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09/17/2011: "Muivah in Delhi for talks, Naga factions urged to unite Samudra Gupta Kashyap Indian Express"

Muivah in Delhi for talks, Naga factions urged to unite Samudra Gupta Kashyap Indian Express

Even as top NSCN(IM) leaders, including chairman Isak Chisi Swu and general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah, arrived in Delhi for the next round of talks with the Union government, civil society groups in Nagaland have started exerting pressure on all Naga factions to come under one banner to find an amicable settlement to the long-pending issue.
While the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FRN) has been playing the pivotal role in bringing together the factions, it was only last month that top leaders of the NSCN(IM), the new NSCN faction led by Khole Konyak, and the Naga National Council agreed to broaden the ongoing peace process finding an acceptable and honourable solution to the long-drawn conflict based on “uniqueness of Naga political history”.
The NSCN(K) led by S S Khaplang, which had suffered a major split with a group of top leaders led by Khole Konyak forming a new group by throwing him out, has not yet become part of the process.
Other organisations, including the Naga Hoho, the apex body of various Naga tribes, as well as political parties have renewed their plea to the Naga factions to come under one umbrella in order to expedite the peace process. The Naga Hoho has asked the FNR to include all groups into its fold so that a solution acceptable to all could be formulated.
The Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee on Tuesday not only asked the factions to unite, but also urged the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre to speed up the peace talks and find an early solution.
NSCN/GPRN (K) condemns ‘looting and vandalism’ by AR NPN)
KOHIMA, Condemning the “unwarranted” looting and vandalism of the residence of “lt. col.” Apang Konyak at Mon town September 12 by personnel of 6 Assam Rifles led by one Maj. Chauhan, NSCN/GPRN (K) Wednesday urged higher authority to admonish and recall “such brutish officer” from Nagaland immediately.

According to a press release issued here Wednesday by MIP NSCN/GPRN (K), the forceful intrusion and looting took place while only the wife and children were at home, causing trauma and shock on the innocent civilians. MIP stated that Maj. Chauhan, after venting his ire by destroying household goods, also took away valuables and ornaments along with around 15 sets of uniform, assorted ammos and 200 rounds of AK bullets.

It asserted that the government of India’s acknowledgement of the Indo-Naga issue as political, requiring political settlement, needed to be taught to young officers on salaried tour in Nagaland. Maintaining that threatening at gunpoint the innocent wife and children of a “Naga patriot” was vain, the MIP stated such act showed the “beastly nature of a coward shrouded in Indian Army Uniform”.

With the on-going political process between Indian government and Nagas and the existing bi-lateral ceasefire, MIP said the State was considered as a “peace station” and the Army should therefore, remain confined to barracks and not to meddle in the daily affairs of the Nagas. MIP cautioned responsible authority to recall the officer from Nagaland immediately, or face “befitting wrath of the Naga public”.

Drunk guards open fire, one dead OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT The Telegraph


