Union prominent, made it into pieces.
Politics, particularly democratic Politics, is the property of everybody alive; it has no Race or Color, and like the Law of the Land, it treads every people alike. The Writer has no interest in coining the nomenclature of any political Party but recently a political Party changed its name embracing every People of the AREA, into one exclusively of one Race. Politics based on Race and Religion is very risky, if modern man is to learn any lessons from Hitler’s Aryan Party! Unity of the Naga People is of paramount importance but Politics is higher and wider than Nagas alone.
Indeed, Politics is very important for the welfare of the People but POLITICS without ETHICS is a DEMON and Politics of ‘the Good Side is mine: Bad side is yours’ is unethical.