No oil exploration before Naga settlement: WC, NNPGs

DIMAPUR, JUL 23 (NPN): The Working Committee (WC) of the Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs) under the leadership of convenor N. Kitovi Zhimomi has urged the Nagaland government not to proceed with oil and natural gas exploration before an “acceptable and honourable” Indo-Naga political settlement is reached.
In a press statement issued ahead of the meeting of the Nagaland State Cabinet Sub-Committee on Oil and Natural Gas Exploration and Production scheduled for July 24, WC, NNPGs, said the State government should refrain from extracting oil and other natural resources before the conclusion of the political process.
WC asserted that Naga oil fields were “as sacred as any part of Naga ancestral land” and described any attempt to extract oil before a political settlement as immoral and treacherous. It alleged that such a move would amount to “attempting to suck the very blood of thousands of Naga freedom martyrs seeped into the sacred soil” and urged that the “looting plan” be avoided.
It maintained that oil and natural gas currently remained a subject of the ongoing political negotiations and said the final Indo-Naga political settlement would determine their exploration and utilisation. In the meantime, it urged the State government to seek funds from New Delhi for infrastructure, healthcare, schools and colleges instead of pursuing resource extraction.
WC further asserted that the negotiated documents clearly addressed what lay beneath Nagaland and said it, along with the Naga people, would go to any lengths to defend the Nagas’ ownership of their land and natural resources.
WC said the Naga forefathers regarded sovereignty and the right to self-determination as God-given duties and principles worth defending. It stated that the Anglo-Naga conflict began after Capt. Francis Jenkins and Lieut. R.B. Pemberton entered Naga territory in 1832, and claimed that the Naga political movement since India’s Independence in 1947 had come at the cost of thousands of lives.
Referring to the “Agreed Position”, WC said government of India recognised the historical and political rights of the Nagas to determine their future in consonance with their distinct identity. It asserted that this principle was not confined to any particular tribe or group, but applied to the entire Naga people and future generations.