NSCN-IM chairman Q Tuccu said that it will always stick to the Framework Agreement and abide by it and said that the historic Framework Agreement was officially signed between the Government of India and the NSCN on August 3, 2015 after a series of negotiations for eighteen years.
Tuccu made the remark while delivering a speech in the Winter Parliament session of NSCN-IM on Tuesday.
“This Framework Agreement is the meeting point for the Indians and the Nagas. This Framework Agreement is based on ‘equality and mutual respect’ and the recognized unique history of the Nagas. This is the Magna Carta of new relationship of the two people,” stated the NSCN-IM chairman.
Tuccu said that every kingdom or state is the product of a decision of people. He also said that freedom to decide the future of a people by themselves is their inherent right.
“We cannot imagine a government of the people without freedom to run it according to their sweet will and decision”, the NSCN-IM chairman said.
“In keeping with the spirit and letter of the Framework Agreement it is reiterated in the competencies stating, ‘In matters of her own affairs as mutually agreed upon, Nagaland shall be sovereign’”, the NSCN-IM leader added.
Tuccu said that Naga politics is about sovereign power that makes and unmakes things and makes and unmakes laws. He also said that it is about sovereign power that will develop the Nagas “materially, mentally and spiritually; it is about rebuilding psychology of the Nagas—young and old, male and female damaged by the bloody war; it is about rebuilding and reconnecting the damaged relationship with our neighbours; it is about building a new relationship with the Indian and Burmese people for a lasting harmonious and peaceful co-existence as unique entities”. And above all, according to the NSCN-IM chairman, it is about rebuilding the broken faith of the Nagas through the church.
Tuccu continued that the Naga people have been looking for their long-cherished solution, a solution that protects their sovereign right, their future, their history, their territory, their identity, their culture, their religion and their state.
“But they are strongly opposed to any kind of military solution or solution through coercion,” he said.
Tuccu further said that the Naga people have rejected the past accords imposed on them. “Definitely, they are for the solution that is arrived at through mutual agreement. Therefore, imposed solution or solution with an unmandated group of people who don’t represent the issue of the Nagas is not acceptable to the Naga people,” the NSCN-IM leader added.
He then raised numerous questions - “Why early solution is being delayed? Is it because of Naga factor or Indian factor? I can say the ball is in the court of the Government of India. But why the hearts of the Indian leaders are hardened? Is it because of the wrong perspective of the Indian leaders on Naga issue or sin of broken faith of the Nagas?”
The NSCN-IM leader further said that early solution or delayed solution is not the point, but issue based solution is the point that matters. He further said that the past accords could not bring solution because they were not issue-based solutions.
Tuccu added that the Naga people have reason to give thanks to the Indian Prime Ministers---PV Narasimha Rao, I K Gujral, Deve Gowda, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, LK Advani, Dr Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi and the Naga leaders--Isak Chishi Swu and Th Muivah, who have laid down the foundation for solution to the Indo-Naga political problem.
He said that this Framework Agreement is the end result of their committed efforts. "I believe solution is not far off if it is worked out in keeping with the spirit and letter of the officially agreed Framework Agreement,” Tuccu further added.
Earlier, Tuccu paid homage to those “martyrs” for the cause of ‘Nagalim for Christ’. According to the NSCN-IM leader, they were martyred, not killed. He added that martyrs are seeds that germinate and bear fruits a hundredfold.
The NSCN-IM chairman then gave a “revolutionary salute” to all the members of the organization “who have been in the forefront of the resistance movement with full conviction and faith for decades. Tuccu then said, “History knows how NSCN members faced turbulent storms of the enemies’ aggression and survived from them by His grace”.
“Indeed, NSCN is a proven Naga national organization," he added.
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