KOHIMA: A day before Independence Day, the 77th Naga Independence Day was celebrated at the headquarters camp of National Socialist Council of Nagalim – Isak Muivah (NSCN-IM) at Hrebron, a town located 30 km from Dimapur.
Speaking at the event, general secretary of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim -Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM), Thuingaleng Muivah underscored the inseparability of the Nagas’ sovereignty from the contentious issues of a separate flag and constitution.
“It is a universally accepted truth that flag and constitution are constituent parts of sovereignty. There is no ambiguity about it,” the local press quoted Muivah as saying.
Reiterating that Nagas have all the right to build their nation state, the NSCN-IM general secretary, in his elaborate address, claimed that the Indian leaders understand the demand for the separate flag and constitution and “they must take the stand to speak the truth”. He also stressed that the demand for a Naga nation state shouldn’t be seen as regression on others’ rights as “…Nagas are not begging for land from others”.
Heaping praise on the “visionary leaders” of the past who had rejected the Union of India and Burma’s offers of integration and declared Naga Independence Day on August 14, 1947, he said that this historic decision, made on the eve of British colonial departure from India, imparted new significance to the Naga national identity and secured the Nagas’ future.
He also called for the defense of the achievements garnered through the Framework Agreement signed on August 3, 2015, by Muivah and Indian government interlocutor R N Ravi, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This pact forged against the backdrop of a decades-long insurgency in Nagaland, which had commenced shortly after India’s Independence in 1947.
Muivah also noted the Indian government’s recognition of the legitimate right of the Nagas concerning the integration of Naga territories.