Jorhat, Sept. 16: Three homeguards allegedly in an inebriated condition opened fire on a group of villagers at an ONGC installation at Merapani along the Assam-Nagaland border in Golaghat district late last night, killing one person and injuring another.
While one of the villagers, Jogen Gogoi, died on the spot, Anil Bora, who was critically injured, has been rushed to the Jorhat Medical College and Hospital here. Doctors said a bullet pierced through his abdomen and his condition was “very critical”.
The three homeguards — Biresh Sonowal, Bupai Das and Khagen Chutia — have been arrested and booked under Section 302 of the IPC. Work at the ONGC installation at Kailanpur, located in the disputed area belt along the inter-state border, was disrupted today following protests by the villagers, who demanded compensation.
Golaghat deputy commissioner N.M. Hussain said a meeting among the ONGC authorities, district administration and the villagers would be held on Tuesday to sort out the matter. “The situation is tense but under control. The homeguard platoon deputed in the ONGC installation has been removed and replaced by CRPF and Assam police personnel,” Hussain said.
The incident occurred following an argument between the three homeguards and a group of villagers of Bharali Chowk, who were returning from a religious function at 11pm. “The homeguards, who were reportedly drunk, had a fight with the villagers in front of the main gate of the ONGC installation. One of the homeguards, Biresh Sonowal, rushed inside and came back with a .303 rife and opened fire on the group of villagers. One villager died on the spot while another was injured,” Golaghat superintendent of police R.A. Laskar, who visited the incident site last night, said.
He said a large number of villagers gathered in the area on hearing about the incident and started pelting stones at the ONGC installation. “The villagers managed to catch hold of Biresh and started beating him up. He is currently undergoing treatment. Had we not arrived on time, the three homeguards would have been lynched,” the SP said.
Laskar said a medical test was conducted on the three homeguards involved in the incident and they were subsequently arrested.
“We have also ordered an inquiry to be conducted by an additional superintendent of police into the incident,” the superintendent of police said.
An ONGC spokesman, based at the Assam and Assam-Arakan basin headquarters here, said the PSU was not involved with the incident. However, as a corporate citizen operating in the area, the ONGC may consider some financial relief to the affected families on humanitarian grounds, he said.
NPMHR condemns SF excesses; scans oil spill morungexpress
Dimapur, September 15 (MExN): An organization in Nagaland today denounced with it called “recent incidences of Indian security forces vandalizing homes, looting and harassing of women and children at Mon town and burning of peace centers.” Naga People’s Movement of Human right (NPMHR) issued a note today decrying the “recent incidences.”
“The recent incidences of Indian security forces vandalizing homes, looting and harassing of women and children at Mon town and burning of peace centers at Ketsapo village of Phek district on the 12th and 6th of September 2011 and razing it to ashes respectively have once again brought back harsh memories of the Indian army atrocities that devastated the entire Naga areas in the backdrop of a 64 years of political conflict between the Government of India and the Naga national political movement,” the organization said.
The NMPHR trained its ire on the security forces, who according to the Naga organization is the only one responsible for “thousands of scars” that have ‘not healed yet and thousands of homes still bleed and weeps for the lives that were inhumanly snatched away by Indian armed forces.’
The NPMHR said the Naga “national movement” was also for safeguarding the Nagas’ land and its resources, “which were again thoroughly exploited by various Indian agencies and in many cases in collaboration with local people who are ignorant in some cases and with state agencies who exploits its own people and resources devoid of any sense of responsibility and regardless of future prospects so long as it benefits their immediate interests.”

ONGC and Oil spill
An instance of ‘exploitation’ the NPMHR gave was that of the Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) and issues associated with oil in Nagaland.
The NPMHR explained in one length: “And ever since, in the guise of exploring, the ONGC started exploiting and taking away thousands of metric tons of crude oil daily from Changpang oil fields despite protests from NSF and other Naga organizations and peoples movements.
Ultimately for the situation their activities have created, the ONGC was compelled to stop their activities leaving the oil fields and wells unattended and open to all kinds of spillage leaving the areas surrounding them vulnerable to all kinds of health hazards and environmental dilapidation, for which the people of Changpang and Tissori villages are now suffering the consequences.”
For the stated reasons, the organization said, the Public Interest Litigation filed recently against ONGC and others should be ‘supported by all concerned and justice in whatever way be found although the damages that have been done are beyond repair now.’
“The PIL should also be viewed and used as an instrument to speed up all process of legal procedures and restoration of normalcy in all the oil ravaged lands and not be taken otherwise under any pretext,” the NPMHR stated.
The organization also welcomes “another milestone to unite” under a “Naga national government” in the recently concluded high-level meeting under the facilitation of the Forum for Naga Reconciliation.
“NPMHR also takes this as an opportunity to request all other political groups to take this development as an opportunity of an inclusive process and not to react otherwise, which the FNR have time and again assured and re-assured the Naga public,” the organization added.

