Kohima, February 10 The Working Committee (WC) of the Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs) on Tuesday said that the FNTA agreement has rekindled hope in eastern Nagaland, but emphasized that a comprehensive political settlement covering the entire Naga ancestral homeland remains pending.
The Centre signed an agreement with the Nagaland government and the Eastern Nagaland Peoples’ Organisation on February 5 to form the ‘Frontier Nagaland Territorial Authority’ (FNTA), a long-standing demand for a new administrative body within the state aimed at addressing the demands of eastern Nagaland.
In a statement, the WC-NNPGs said the agreement represents a “timely correction of historical injustice” suffered by the people of eastern Nagaland and reflects the supremacy of the people’s will.
It stated that the new arrangement must realign and recalibrate long-neglected administrative and economic gaps, adding that it is the responsibility of the Eastern Nagas to establish an “ingenious, independent and transparent mechanism” to ensure that the agreement translates into tangible transformation on the ground.
While acknowledging the FNTA announcement, the WC reminded the signatories that there remains a larger unresolved Indo-Naga political issue encompassing the entire Naga ancestral homeland.
The NNPGs, composed of seven Naga groups, inked the Agreed Position with the Centre on November 17, 2017.
It reiterated that the negotiations with the Nagas officially concluded on October 31, 2019, and that clear negotiated charters are already before the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
The statement said the “Status Paper” is inclusive of Nagas of Nagaland, Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, and asserted that New Delhi and Kohima are on the same page.
It added that if the Nagaland government has a separate agenda with Centre or seeks a new interlocutor, “that is a different matter”.
Reiterating its position as a negotiating entity, WC-NNPGs said the talks have formally concluded, and all core political matters have been thoroughly deliberated. It maintained that any attempt to downgrade the “Agreed Position” is “inconceivable”, asserting that the Naga people have moved beyond the interlocutory phase.
“All eyes are now on the Indian political leadership to move to the final phase — announcement and signing of the Political Agreement in consonance with the negotiated and agreed terms,” the statement said, adding that this is the only rational and practical path towards enduring peaceful coexistence.
To bring about a solution for the decades-old Naga political problem, the central government inked the Framework Agreement with NSCN(IM) in 2015 and a pact of Agreed Position with WC-NNPGs two years later.
The framework agreement came after over 80 rounds of negotiations spanning 18 years, with the first breakthrough in 1997 when the ceasefire agreement was sealed after decades of insurgency in Nagaland which started soon after Independence in 1947.
However, the Centre has not accepted NSCN-IM’s persistent demand for a separate flag and constitution for the Nagas, which has led to prolonged negotiations.
Subsequently, the government entered into parallel negotiations with the WC-NNPGs in 2017, and inked the Agreed Position on November 17 of the same year.