SENAPATI, Aug 12: The All Naga Students’ Association, Manipur (ANSAM) said today that it will not cooperate with the 78th India’s Independence Day celebration in the jurisdiction of the student body as the latter was perturbed by the “sinister policy” of the Government of India and for delaying in resolving the Indo-Naga political issue and also for “attempting to backtrack from the Framework Agreement signed on August 3, 2015”.
In a statement, the Naga student body said the “historic Framework Agreement officially recognised the unique history and situations of Nagas, revealing Nagas are free people who have never been a part of India and Mayanmar (erstwhile Burma) either by conquest or consent”. The ANSAM also said, “It also agreed upon to respect each other’s sovereign rights and power as two entities as defined in the competencies”. This 27 years of Indo-Naga political negotiation merits a logical solution recognising the Naga flag, constitution and integration as an inalienable rights of the Nagas, the ANSAM added.
The Naga student body then alleged that the blatant betrayal and diabolical policies and provocations against Nagas on the part of the Government of India negating the spirit of the bilateral agreements is a matter of great concern for the Naga students and Naga people in general. As such, the ANSAM questioned the political commitment and sincerity of the Government of India in resolving “the longest political conflict in Southeast Asia”.
The ANSAM then mentioned that it is a historical fact that the Nagas in the “Naga Hills” formally declared their independence on August 14, 1947 from British rule, one day before India’s Independence Day. “However, the Government of India forceful occupation to subjugate and exploit the Naga people has been continuing till today by employing divide and rule policy with deception and betrayal with the imposed arbitrary (imaginary) political boundaries across the Naga homeland,” the ANSAM added.
Given these historical facts and the stated reasons, the Nagas see no valid reason to participate in the India Independence Day Celebration, it said. Therefore, the ANSAM called upon its units to extend non-cooperation towards the 78th India’s Independence Day celebration in Naga areas to express “our strong resentment against the continued disregard to our political rights and lack of commitment in the negotiating table”. (NNN)
