WC, NNPGs backs FNR, RRaD repatriation initiative

Working Committee (WC), Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs) has extended appreciation to Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR) convener, Dr. Wati Aier, his colleagues, and co-ordinator of Recover, Restore and Decolonize (RRaD), Dr. Ellen Konyak and team, for initiating people-to-people dialogue and invoking diplomacy and international laws on what it termed “unethical and illegal possession and display” of Naga ancestral remains, historical items and artefacts at Pitt River’s Museum, Oxford, England, taken away during the colonial era.
In a statement, WC said that “in the exhibition galleria and cupboards of Europe and elsewhere, the soul and spirit of our ancestors cry out to be rescued, repatriated and reunited with the land and people.”
It asserted that for WC repatriation, recovery and restoration of Naga artefacts and ancestral remains was a mission to correct the wrongs of history. WC said it fully aligned with FNR and RRaD on this mission, adding that every single Naga item at Pitt River’s Museum denoted an unbroken heritage, an extension of the historical, political and cultural identity and a solemn moral responsibility to bring them home.
According to WC, FNR’s RRaD effort, in essence, encapsulated the spirit of the Agreed Position signed on November 17, 2017 between Government of India and WC, NNPGs, which stated: “… The Government of India recognises the historical and political rights of the Nagas to self-determine their future in consonance with their distinct identity…”
“Whether it was Great Britain a century earlier or the Government of India today, Naga history and identity must be restored and respected to ensure an enduring, harmonious peaceful co-existence,” WC maintained, adding that it was indeed a time to decolonize.