The Concerned Naga Forum of Nagaland (CNFN), in a letter addressed to Nagaland Governor Nand Kishore Yadav, urged upon him to direct the state government to uphold its constitutional duty to maintain law and order and to review of the growing lawlessness, particularly the unchecked rise of factions and illegitimate armed groups across the state.
CNFN through its convenor H.K. Khulu, IAS (Retd) and secretary Theja Therieh also appealed to the Governor to instruct the state government to cease proposing fresh talks or raising new issues. Instead, it should review with the Government of India the negotiations already concluded, clarify the outcomes-including respective competencies-and work toward implementing the agreed solution.
The forum asserts that only this approach can restore rationality and end the confusion and misery afflicting the people. Doing so, the CNFN stated, would be the greatest justice the Governor could render to Nagaland.
CNFN drew attention to the current political impasse, noting that despite two signed agreements-the Framework Agreement (FA) with the NSCN (I-M) in 2015 and the Agreed Position (AP) with the WC/NNPGs in 2017-the core Naga political issue remains unresolved.
It said both accords were signed within the Indian Constitution in a space of 11 (FA) and 9 years (AP) have passed since those signings, and 29 years since talks began with the NSCN (I-M). It recalled that former Governor and the last official interlocutor R.N. Ravi announced to the state assembly in 2020-21 that all negotiations were completed by October 31, 2019.
It said the assembly unanimously passed a vote of thanks six years ago, yet the state government later demanded his removal-though that vote of thanks cannot be erased.
CNFN warned of a precarious situation where over 30 factions now operate, armed with sophisticated weapons under ceasefire licenses issued by the Ceasefire Monitoring Board. More than 20 factions maintain monitoring offices in Dimapur, running parallel self-styled governments. Under the guise of unresolved talks, they freely recruit, extort, and tax all supply chains, with organized syndicates reportedly collecting over Rs. 400 crore annually. The state government has allegedly capitulated, with finance and drawing officers systematically paying all factions.
The forum said that hundreds have lost their lives to killings, kidnappings for ransom, and assassinations-especially of entrepreneurs who resist extortion. It said the government’s policy of “actively facilitating the ongoing peace process” has effectively become a license for elected members and officials to compromise with insurgents while, corruption cases remain frozen, fueling further lawlessness.
(Full text on p-6)
