Dimapur, April 16: Amid series of raids and arrests in the houses of senior NSCN-IM officials carried out by the security forces in ‘Nagalim’, the Naga outfit today tells the government of India that if it (New Delhi) wants to call off the cease-fire, it must politely tell the NSCN-IM in an unambiguous voice instead of playing hypocrisies.
Senior kilonser (minister) of the NSCN-IM in-charge of the outfit’s ministry of information and publicity A.Z Jami in a statement said, “The main purpose of the cease-fire between the Government of India and the National Socialist council of Nagalim (NSCN) is to facilitate for a purposeful political dialogue between the two entities to bring an amicable settlement of the decades long conflict between India and the Nagas.”
Reacting to all these incidents, senior NSCN-IM leader A.Z Jami said the much provocative actions of the Indian Army and paramilitary forces and vitiating the peaceful atmosphere in Nagalim is a serious concern for the NSCN as well as the Naga populace.
If the government of India wants to maintain cease-
fire, it must respect the hard earned cease-fire. Much harm has already been done to the NSCN under the shadow of the cease-fire. We want the government of India and its machinery to respect the cease-fire whole heartedly”.
A.Z Jami said the NSCN’s serious concern is towards a sincere and meaningful political dialogue rather than interpretations of the cease-fire ground rules. “If an amicable political settlement is arrived at, then it is the fulfillment of the cease-fire ground rules. But if the political dialogue breaks down what is the use of the cease-fire ground rules? So let us not focus much on the cease-fire ground rules but rather focus on the political talks”, he added.
The NSCN-IM leader then stated that when it considers the present escalated operations of the Indian Army and para military forces in the form of unabated checking and frisking and also house raids throughout “Nagalim”, they are very much skeptical whether cease-fire actually exists between the government of India and the NSCN. He added that the NSCN-IM also doubts the sincerity of the Indian Government.
“If we want to talk about the terms of the ceasefire here, then the preamble or preface of the cease-fire ground rules agreed upon on the 12th December, 1997 runs thus, “The cease-fire with a view to ensuring continuance of an effective cease-fire to pave way for a peaceful and meaningful political dialogue…”, it stated. A.Z Jami said the preamble of the revised cease-fire ground rules finalized in January, 2001 states, “with a view to make the cease-fire more effective and to create a proper and conducive atmosphere for a peaceful and meaningful political dialogue”. From all these statements the cease-fire was and is focused on political dialogue and settlement. But the way the Indian army and paramilitary forces are acting at present is quite contradictory and provocative, Jami said.
“The first clause of the ground rules runs thus, ‘there would be no offensive operations like ambush, raid and attack leading to death/injury/damage or loss of property against the NSCN by the Indian army, paramilitary forces and the police’. But the wonder is what the Indian army and paramilitary forces are doing at present. Attacks, raids and making arrests against the NSCN cadres are daily occurrence.
It urged Indian government machinery not to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere in Nagalim and give due respect to the existing cease-fire, and maintain code of conduct of ceasefire,”.
Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/call-off-cease-fire-politely-nscn/
