NSCN-IM leaders remain undeterred even after Governor Ravi rejects separate constitution & flag

KOHIMA: Hours after the Nagaland Governor and Government of Indias chief negotiator for the Naga peace talks, R.N. Ravi, rejected the demand of separate flag and constitution for the state, the NSCN-IM on Tuesday told Ravi that "it is undeterred by his threat".

The National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM) said that the Governor's statement reminds the Naga people once again of how under the leadership of A.Z. Phizo people launched the war of resistance of the Nagas against the Indian colonialists, manipulated by the Intelligence Bureau officials who roped in some of the treacherous Naga individuals, mostly Indian government employees, that formed a superfluous body called the Naga People's Convention (NPC).

"The NPC came out of nowhere and signed the 16-point agreement where the Naga solution was hijacked and a state under the Indian Constitution was accepted giving a foothold to the Indian government to claim that the Nagas were part of India.

"This was nothing less than a calculated plan of the Indian government and back stabbing the leadership of A.Z. Phizo and the Naga National Movement through NPC thus, the untold sufferings of the Nagas, loss of lives, properties and dignity have been reduced to nothingness," the statement by NSCN-IM said.

It said that Phizo and the Naga nationalists and the entire Naga people instantly condemned and rejected the NPC and the 16-point agreement.

Phizo (1913–1990) was a Naga nationalist leader who had stayed in London and influenced to form the Naga National Council activating the right to self-determination which took the shape of armed resistance before the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in 1958 was imposed.

The NSCN-IM said that this is the same Ravi who was a signatory to the 2015 "Framework Agreement" signed between the Government of India and the NSCN representing the Naga people and also signed with the 7 NNPGs (Naga National Political Groups) in 2017 and while the Government of India and the Naga people are fully committed to resolve the issue through peaceful means, which is at its concluding stage, ex-IB official Ravi is planning to hijack the more than seven decades of war and 23 years of peace talks in the same style of the NPC.

"He (Ravi) is attempting to murder the future of the Nagas and the vital national interest of India. Nagas must wake up and should not allow us to be fooled twice with the same trick," said the statement issued to the media by the information and publicity wing of NSCN-IM.

On the occasion of the 58th Statehood Day of Nagaland on Tuesday, rejecting the demand for a separate flag and constitution for Nagaland as demanded by the NSCN-IM, Ravi said, "The Indian national flag and the Constitution are the pride of the people of India.

"The government is absolutely clear that there is and there shall be only one national flag and constitution in India. Anyone talking anything contrary is peddling preposterous lies. They are trying to confuse and mislead the people." (IANS)

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