BROKEN REPUBLIC Nagaland: A journey to India’s forgotten frontier By Jonathan Glancey, Faber, Rs 650



Of the nine chapters written by Jonathan Glancey, the fourth, with its innocuous title, “Headhunting and Basket Weaving”, disturbed me the most. Unlike some other chapters that contain graphic accounts of brutalities perpetrated by the Indian army on the Naga people — the fall-out of a bitter, violent, decades-long war of independence that the Nagas have been waging intermittently against the Indian State — this chapter has been enriched by anthropological tidbits. Nagaland is home to 16 Tibetan-Burmese tribes whose ethnic roots, although fuzzy, are far removed from those shared by Indians on the ‘mainland’; the headhunting practice of the Nagas, although on the decline, reveals their cultural ties with some Indonesian tribes; Nagaland’s literacy rate in 2002 was 67.11 per cent; the average life-span of the Naga people is 73.4 years; women enjoy equal rights as men in Naga society. I quote these nuggets in detail because like many other citizens, I had not known, or even cared, much about Nagaland and its people. The paucity of knowledge and concern has resulted in the creation of a collective indifference, which, Glancey suggests subtly, has bolstered the Indian State’s sinister attempts to portray the Naga people as primitive souls who spend their time (head)hunting, dancing and singing. The irony that a Briton’s sojourn should serve as a compass to guide an Indian reader into a corner of India that remains hidden, and wilfully forgotten, even six decades after Independence leaves one feeling guilty and, hence, troubled. And herein lay the source of my discomfort.
The feeling of guilt is further enhanced when Glancey holds up a mirror to the political questions behind the insurgency in Nagaland. Two attributes make Glancey’s efforts praiseworthy in this context. Unlike Indian readers and armchair analysts, he has a far deeper understanding of the complexities that have undermined efforts to find a political solution to the conflict. Yet his tone is never preachy. Second, he resists the temptation to offer yet another myopic solution to a seemingly intractable problem.
Glancey does a thorough job of untangling Nagaland’s complex political history. The British had subjugated parts of the state after the decisive battle at Khonoma. Skirmishes continued sporadically, although many Nagas had sided with the British to keep Japanese intruders at bay during the epic siege of Kohima. On the eve of Indian independence, Jawaharlal Nehru demanded imperiously that the state be handed over to India. He was rebuffed by the Naga National Council, which declared independence a day before India was free. (The Naga Club, a body that pioneered nationalist, and not tribal, demands, had informed the Simon Commission way back in 1929 that the Nagas would like to retain the independence they had lost in a revised political map of the subcontinent.) Nehru’s failure to break the deadlock during his Kohima visit, coupled with the provocative tactics adopted by the NNC, resulted in another armed intrusion, this time by the Indian army. It is estimated that about 100,000 to 200,000 Nagas lost their lives in the conflict between 1952 and 1997. Brutalities such as the one in Oinam village in 1987, where the Assam Rifles went on rampage for four months, killing the village chief, forcing women to give birth in front of jeering soldiers, burying men alive and then smashing their heads to pulp with heavy army boots have also been inflicted on several occasions. Significantly, as is the case in other parts of the Northeast, draconian legal aids, the Assam Disturbed Areas Act in this instance, have been pressed into service, handing the marauding forces a legal shield behind which to commit the atrocities. Peace accords have been ineffective; hence the promise of peace remains fleeting. The Shillong Accord inked by the NNC was contested by a crop of leaders who went on to form the “Christian-Maoist” National Socialist Council of Nagaland. Eight years later, the NSCN split into two rival groups. Today, blood continues to be spilt among the various splinter groups under the watchful eyes of the Indian army. The international community, including conscientious Britain, chooses to highlight the plight of Nagas only when it suits its interests.
Glancey makes us ponder three critical questions. Given Nagaland’s strategic importance, demonstrated by a key battle fought during the Second World War, as well as by India’s eagerness to use the state as a buffer between ambitious neighbours, such as China, and the heartland, it is obvious that the Indian State would be unsympathetic to Naga assertions of self-determination. But it is important for the rest of democratic India to participate in this debate to decide, peacefully, the fate of the Naga people. For that, they would need to remain informed of the ground realities. Glancey’s instructive book — and not colourful tourist brochures — could be of some use to forge views that are independent of State propaganda. Second, can efforts to transform a society based on a complex network of tribal identities and ties into a modern democratic entity ever bear fruit? The missionaries may have given the Nagas a common language. Their experiences of the World War may have also stoked in the Naga people a desire to attain nationhood. But the fluid nature of the Naga identity has foiled attempts made by Britain, India and even the fractious Naga leadership to resolve the issue permanently. Finally, Glancey reminds us that the violence in Nagaland has depleted the state’s once-abundant natural resources. Tigers are rare, wild dogs have become extinct and virgin forests continue to fall with each passing year. Is it not the duty of the State, which has no qualms about calling Nagaland its own turf, to protect and replenish what is left for the future?
We also come across several endearing characters in these pages. Two of them — Gaidinliu, the 16-year-old girl who led a year-long rebellion against the British and Ursula Graham Bower, the “pert, pretty” archaeologist, believed to be an incarnation of Gaidinliu by some Nagas, who set up defence and intelligence units during the Great War — are particularly memorable. The legendary A.Z. Phizo, whom Glancey met in London, also leaves a mark with his quiet dignity and fortitude. It is surprising to find a hard-nosed journalist such as Glancey going dewy-eyed upon discovering relics of the raj in Calcutta and Kohima. But then, ancestral ties — Glancey is the third in his family to have been bewitched by Nagaland — are difficult to ignore.
