“We are not satisfied with statehood,” he said at a programme organised to felicitate Naga People’s Front legislator Toshipokba Longkumer, who won the Aonglenden Assembly byelection recently, at the party headquarters here this afternoon.
The home minister recalled how some people, without the consent of A.Z. Phizo-led Naga National Council (NNC), had signed a 16-point memorandum “almost certainly under duress from agencies of government of India”. The memorandum became an agreement in 1960, under which Nagaland became the 16th state of the Union of India.
Imchen said in 1951, the NNC, under the leadership of Phizo, had conducted a Naga plebiscite whereby 99.9 per cent of the people had opted for sovereignty. The Nagas boycotted India’s general election in 1952. He said these two developments attracted huge international attention that gave impetus to the Naga movement. He said the international community and the Naga people were of the view that the Nagas as an ethnic community deserved liberty. It was, however, denied by the Centre, he alleged.
He said from the Naga demand for sovereignty emerged Article 371(A) of the Constitution but Phizo, the Naga rebel leader who was still harping on sovereignty, was not invited for the talks. “What was the problem in inviting A.Z. Phizo for negotiation?” he asked the Centre.
Imchen said rather than talking with the NNC, the Centre negotiated with the Naga People’s Convention (NPC) from August 1957, which eventually ended up in a 16-point agreement with two special status to Nagas under Article 371(A) which is much lower than the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir.
Under Article 371(A), the state’s land and resources belong to the people and no act of Parliament can infringe upon the customary practices and traditions of the Naga people. “Was it the ultimate demand and aspiration of the Nagas? Never, never,” Imchen said.
However, he said, the land and resources were infringed upon by the Petroleum and Gas Act, 1957 and the customary practices and traditions of the Nagas had also been diluted by the Centre. He demanded that the Centre deliver justice to the Naga people.
On the ongoing Naga peace process between the Centre and the Naga group, Imchen said it was not a peace process or peace talks but political talks with the government of India. “It is a political talk between the Naga people and the Government of India. Why should it be a peace talks? We have to differentiate between political talks and peace talks,” he insisted.