KHUZA (Phek district) Jan 20 ? Will it bring the ultimate solution or will it usher in another period of bloodshed? While cautioning the Naga people not to expect an instant solution to the Naga political struggle, Nagaland Chief Minister SC Jamir cast a shadow of apprehension over the peace talks between the Government of India and the top brass of NSCN-IM. ?The Congress party shall be a bridge between the Government of India and the Naga people and if all factions of the underground unite and bring about a settlement better than the 16-point Agreement, we are ready to step down so as to enable smooth transition to the new political arrangement?, Jamir declared. ?But that settlement should be honourable and acceptable to all Naga people. There should not be another Shillong Accord because that would bring about more bloodshed.?
Claiming that his party always had been engaged in providing the Nagas the best scope, the NPCC president categorically stated that his party always believed in solving the Naga problem peacefully and democratically. ?Is it not the Congress Prime-Minister Narasimha Rao who first recognized the Naga problem. Is it not the Congress which made the Naga problem a national issue?? The Congress party believes that the Naga political problem can be solved only through peaceful and political negotiations?, he said while stressing, ?it is our firm conviction that to decide the future of the Nagas, all sections of the Naga people should be involved directly in the process?.
Jamir also welcomed the NSCN (IM) leaders to India and expressed the hope that their talks with the Government of India would be based on substantive issues. The chief minister was addressing a public gathering at the inaugural function of the Khuza EAC Hq, about 18 kilometres from Phek Town, here recently.
Taking up the controversial issue of the booklet Bedrock of Naga Society, which had whipped up a storm in his regime, Jamir said it was unfortunate that his political detractors are still harping over the booklet even after more than two years. ?Our intention was to strengthen the hands of those negotiating with the Government of India with facts and history of the Naga people,? he said. He went on to add that the booklet merely asked pertinent questions such as if the Nagas belonged to an independent nation since time immemorial, and if so, what the name of the nation was, its currency, the form of Government, boundaries, capital or official language were.
Stating these issues as the most basic questions a Naga would ask his own brethren from a different village, the chief minister retorted that his political opponents are criticizing this booklet because they have no other thing about the Congress party. Jamir also expressed surprise that some of his former cabinet colleagues find the booklet more condemnable after September 2002 and especially when elections are round the corner.
Defending the Congress party?s stand on the 16-point Agreement, Jamir said, ?In 1960 Statehood was the best political framework available to the Naga people.? He also went on to comment that today there are two groups of people in Nagaland ? one group, which thinks, dreams and criticizes while the other is practical and pragmatic ? and asked the people to which group they belong. ?As ruling party we have no time to criticise others because we are fully engaged in human, economic, political and social development for the people. And we want to carry on the unfinished task for the next five years,? he asserted sending a signal of confidence of his party?s confirmed victory in the forthcoming polls.