It is not just the internecine warfare that Nagaland has to contend with. Patchy development, the result of money lining the cavernous pockets of officials, and a rocky relationship with modernity have accentuated the complexities in a society undergoing a slow, painful transformation. Perhaps redemption lies in the hands of a young and ambitious generation, but the burdens of history can be surprisingly tenacious.
The dream of Nagalim, Glancey admits, may remain just that: a dream. But the iron curtain that obscures Nagaland will have to be lifted as a result of India’s domestic compulsions, for the contours of the Look East policy pass through this land-locked, strife-torn state. The discovery of oil in Wokha would also tickle the interests of New Delhi, Washington and London and, in all probability, hasten Nagaland’s grudging integration into the grid of India’s mental map.
Tourists are flocking to Kohima, Naga men and women are travelling to the mainland in search of an education and jobs, and the jungle is giving way to highways. But the stories of the Naga people — such as the ones chronicled by Glancey — and the lessons that ought to be drawn from them need to be rescued lest they get lost forever under the debris of development.
UDDALAK MUKHERJEE
Jonathan Glancey, Guardian’s architecture and design correspondent, has given a potpourri in Nagaland: A Journey to India’s Forgotten Frontier (Faber, Special Indian Price: Rs 650). It is part travelogue, part memoir and part a potted anecdotal history of Nagaland to trace the roots of its multiple identities.
Nagaland's tribal complexities All tribal societies have multiple identities largely because the distinction between tribes and sub-tribes is often blurred, unlike castes and sub-castes where it is easy to fix a man’s caste. Kaka Iralu, a Naga nationalist, explains the complexity of the tribal system which goes a long way towards explaining why a political settlement between India’s central government and Nagaland rebels is difficult:
“I am from the Khonoma village from the Angami tribe. My political status and identity as a Naga starts from that village level … every Naga village is a sovereign democratic republic with its own sets of laws governing the village. The Iralu clan belongs in turn to the Meyasetsu clan. The Meyasetsu clan in turn belongs to the still wider and larger group called the Merhuma Khel. The Merhuma Khel in turn is one of the major Khels that make up the Khonoma village. The Khonoma village in turn belongs to the Angami tribe and the Angami tribe belongs in turn to the Naga nation. My sense of political identity, therefore, starts from the Iralu level to the Meyasetsu to the Merhuma to the Khonoma to the Angami and ultimately to the Naga national level..
At every level of my political identity, I have hundreds of clansmen, khelmen, village men, tribesmen and fellow Nagas who have the obligation to protect me as a Naga. I in turn have the same obligation and allegiance to all these levels of my political identity. This is how Nagas … have defied the mighty British empire for over century and India for half a century. In actual political reality, no Naga stands alone.”
You could put this down to a very narrow outlook that could be broken down by a more cosmopolitan education. But this doesn’t work because the Baptist missions who have been active in the region for decades (in fact, Baptists also claim their own tranche of Naga identity) have provided education at all levels and are largely responsible for the spread of Nagaland’s English-speaking elite. So, Glancey says that a society in which family, clan, tribe, religious preferences and local associations swear by their Naga identity, and refuse to subsume it with others, must require another explanation for its rigidity.
Nagaland is neither primitive nor educationally disadvantaged. In fact, with English as the official language of the state, they are better off than most and more employable in the service sector and the media.
Glancey’s explorations with reference to their uncertain history leads nowhere. For one, no one knows where they came from and where they settled: it was a long time back and seems to have been the result of several migrations, possibly from inland China or Tibet by way of coastal stopovers in South- east Asia. Glancey has done some digging up of archival material and says that one of the Naga tribes brought with it a written language that might have helped clear the air. Unfortunately, the only copy of the script that was written on a leather parchment got eaten up by a Naga dog. “So the dog ate their homework,” Glancey says. There is a great deal of anecdotal history, based mostly on bazaar gossip, but little does it help to explain why the Nagas have been such a closed shop.
Political scientist and social anthropologist James C Scott has provided a tentative answer in his recent book, The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist history of Upland South East Asia. He says the vast jungle-clad massif like that of South-east Asia which spans the borders of India, China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam is inhabited by people who belong to autonomous, state-resistant and subsistence-oriented societies of the hills.
The colonial powers carved up these mountain regions into the nation states, each with its notions of territorial integrity but it was a division that wasn’t accepted; they remained “ethnic minorities” within the state into which they were absorbed. This could be seen by their distinctive traits – segmentation, mobility, egalitarian social structures, flexible cultivation – which were simply a response to their new environment and “a strategic adaptation to avoid incorporation in state structures”. Scott’s analysis of the lifestyles of people in the mountainous regions of South-east Asia, of which Nagaland is an integral part, best explains why it remains aloof and ignores the commonalties of southern Asia’s myriad borderland people.
Elsewhere, Glancey talks about Naga crafts, culture, apparel and architecture, suitably backed by photographs but we have been there and seen it all before. So this book is really a simple introduction to the land and its people, and nothing more.
‘To make reconciliation inclusive, participate’ – Naga MLAs morungexpress


