The National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) has said the Framework Agreement, signed on August 3, 2015 with the Centre to amicably resolve the decades-old Naga political issue, has been “ironically put in cold storage.”
In a statement, Travails of Framework Agreement: Five long years of waiting, issued on Sunday, the eve of the fifth anniversary of the framework agreement between the Centre and the NSCN (I-M), the outfit recalled the excitement and jubilation when Prime Minister Narendra Modi “called up all the political leaders who matter” to say he had solved the “longest political issue of Southeast Asia”.
But five years down the line, the “scourge of manipulation, misinterpretation and insincerity” has kept the pot boiling, the outfit said, while going back in time to remind the stakeholders about the journey they have undertaken till the “much-hyped” framework agreement was signed. The pact has not yet been made public.
“The second Indo-Naga ceasefire was thus declared on 1st August, 1997and it was agreed that the political dialogue shall be at the highest level, i.e. Prime Minister-level, without pre-condition and outside India in a third country. As per agreement, several rounds of talks were held in third countries like Paris, New York, The Hague, Bangkok and Chiangmai, Zurich, Osaka, Kuala-Lumpur, Vienna and Milan,” the NSCN (I-M) said.
The concluding remark of the Framework Agreement, according to the NSCN (I-M), apparently reads: “It is a matter of great satisfaction that dialogue between the Government of India and the NSCN has successfully concluded and we are confident it will provide for an enduring inclusive new relationship of peaceful co-existence of the two entities.”
The two sides agreed that within this Framework Agreement, details and an execution plan would be worked out.
The group on Sunday lamented that not only was the agreement put in cold storage, “something unthinkable” had emanated from the Raj Bhavan, referring to recent actions attributed to governor R.N. Ravi.
Ravi is the interlocutor for the peace talks and had signed the Framework Agreement on behalf of the Centre in the presence of Modi. NSCN chairman Isak Chishi Swu and general secretary Th. Muivah had signed on behalf of the outfit.
On June 16, Ravi highlighted the “grim law and order” situation in a letter to the state government and said “armed gangs” were running a parallel government. On July 7, the chief secretary, apparently on Ravi’s directive, issued an order to profile government employees.
The NSCN said this was a “divisive game” to dismantle the foundation of the Framework Agreement, creating a “trust deficit.”
“The way forward… is now faced with deep ambivalence. But Government of India must undo the environment of mistrust being built over the time.… What has been mutually agreed upon should be honoured in letter and spirit and that is the only way forward,” the statement said.
The Opposition Naga People’s Front, too, on Sunday pitched for an honourable solution to the Naga political issue saying it would be in the interest of the entire Northeast.
The NPF urged Ravi to put the Naga political issue in its right perspective as Naga people had pinned their hopes on him for “delivering an honourable solution” to the Naga political issue as a signatory to the Framework Agreement.
It also urged the Neiphiu Rio-led state government to review its decision of profiling government servants vis-à-vis their link with underground organisations as the exercise will trigger social unrest and ultimately jeopardize the hard-earned peace process.
The leader of the Opposition and NPF Legislature Party leader, T.R. Zeliang, had on Saturday moved the governor, seeking his intervention to extend the one-day August 13 Assembly session to three days to discuss the Naga political issue, among others.
Zeliang said after after 23 years of political dialogue, the Naga political issue has entered a “crucial stage” and the stakeholders, particularly the Nagaland Assembly, need to generate space for deliberation.
