Guwahati, April 22: The NSCN’s Khaplang faction has called upon the Naga National Council to play a more active role in the search for a solution to the Naga political impasse, questioning the rival Isak-Muivah faction’s “killing” of several NNC members for surrendering to the Union government.
The Khaplang faction has drawn a parallel between Isak and Muivah’s acceptance of Indian passports and the NNC’s acceptance of the Indian Constitution with the Shillong Accord of 1975.
The outfit’s “ministry of information and publicity”, in a statement, claimed that the NSCN (I-M) had no “credibility” to broker a solution as its leadership had effectively accepted “Indian citizenship” by accepting the passports.
“It makes no difference with the NNC accepting to live under the Indian Constitution and Isak and Muivah agreeing to accept Indian nationality,” the statement read.
It asked the NSCN (I-M) to clarify why it killed so many Nagas, including Khaplang and NNC cadres, for accepting Indian nationality.
The NSCN (K) has once again accused its rival faction of “betraying” the Naga cause by being “too accommodating”. It also asked the NSCN (I-M) to clarify the “terms of negotiations” of the ongoing dialogue with the Centre before fresh “proceedings”.
The Khaplang outfit said that its rival group had no right to “surrender” arms it had brought with the “sweat and blood” of the Nagas. “They have no right to surrender them even if as an organisation they want to surrender to India,” the statement said. The outfit also attacked the NSCN (I-M) general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah and the Tangkhul Nagas of Manipur, saying the Tangkhuls never wanted to be one with Naga society.
The Khaplang faction also asked former Manipur chief minister Rishang Keishing, a Tangkhul Naga, to clarify whether the Tangkhuls had ever betrayed and rejected the Naga identity.
It also accused Keishing of opposing the concept of Naga integrity while in power.