Ceasefire without territorial limits

Dimapur: With the standoff tension in Shiroi village between the AR and NSCN (IM) cadres mounting, the Naga Hoho today shot off a letter to the Union Home Minister demanding that the current ceasefire be made to “cover the entire world”. Relatively, the Home Ministry is urged to intervene immediately in the standoff which entered its twelfth day today.

In its representation addressed to Union Home minister P Chidambaram, the Naga Hoho told the Centre that the first ceasefire with the NNC broke down ‘due to the insincerity on the part of the GoI’. “The notion of GoI would be wrong in the context of ceasefire coverage if it covers only the present state of Nagaland and therefore the Naga Hoho put forward stiff resistance that hereinafter, the ceasefire must cover the entire world in letter and spirit”. The Naga Hoho, in reference to the Centre’s ceasefire with the NNC, said the Naga people this time “are not at all keen to lose the ongoing hard-earned peace process”.

On the Shiroi situation, the apex Naga tribal organization informed the minister that the NSCN (IM) cadres at Shiroi had been camping in the village “since few years back with mutual understanding of GoI as well as Indian armed forces”. Yet, the hoho stated, on January 19 at around 2:30 AM, troopers of the 17th Assam Rifles cordoned off the Naga underground activists’ camp and cut off electricity and water supply “to the camp”.

The hoho expressed anxiety that the “starving Naga army” may “create havoc out of desperation”, which will derail the Indo-Naga peace process. Further, the minister was informed of the Assam Rifles’ erecting barbed electrified wires around the NSCN (IM) camp. This is “akin to act of barbarism and sheer violation of basic Human Rights” the hoho said.

The Naga Hoho recounted more of the Shiroi situation to Chidambaram: “…innocent villagers are unable to go to fields, schools and have even postponed the traditional seed-sowing festival which was supposed to be held on 27th January, owing to fear psychosis that are looming in the minds of the villagers with the presence of hundreds of armed forces. Shiroi’s children have also been shifted to other villages as a precautionary measure, the hoho said.

The Naga Hoho stated: “…we have seen with our own naked eyes that all the womenfolk both in Shiroi and Ukhrul are on a sit-in protest in the chilly weather and praying throughout the day for prevention (of) any untoward armed conflict between the NSCN and Assam Rifles”. The Naga Hoho also termed as ‘unfortunate’, that “the location is such that there is no other passage for NSCN (IM) to move out from their camp unless the Assam Rifles pave the way for them based on the principles of ongoing ceasefire between the two entities”. In appeal, the Naga Hoho requested Chidambaram to handle the delicate political situation with utmost care and “bring down the volatility in to normalcy without further impediments”.

Source: THE MORUNG EXPRESS

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