Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio has said the protracted “Naga issue” involved the Naga people as a whole and was not restricted to the political groups or the State government.
An acceptable, permanent solution has eluded the Naga peace process since 1997, when the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) led by Isak Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah had declared a ceasefire with the Indian armed forces. Other factions joined the peace process later.
Addressing a biennial general conference of the Angami Students’ Union at Kisama near State capital Kohima on Saturday, Mr. Rio said the Naga political movement went through several phases for 92 years beginning with a memorandum to the Simon Commission in 1929 for safeguarding the rights of the Naga people.
“If the present generation cannot secure any form of solution under the Indian Constitution, then the upcoming generations would be left to seek solution. Most of the time Nagas failed to realise their own uniqueness even when others acknowledged it,” he said, urging the people to leave aside differences and work collectively for a final push towards attaining acceptable solution.
The Naga issue, he reminded, was not only for the “political groups” — the term used for extremist organisations in Nagaland — and the State government to deal with but also of all the Naga communities.
The peace process is believed to have stalled because of divergent stands of the Centre and the NSCN (IM) over a separate Naga flag and a separate Constitution.
Mr. Rio said the Centre had been holding discussions with legal and constitutional experts on the issue of a separate flag. “It is likely that a panel would be set up post-settlement (of the Naga issue) to work out the details of a separate Yehzabo (constitution),” he added.
The Chief Minister also said the State government was serious about the Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland (RIIN) and keen on coming out with a piece of legislation that would have no loopholes.
“After the implementation of RIIN, the village councils and tribal bodies would be empowered in order to safeguard the people from those outside the State,” he said.