Nagaland Chief Minister addressing the Joint Parliamentary Working committee meeting at the Assembly Secretariat Kohima on September 15. (DIPR Photo)

Dimapur, September 15 (MExN): Nagaland state’s legislators today appealed to all the Naga underground organizations to come forward and participate in the reconciliation process. The government and opposition today strongly reminded that making the process “inclusive” entails the groups’ participation.
The Joint Legislature Forum (JLF) on the Naga Political issue met September 15 in the Nagaland Legislative Assembly in Kohima and agreed on a number of ‘resolutions,’ mainly focusing on the current political upheavals in the state concerning with the e Naga reconciliation process and the Naga underground groups.
While the legislators welcomed the “Naga Concordant” – a term coined to mean an agreement by the signatories to form on so-asserted “government” – the Joint legislators’ Forum felt that to make the reconciliation inclusive, all the groups themselves have to participate in the first place.
“The JLF takes this opportunity to make further appeal to all Naga nationalists groups to come forward and participate in the process of reconciliation, under the banner of the forum for Naga Reconciliation to make the reconciliation process inclusive,” a communiqué from the forum said today. Chief Minister of Nagaland Neiphiu Rio, Leader of Opposition Tokheho Yepthomi and Speaker of Nagaland Legislative Assembly Kiyanilie Peseyie appended the communiqué.
The legislators’ forum reiterated commitment to ‘play the role of facilitator’ in the ‘ongoing peace process’ and engaged in efforts to bring all the Naga underground groups to reconciliation.
“The JLF reiterates its commitment to play the role of facilitator in the ongoing peace process and to make every possible effort to bring about reconciliation amongst the Naga national groups so that the peace process is expedited to bring about an honorable political settlement that is acceptable to the people,” the legislators stated.
The legislators welcomed the series of meetings of the top leaders of the Naga “nationalist” organizations under the banner of the Forum for Naga Reconciliation, eventually signing the “Naga concordant.”
The “JLF feels that the signing of the Naga concordant is a historic and significant step taken by underground leaders towards oneness and unity of Naga society and appreciates the sincere efforts of the signatories to work together for the greater interest of Naga society,” the legislators sated.

