Dimapur, Feb. 10: Sidelined for years after a faction of the Naga National Council signed the Shillong Accord in 1975, the oldest Naga underground organisation is trying to reinvent itself as a force to reckon with.
It is spearheading a movement to achieve reconciliation among Naga underground and overground groups. To achieve this end, the NNC is holding a pan-Naga meet at Wokha on February 18.
The NNC today made it mandatory for all its activists and leaders of regional authorities to attend the General Meeting on Reconciliation at Wokha (NNC?s Lotha region). It said the meeting would be held in the best interests of ?the Naga nation?.
NNC vice-president M. Kiumukam Yimchungru said the council has been working in the right direction for the larger interest of the Nagas and the Naga national workers in particular.
?The need of the hour is reconciliation and, therefore, all should participate in the meet. It will help the peace process and our political goal,? said Yimchungru.
But observers here are not certain that the NNC meet would elicit a positive response. Several Naga NGOs are silent on whether they would attend the meet or not.
The NNC can expect widespread participation from Phek district and, to a lesser degree, from Tuensang, Mokokchung and Wokha districts. But the Nagas from Naga-dominated areas in Manipur have not responded to its call yet.