Naga groups commit to hold dialogue for overcoming political disagreements

The NSCN-IM and Working Committee of Naga National Political Groups committed to hold dialogues in order to move forward and live in peace by overcoming the distrust and disagreements between them

The NSCN-IM and Working Committee of Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs) on Wednesday committed to hold dialogues in order to move forward and live in peace by overcoming the distrust and disagreements between them on the Naga political issue.

The two groups also resolved to guard themselves against rifts.

The assertion was made as part of the September Joint Accordant' signed by member of the Collective Leadership of NSCN-IM, V S Atem and the coordinator of Working Committee of NNPG, Alezo Venuh during a meet facilitated by the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR) here.

They also agreed to honour the 'Covenant of Reconciliation' (CoR) of June 13, 2009 signed by the late Isak Chishi Swu of NSCN(I-M), late S S Khaplang of the insuregnt group NSCN(K) and Brig (retired) S Singnya in "letter and spirit".

We are committed to holding dialogue in order to move forward, live in peace and overcome the cynicism, anxiety and disagreements that have caused us to see each other as foes and strangers, rather than members of the same family, the NSCN(IM) and NNPG asserted.

They agreed to work together in the spirit of love with Naga political groups and the general people, desist from all forms of violence and refrain from indulging in "violence of words" through print and social media among Naga Political Groups and the general public.

Accepting their differences, the two groups said We are committed to finding ways to transcend our differences through cooperation, to be worked out in future meetings, on the basis of the CoR.

They also appealed to all individuals and organizations to refrain from all forms of rhetoric, assumptions and agendas that are divisive.

Such a culture must end immediately, they said adding churches, educational institutions, civil society organizations and conscientious individuals must take the charge to lead.

The Centre has been holding parallel peace parleys with NSCN-IM and the Working Committee of Naga National Political Groups (WC, NNPGs).

The talks with NSCN-IM started in 1997 following the signing of a ceasefire agreement. The Framework Agreement was signed by it and the Centre on August 3, 2015. Bu, the persistent demand of NSCN-IM for a separate flag and constitution has left the final solution elusive.

The WC NNPGs started separate negotiations in 2017 and signed the Agreed Position in November same year. It has expressed its willingness to go ahead with a solution with whatever is possible now and continue discussing the remaining issues.