Rising People’s Party (RPP) expressed alarm over the claim made by NSCN-K (Yung Aung) group about Burmese army’s plan to conscript Naga youths in Burma. In a press note, RPP said that having scrutinized the short-sighted Naga policy in Burma, such a situation was inevitable. RPP said it had also come to learn that some few NSCN factions in Burma and Nagaland have established a tacit understanding with the military junta. RPP said that at a time when the entire ethnic people including the majority Burmans were with the Pro-Democracy Forces (PDF) fighting the Junta, Nagas in Burma have lost their national vision.
RPP expressed concern that instead of strengthening the PDF like the Chins, Shans, and Kachins had done, the Naga armed factions in Burma have chosen to side with the Junta, which is alarming. The party said that the danger of this short-sighted approach is that when the PDF eventually win the civil war in Burma, the Nagas, with their zero contribution or rather anti-PDF stance, would inevitably be sidelined or marginalized when the future federal structure of Burma materializes. RPP said it had also learned that the Junta has already conducted a census of men and women in the Naga Self-Administered Zone and other Naga inhabited areas, cautioning that forced conscription was now only a matter of time.
Pointing out that the Burmese Nagas were in a dire situation, RPP said it was imperative that Naga CSOs and armed groups formulate a national vision for Burmese Nagas against the context of civil war in that country. RPP also questioned all the 24 NPGs stationed in Nagaland about their policy regarding the Nagas of Burma, adding that the Burmese Nagas were possibly facing the worst times akin to what Nagas in India faced during the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s. “When the Burmese Nagas have already sacrificed so much for the Naga national struggle, what is the stand of the 24 NPGs regarding these people?” RPP questioned.
RPP further questioned whether the national struggle should be reduced to taxing the common man in Nagaland to the point of exhaustion, or should the NPGs do something concrete for the aspirations of a forgotten people during their time of existential crisis?