Kohima , 11 October:
Prominent Naga leader and adviser to Eastern Naga People’s Organization (ENPO), P Pohwang Konyak was critical of the “high-profile meeting” of top leaders of three Naga underground groups on September 18 last, asking if they had inked the “Covenant of Reconciliation” from their bottoms of heart or only a mere “show.”
Talking to Asian Tribune here today, the ENPO adviser expressed his clear view that if the three top Naga leaders were serious on the prevailing atmosphere, the ongoing talks between New Delhi and NSCN (IM) should be suspended. “Unity and reconciliation should precede such talks,” he opined.
The former ENPO president said New Delhi would never enter into any final settlement with one Naga underground group. “We have seen enough in the past that piecemeal solutions had miserably failed to bring any durable settlement to the Naga political issue, rather by those arrangements (piecemeal solutions), the Naga issue became more complicated as widely seen today,” he stated.
Throwing more light as to how the Naga underground groups should go about, the ENPO adviser said the leaders (Naga underground leaders) should prepare their respective “Charters of Demand” which should then be studied amongst them to boil down to the acceptable “Charters of Demand.” With such Charters of Demand agreed upon, they should go to the Government of India for political negotiation, he pointed out saying, “Only then do we hope that there would be some tangible solution to the Naga political issue.”
Having worked for 23 long years for Naga peace, Konyak said the ENPO had played a major role in effecting unconditional unity between GPRN/NSCN and the NNC/FGN on July 15 at Monyukshu town. He said it was one of the major breakthroughs of their relentless work toward bringing “unity” amongst Naga underground factions.
Reiterating ENPO’s impartiality to any factions since its inception of working for peace, Konyak regretted that some tribes did not work as expected. Such activities had only brought hindrances to the work of peace, he added.
- Asian Tribune -