Paresh Baruah's men take shelter in Myanmar's jungles to evade army TNN
GUWAHATI: Ulfa commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah has reportedly pulled out his men from the camps in Myanmar and pushed them into the jungles as the neighbouring country's army continues to maintain a position close to the unified camp at Taga, also called Eastern Nagaland by the NSCN(K).
Security sources said the Myanmar army has not fired at or destroyed the camps of the Indian militants and confirmed that the Ulfa leader has not been hurt as reported earlier.
"The Myanmar army has not launched any operation so far and is only carrying out area domination exercises. They have done this in the past, too, with their symbolic presence close to the unified camp of the Indian militant groups. The Myanmar army has full knowledge of the presence of the militants' camps," a top security source told TOI.
Y Wangtin Naga on real reconciliation Y. Wangtin Naga, Morungexpress
Y Wangtin Naga strongly felt that, real reconciliation is the only option left for the salvation of the Naga Nation from the doom. In this article, the writer expressing his personal opinion and invites the wisdom of the Naga leaders to explore real reconciliation among the Nagas but equally seeks forgiveness from anyone who might have hurt while sticking to the hard facts because in no way this write-up is trying to accuse any one.
The writer recalling the time when American Baptist Churches deeply concerned for the fratricidal killing among the Nagas and as a first aid peace mission to put an end the bloodshed in Naga family organized an ever first reconciliation programme in Atlanta in the year 1997 where both the NSCN (K) and NNC participated the programme and reconciled with one another. But our brothers NSCN (IM) rejected the invitation of the American Baptist Churches and took their negative turn as Jonah rejected God’s command for Nineveh and moved towards Tarshish, had a secret meeting with Government of India and signed Ceasefire Agreement in the same year and in the same day of the reconciliation programmed at Atlanta which to me is the first mistake. Today the political situation in Nagaland could have been far better and even all Naga Political groups could have become one, had NSCN (IM) equally participated in that programme.
Secondly, had the NSCN (IM) softened their stance against any other Naga Political Groups after the signing of Ceasefire Agreement with GOI, still there could have been sufficient rooms for the accommodation of all Naga Political Groups into one but NSCN (IM) instead butchered many freedom fighters both from NNC and NSCN (K) including two Ato Kilonsers, many Kilonsers, Generals and cadres including innocent Nagas which was another mistakes.
Thirdly, when NSCN (IM) entered into the Political dialogue with the GOI, it could have been their political advantage had they opened up their foreign policy to all the Naga political groups and have a common sitting but they selfishly dealt with GOI keeping other Nagas under the dark and even today no one knows the nature of IM’s talk, this was also an unfortunate mistake.
Fourthly, we must thank Quaker friends of England and American Baptist Churches for working hard to bring Naga Political groups into one. We should also thank and appreciate the merit services of FNR under the stewardship of Dr. Wati Aier, who took bold steps to bring reconciliation among the Naga factions. The first ever reconciliation meeting organized by the Quakers, American Baptist Churches and FNR in Chiangmai (Thailand) in the year 2008 was participated by NSCN (K), NNC/FGN and NSCN (IM) and I happen to be the representative of NSCN (K). In all consecutive meetings of the FNR both abroad and in Nagaland, the NSCN (K) and NNC/FGN insisted IM to be transparent and suggested for collective talk instead of IM’s talk. Our suggestion was that, all the Naga political groups should equally participate in talk which makes Naga-GOI talk (instead of IM-GOI talks) but NSCN (IM) selfishly rejected the proposed formula, this was also an irreparable mistake.
Fifthly, after the signing of Covenant of Reconciliation at Chiangmai (Thailand) by three top leaders S S Kaphlang, Isak Chishi and Shingya in 2009, the NSCN (IM) continued fratricidal killing and kidnapping NSCN (K) and FGN cadres. Let me not mention where and when but due to NSCN (IM) intentional violation of COR, the NSCN (K) Chairman and General Secretary have decided to boycott 18th September, 2010 Highest Level meeting at Dimapur. The two leaders agreed for temporary boycott of the reconciliation meeting aimed at creating a sense of realization in the minds of NSCN (IM) leaders. But after the boycott decision between the two leaders, General Secretary, N Kitovi attended the boycotted reconciliation meeting without the approval of the Chairman which proved to be the main factor for explosive division in NSCN (K) setup; this is also one of the greatest mistakes to the point of no return.
Sixthly, after the impeachment of the President S S Khaplang at Khehoi Camp on 7th June 2011, several meetings held among NSCN (IM), NSCN Khehoi and FGN under the patronage of FNR have decided for the formation of Naga National Government, without consulting other Naga political groups i.e. NSCN (K) and NNCs this is also an undeniable mistake.
I felt, if NNG is to be formed, why not consult other Naga political groups? Why so fast and hasty? Why discriminate among the Nagas such as Accordist, Non-accordist, Peace Campers etc and etc? Why not FNR include other Naga political groups? Who is wrong and who is right? Who is a sinner and who is righteous? I think our leaders have committed irreparable political mistake even in the formation of NSCN in 1980 by condemning Shillong Accord. Why should they condemn the mandated Naga political institution i.e. NNC for a few people who have signed the Accord? Instead of condemning their only political institution, why not they expel the signatories or expel the president if he refuses to disown the Accord paper? My leaders, please say sorry to the Nagas and God for your mistakes. When both Nagas and GOI have rejected Shillong Accord, why talk about death Accord? Why condemn peace campers, when the Accord never exist? Because to me, the three NSCNs occupation of their designated camps and NNC stationing in their peace camps seem similar case. We all can easily vacate it (peace camps, designated camps) if necessary without any pre-condition. Let us not try to stone the Samaria young women for her adultery because none of us is righteous to stone her. Same thing that, no one is righteous to condemn others. We all are for the Naga nation, therefore, let us not expect our friends to be smaller than us and also let us not expect anybody to submit before us because we all are equal in National Service and it is a sinful in the sight of God too. The Bible says, (Mathew 7:3) “why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye”? Let us truthful to our self and try to achieve real reconciliation.

