IMPHAL, Feb 12: The United Naga Council (UNC) has condemned the Congress Legislature Party’s decision to urge the Central Government to declare them as an unlawful organisation.
Speaking to media persons at Senapati this afternoon, UNC advisor Paul Leo said that their agitation is not directed against any community. It is rather disheartening that the CLP attempted to project the Nagas as outlaws.
The UNC is not a village level organisation. The UNC represents 16 Naga tribes and the Naga hill ranges and it is working for the people of Manipur, Paul Leo claimed. It was a wrong step on the part of the State Government to send a letter to the Central Government seeking declaration of such an organisation as unlawful, he remarked.
The Government signed four MoUs with Naga groups in 1981, 1992, 1996 and 1998 regarding creation of new districts. Moreover, the Central Government gave a written assurance in 2012 stating that the State Government would be asked to consult all stake holders before creating any new district.
The State Government by creating seven new districts on December 8 last year put everything in complete disorder. The State Government completely overlooked the understanding to consult Naga people before creating new districts and this would not bring any good result, he added.
The UNC would hold a meeting in the next couple of days and take a decision, Paul Leo said.
If any untoward incident breaks out, the State Government should be held accountable, he added.
UNC general secretary S Milan accused Chief Minister O Ibobi of trying to project the UNC as the offender. The Chief Minister has been blaming the UNC for the suffering of the people of Manipur but the UNC’s agitation is not directed against any community, Milan said. Creation of new districts without consulting stake holders or obtaining prior informed consent is not acceptable. The UNC is not an antagonist of the people of Manipur.
“Naga’s lands are well established and it is our right to protect them. The way the CLP meeting humiliated us despite knowing fully well that the ongoing movement is a political one is intolerable”, Milan asserted.
After taking recourse to physical and legal aid, the State Government is now seeking political aid, he decried. The attempt to declare UNC as an unlawful organisation is akin to treating all 16 Naga tribes as outlaws, decried Naga Women Union general secretary Asha Wungam.
She went on to claim that all Naga people recorded in the country’s census reports are members of the UNC.
Blockade is not an objective of the Naga people. They have been only supporting the UNC’s objection to creation of new districts.
ANSAM president Seth Shatshang said that they had no inclination to impose blockades but they were compelled to take recourse to such forms of agitation after the State Government failed to listen to democratic forms of agitation.
“We know that the State Government has an intention to declare us as an unlawful organisation but we would not accept it if only the executive members are declared as outlaws. If the UNC should be declared as an unlawful organisation, all the Naga people should be declared as outlaws because it is not a body of the executive bodies alone”, Seth Shatshang added.
Source: The Sangai Express
