SC Jamir urges implementation of Naga accords

Says ‘time to avoid blame games’

Dimapur, September 19 (MExN): Former Nagaland chief minister and ex-governor Dr SC Jamir has urged the NSCN (IM) and the NPF leadership to implement the Framework Agreement, saying the people of Nagaland, “the victims of no solution”, are yearning for peace and normalcy.

Jamir, in an article titled, “Unveiling bare facts of Naga political struggle,” said “every well-meaning person and concerned organisation” was appealing to the signatories of the two agreements to implement them.

He said the Framework Agreement of August 3, 2015, signed in the presence of the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and the National Security Advisor, makes no mention of sovereignty or integration, which meant it was “obviously within the Constitution of India.”

“No Prime Minister, however popular, would allow any political agreement outside the Constitution, nor two sovereignties in the same country,” he said.

Jamir said any competencies to be included would have to go to Parliament and be incorporated as Article 371A, while autonomy for Naga areas of Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh could come under the Sixth Schedule.

He said the NNPGs had circulated their Agreed Position, whereas the NSCN (IM) had kept its competencies “as a secret document.” He also cautioned the state government against interpreting the Framework “against the spirit and the real significance” of the agreement.

Tracing the Naga political struggle, Jamir cited the 1929 memorandum to the Simon Commission, the formation of the Naga National Council (NNC) at Wokha and the 1951 plebiscite under A Z Phizo. He claimed all of these were undertaken by the people of Nagaland alone.

“No other Naga tribes outside Nagaland participated in this movement. It was born and fully matured in the soil of Nagaland. Unfortunately, it has been hijacked by alien elements,” he said.

The NNC as “the political institution of the people of Nagaland,” he lamented that it had fragmented into nearly 37 factions. He recalled the violence after 1955, when houses and granaries were burnt, villages were grouped and famine and disease followed.

“Have the southern Nagas shown any sympathy when the Nagas of Nagaland had been living in such terrible agony? The reply is a big ‘No’,” he said.

Jamir called the formation of the Naga Peoples Convention in 1957 a “milestone” and said the earlier ceasefire was initiated by the Nagaland Baptist Association at Wokha. The present ceasefire, he said, appeared to be a voluntary decision of the NSCN (IM), as the state government was not consulted.

He said the issue of mandate should be left to the people of Nagaland, adding that “the historical records shall speak loudly”.

Turning to the ruling NPF, Jamir accused it of choosing “to sing the very old tune along with the secessionist groups”, as if all of Naga politics hinged on his letter to P Shilu Ao. “It is not the time to dig out issues which are archaic or redundant,” he added. 

Jamir said, “This is the time to avoid blame games because we know our status visa vis Naga politics so also by now our brothers who are from other states should be aware of.” He expressed confidence that “once solution is made everything will come to its proper place by themselves.”