Y. Wangtin Naga,
Kilonser, NSCN/GPRN
Naga legislators for inclusive re-conciliation Kohima: With some organisations still to respond to the FNR initiative for a unified voice on the Naga issue, Nagaland legislators have appealed to all Naga underground outfits to participate in the on-going re-conciliation process.

The Joint Legislature Forum (JLF) on the Naga political issue attended by all legislators from both ruling and opposition parties called by the assembly speaker yesterday deliberated on the current political situation and agreed on 'a number of resolutions', focusing on the re-conciliation process, it said in a statement here on Friday.

Top leaders of NSCN(I-M), GPRN/NSCN and a faction of NNC/FGN after meetings at Dimapur last month had signed the Naga Concordant aiming to form a single organization having a unified voice on the Naga issue.

However, NSCN(K) and other factions of NNC were yet to respond to the process initiated by the FNR, comprising churches, tribal councils and civil society organizations.

"The JLF takes this opportunity to make further appeal to all Naga nationalists groups to come forward and participate in the process of re-conciliation, under the banner of the Forum for Naga Re-conciliation to make the re-conciliation process inclusive," the statement said.
Urging To Urge For Unity Phaningshang. M. Vashum Morung
•- The failure of the past initiatives was due to lack of sincerity. Many good golden opportunities history offered to us had been missed. Violence, hatred, division, distinction of tribalism does not decides the fate of a nation. There is always the tendency to relapse to the old ways if there is no preparation. We dream of a time when Naga’ s can live as one in a world based on equality of all nations and peoples. In the absence of fighting, there is peace, so why bloodshed violence for peace among our families. The issues of fratricide should be dissolve as fratricide is not congenial to uphold unity in Naga` s homeland, the past pernicious act in Nagalim is the pit of Naga’ s disaster; it is an act of worst hypocrisy. Let us be sensible, needful and discontinue creating chaos and divisions among us to uphold unity. Violence in our social milieu has damage the reputation of our nation as a whole. Why not we bury the hatchet and rebuild our nation as one. The battle of distinction should be done away with if we want our nation to progress, let’s erase the distinction among us to blur the vision of Naga’ s perpetrators as they have played enough game with us while the world knows what our weakness is. The world watches us.
Naga’ s religion is Christianity so; Religion is the greatest instrument to raise us so. It is amazing that a person not intellectually bright, perhaps not even educated, is capable of grasping and living by something so advanced as the principles of Christianity. Yet, there is a common phenomenon. It is not however my province to talk about religion, but rather to stress on the aversion of distinction among us and stand as one. Let us have a clean slate once more and let our struggle not go off at half-cock. Is this not a bone to pick?
Phaningshang. M. Vashum
Deptt: Journalism & Mass communication (SMU)Dimapur