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NSCN (IM) chairman for negotiated settlement of Naga issue

By The Assam Tribune

Correspondent

DIMAPUR, March 21: NSCN (IM) chairman Q Tuccu today said they believe that the Indo-Naga political problem can be settled through political talks.

“We strongly believe that the Indians and the Nagas can walk together, work together, live together and fight together through agreement both in the time of peace and war,” Tuccu said in his 42nd Naga Republic Day speech.

Stating that they do not believe in the philosophy of stopping war with war, he pointed out that all wars in history and all human problems were settled with the politics of negotiation and agreement.

The NSCN (IM) said it understood the fact that the Indo-Naga political solution would not come from the east or the west, but it would come only from bilateral talks between the Nagas and Indian leaders.

Tuccu also stated that the Nagas are highly political, issue-based and principle-based people who can never be lured and purchased with money or promises.

Asking the Government of India not to repeat the wrong colonial ‘carrot and stick policy’, he said that colonialism is a thing of the past already condemned by the world today.

He said the Indian leaders admitted that the so-called 16-Point Agreement and the Shillong Accord did not solve the Naga problem, and therefore the Government of India invited the NSCN leadership to have political dialogue with them for a lasting political solution.

“But we can assuredly say any agreement that is not based on the issue is no solution at all,” he stated.

Tuccu said he believed that the Indian leaders of today will not commit the mistakes of the past. As for the Nagas, they will survive if they hold fast to the issue but will perish if they drop it, he added.

He reiterated that after a series of talks, the Government of India proposed the Framework Agreement as a formula for a win-win solution.

Tuccu stated that the Framework Agreement is the meeting point of the two sovereign peoples.

“Sensible Nagas understand that this is one of the options where the Indians and the Nagas can come closer to each other because it serves the purposes of both the parties,” he said.

“It would be a great loss for them if they would betray the Framework Agreement. But as for the Nagas, we will adhere to the Framework Agreement,” Tuccu asserted.

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