DIMAPUR: The NSCN-IM, while expressing its concern over the factional fights between the NSCN-YA and the NSCN-AM, said that “the inherent policy of India and Myanmar is to create as many as factions in the name of Naga political movement and make them vulnerable to be used to prevent them from mounting a serious challenge to the government forces”.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the NSCN-IM said factionalism in essence serves as a “perverse incentive” to the “Naga political groups” for fighting among themselves.
“What is the painful reality is that the sensationalism out of factional fighting created a shift of Naga public focus away from the main issue”, the statement said, adding, “This way, India and Myanmar’s favorite divisive strategy found strength as they were able to create internal fissure among the Naga political groups”.
The statement then said this is nothing new to the “Naga political groups” but lessons are never ever learnt from this killing policy of India and Myanmar.
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The NSCN-IM also said India and Myanmar will go to any extent to prevent the Naga from presenting a united front against India and Myanmar and therefore eroding their unity and collective strength. “Time to wake up lest the Naga history questions us”, it added.
The NSCN-IM then reminded that it is time for the “Naga political groups” to stop the politics of factional fight and vendetta. It also stated that this kind of miserable politics “which is deeply unethical, corrupt and violent methods give us nothing good in return”. This type of conflict often prioritizes personal gain over the public good, the NSCN-IM also said. “It is all about assassination of political rivals and bloody clashes, betrayal and smear campaigns to out-do each other”, it added.
The statement of the NSCN-IM then said, “Let us listen to the voice of the people as NSCN groups irrespective of affiliation represent the truth of Naga political movement”. It added by saying, “We should not prove ourselves wrong lest we are condemned by history”.
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The statement also said the Naga political movement is a people’s based movement. “This is the reason why we have sustained our movement for all these years, getting the people’s support and encouragement in defence of our God given Naga nation whose dignity and honour has been violated by the aggressor”, it stated.
According to the NSCN-IM, the Naga Army made the supreme sacrifice to save the honour of the Naga nation keeping the political movement alive without surrendering to the pressure of the government of India and Myanmar. “We are proud of our Naga Army’s history of supreme sacrifice”.
Ironically, the voice of the Naga people is getting lost in the melee of factional fighting, it said. The NSCN-IM then warned that this is a dangerous symptom of people’s exasperating problem in dealing with the Naga political movement where the voice of the Nagas are getting lost in the wilderness of fragmented national political groups under the “obsessive” nomenclature of NSCN.
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In this critical scenario of factional clashes least connected with the principles of Naga political aspirations, it is heartening to note the assertive statement emanating from the Lahe-based Naga Student’s Organization (NSO) expressing their concern and desperation over the unforgiving attack and counter-attacks between the NSCN-YA and NSCN-AM, said the NSCN-IM statement. “Such initiative is what we called ‘urgent voice’ of the Naga people to save the situation that is only going in the interest of the aggressor governments who are going through sleepless nights trying to plant seeds of division among the Naga political groups”, it added.