The United Naga Council (UNC), the apex body of the Naga people living in strife-torn Manipur, on Wednesday took out massive rallies in four Naga-majority districts seeking the “translation” of the 2015 Framework Agreement signed between the Centre and the NSCN (IM) to end the decades-old Naga insurgency “into a political reality for enduring peace”.
The rallies were held in Senapati, Ukhrul, Chandel and Tamenglong districts with participants carrying banners that read `Naga flag, Constitution and integration are inalienable rights of the Naga people’ and placards that said ‘We demand immediate political solution’; ‘ No Solution No Rest’; ‘Peace and Harmony now’; `Do not buy time through talks’; ‘ If we must die, we will die for our land’ and ‘No to imposed solution’.
After the rally, the UNC submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi through the respective district deputy commissioners reminding him that the “signing of the Framework Agreement is well past eight years and we are aware that it has run into a stalemate on interpretation and accommodation of the principle issues of flag and constitution which has been envisaged and implied in the Framework Agreement” signed with the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN-IM).
The two-page memorandum urged the Centre to honour the FA in letter and spirit by “accepting the universal fact that sovereignty lies with people and by extension, the “Naga national flag and
Constitution must be an integral part of the shared sovereignty.”
The memorandum also said that the Naga people will not accept the disintegration of Naga land or any act that will adversely affect the interest of the Naga people while attempting to address the demands of any other community.
“We can only state that such misadventures will have serious ramifications that will provoke further senseless violence with different communities. However, we wish to make it clear that any other community living in Naga ancestral homeland will not be left out of the final settlement in consonance with the mutually agreed competencies,” the memorandum said.
Signed by the topbrass of the UNC, All Naga Students’ Association, Manipur, Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights (South) and Naga
Women’s Union, the memorandum concluded by requesting the “Centre to create a vital space for the final settlement of the Indio-Naga political issue with a sense of high urgency”.
The UNC’s assertion of the UNC against the disintegration of Naga ancestral land assumes significance because the ongoing conflict between the Meiteis and Kukis in Manipur has seen the Kuki-Zo communities pushing for separate administration from Manipur as they no longer feel secure in the Meitei-majority valley districts.
