UKHRUL: The National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) has expressed concern about the loss of innocent lives in Southern Nagaland (United Naga Council) and has urged a concerted effort to protect their people and lands.
In a press statement, the NSCN stated that it is both disheartening and alarming to see or hear about the loss of innocent lives in southern Nagaland (UNC). “Hues and cries of condemnation alone are not enough, but the need of the hour is our concerted effort to thwart and defend our people and lands from inimical forces who are in cahoots with foreign occupiers,” it stated.
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The NSCN stated that, despite the foreign occupiers believing that it is their long-term hidden agenda, it is an open secret that the Kukis have traditionally been used by foreign occupiers to water down/undermine the Sovereign Naga rights. “The foreign occupiers, having lost their stranglehold against the Nagas on all moral/political grounds, have now resorted to proxy war by trying to relegate the political issue to a communal, law and order problem to undermine/downplay our sovereign rights. Nagas should not be swayed away from our sovereign rights by these diversionary tactics and distractions deployed by our foes; we should stand firm on our commitment towards our ultimate goal,” it said.
It further added, “The mindset of the white man’s burden has now become the brown man’s burden; History is a testament to how wrong this attitude turned out to be. Both conflicting communities should seriously analyse whether we are playing ourselves into the hands of the Neo-colonial forces occupying our lands.”
The NSCN also advises Kukis to remember that the relationship between them and their colonial masters has an expiry date, i.e., until they are needed to further the foreign occupier’s sinister agenda; lest they be abandoned as in the past by the British colonisers.
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“Our identity and culture are closely and inseparably tied to our lands. Therefore, Nagas should seriously ponder how our identity and Nation would be without our Lands. God destines that Nagas inhabit our lands, and therefore, it is our sacred duty to defend our people and lands with all means at our disposal,” it said.
Further, the NSCN also forewarned that the patience and silence of the Nagas must not be misconstrued as a sign of weakness or submission, and assured that any misadventure against them will have devastating consequences for their foes, whether it be foreign or neighbours. “We, the Naga, in the spirit as Christians desire good neighbourly relations with all, but clearly not at the expense of our identity and Nation,” it said.
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Moreover, it urges Nagas from all corners, be it South (UNC), Central, North, or East, to come together and concertedly chalk out a strategy to defend their people and lands in these turbulent times, leaving aside our petty differences. It also added that the NSCN/GPRN will always stand for their God-given sovereign rights and defend their people and lands as per the will of God.