<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Naga Hoho (NH) and the Global Naga Forum (GNF) have criticised the Centre’s decision to extend the “disturbed area” tag in Nagaland under Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958.<\/p>\n
NH: While expressing its anguish over the failure of the Government of India (GoI) to lift AFSPA from Naga areas despite repeated appeals by several Naga civil society groups and human rights activists, Naga Hoho accused successive governments in Delhi of remaining a mute spectator on the matter. <\/p>\n
NH asserted that there was no space for such draconian laws in the largest democratic country. It said Nagas’ struggle for self-determination could not be equated with “terrorism” or “secessionism” as GoI had recognised the uniqueness of Naga political history and the universal principle that sovereignty lay with the people in a democracy. <\/p>\n
It further said both Centre and Naga people had agreed to a settlement by respecting the wishes of the people sharing sovereign power and to establish a new relationship for an enduring and lasting relationship between the two sides. It said leaders from India must know that the Indian armed forces had been terrorising Naga people for more than six decades. <\/p>\n
Mentioning that children and students were no exception in the eye of Indian Army, the hoho alleged that school-going students were mercilessly shot dead and innocent students and public tortured by Assam Rifles. <\/p>\n
The hoho said it strongly felt that there was peaceful atmosphere in Naga areas as of now and any policy that harmed the atmosphere of trust and confidence should be avoided. It, therefore, demanded that AFSPA must be summarily repealed from “our” land.<\/p>\n
NH also urged GoI to make its position clear on Indo-Naga political issue instead of “orchestrating its devilish policies against the Naga people”.<\/p>\n
GNF: Meanwhile, terming it an affront to modern civilised nations and rule of law, GNF too expressed concern over the latest extension of AFSPA in Nagaland by the Centre.<\/p>\n
According to the forum, the Act was not only anti-democratic, but overrode the legal recourse of the people of Nagaland for human rights violations by Indian Army and invested on military personnel and the State governor with extra-judicial powers. It alleged that the Army and governor were above the laws of land under AFSPA,<\/p>\n
Terming AFSPA as modern Indian version of the most extreme repressive tool from the colonial era, GNF said it was a shameful stain on post-colonial India and hence demanded its immediate and permanent repeal from Naga homelands.<\/p>\n
Noting that the Indian government had again extended AFSPA by overriding the normal rule of law and empowering the military and the governor with extra-judicial powers, the forum accused the governor, who was also the Interlocutor in the Indo-Naga peace talks, of working against the principle of the Framework Agreement and creating further division among the Nagas.<\/p>\n
GNF said it believed that immediate and permanent removal of AFSPA was a necessary prerequisite for a peaceful, honourable and just resolution of the Indo-Naga political problem, and hoped that both sides in the Indo-Naga peace process would engage each other in good faith.<\/p>\n
NH, GNF decry extension of \u2018disturbed area\u2019 in Nagaland<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[679],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-233444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-nagaland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233444\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}