IMPHAL, April 14: Reacting to certain news reports published on responses from the UCM and the AMUCO on the supposed options that are emerging in the Indo-Naga dialogue to find an honourable settlement to the Naga issue, the UNC has stated that while it is matter of inherent historical rights for the Nagas to live together as a people, for the dominant community it is their economic and political interest that Nagas should not have political empowerment to be able to decide their own future.
It has further retaliated, “Our histories were different. The hills were never a part of the Meitei Kingdom or its magnificent history. Nagas and tribal live in their own land. And Nagas and tribals alone must decide their destinies, which cannot not be conditioned and subjected to the interest and convenience of the dominant community of the valley”.
“The Indo-Naga dialogue is between the NSCN and the Government of India as two entities. The talk is in place because the legitimacy of the Naga movement has been recognised. Manipur is a state under the Constitution of India. But the parochialism and chauvinism of the dominant community as reflected in the recent statements emanating from the valley has given rise to the demand for alternative arrangements outside the communal government of Manipur by different tribal communities even as far back as 1948”.
It has further stated “AMUCO and UCM rightly uses Manipur, which is without the Nagas and tribals in the hills. Their concern for Manipur’s (Imphal valley) territorial integrity is rightly placed.
