Nagas of Nagaland : Drawing the divide: Stand of NNPGs
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: October 09 2019 -

How representative is the NNPGs of the Nagas of Nagaland or rather the Naga issue at hand ?

This question is important in the face of the fact that convenor of the Working Committee of the NNPGs N Kitovi Zhimomi has gone on record to state that there is no problem between the Nagas of Nagaland and the Government of India.

A final solution to the ongoing political negotiations with the Government of India is the key to this observation.

In other words the NNPGs, presumably representing the Nagas of Nagaland, has no issue in signing the final pact with the Government of India, leaving the NSCN (IM) aside.

This is an interesting development and perhaps this is the first time that a leader engaged in the political negotiations with the Government of India has deemed it fit to come out with a classification such as the Nagas of Nagaland.

In other words, Kitovi may well mean that while the Naga people in the neighbouring States of Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh may have differences with the Government of India in signing the final pact, the Nagas of Nagaland have no such misgivings.

In a way, Kitovi has delivered an important point that he or rather the NNPGs sees a difference between the people of Nagaland the Nagas of Manipur and the other neighbouring States in the North East region.

An observation which may well kick up a series of rebuttals and one can definitely expect to see some retort from the NSCN (IM).

The observation of Kitovi too would not have missed the attention of the numerous civil society organisations of Manipur which have been concentrating its attention on the peace process and sticking to the line that any final solution should concern Nagaland and not affect the neighbouring States.

Does this then mean that the Nagas of Nagaland and the Nagas of the neighbouring States have different expectations from the ongoing political dialogue ?

And how representative is the IM group of the Nagas of the States neighbouring Nagaland ?

The important question is how India sees the NNPGs and the NSCN (IM) ?

All indications that though the guns have gone silent and the different Naga armed groups are not exactly targeting each other, there is still a bone of contention amongst them.

Can the Naga issue be seen in isolation of the issues concerning the Nagas of the States neighbouring Nagaland is also a question that comes to mind and how well will such a stand go down with the Nagas of Nagaland ?

This is an important question and hence the opening question of how well Kitovi is accepted as a leader by the Nagas or people of Nagaland.

That the question of Nagas of Nagaland and Nagas of the neighbouring States should raise its head at this stage when the peace talk is reportedly at its final stage may be seen to mean that not all have been successfully taken together along with the political negotiations with the Government of India.

How will the NSCN (IM) respond to the observation of Kitovi is a question that may be answered in the coming days, but it is important to note that not everything seems to be right within the Naga community and this is something which would not have missed the eyes of the Government of India.