NTC backs PDA govt’s resolution urging GoI to conclude Naga talks

The Nagaland Tribes Council (NTC) has welcomed the public declaration made by the PDA alliance-led state government on October 15, urging the Government of India to bring closure to the long-pending Naga political settlement.
In a press release, NTC president C. Pankathung Lotha and general secretary C. Onen Walling said the declaration was a much-welcomed and appreciated step, noting that as the officially designated facilitator of the peace process, the state government was not only expected to make such a statement but also to actively pursue it with both the Centre and the two major Naga political groups to implement whatever “political agreements they have agreed and signed more than 10 years ago.”
NTC stated that the state government, as the facilitator, had both the opportunity and rights to use all available means to resolve this issue. The council asserted that the “Naga public have every right to get their due share of political rights and benefits of this almost one century political matter.”
NTC reminded and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to fulfil the assurances he had made to the Naga people- first in 2015 during the Hornbill Festival in Kohima and again in 2019 in Saudi Arabia- when he declared that the longest political struggle in North East India had been resolved following agreements reached between the Centre and the two major Naga political groups.
“The ball is now in the court of the Government of India, which always claim is the greatest democracy in the world,” NTC said.
It stated that while successive governments in the past had failed to resolve the nearly century-old political issue, the present dispensation must not fail to fulfil the aspirations of the Nagas for their rightful political rights and benefits.
The council added that the 18 years of ceasefire and over a decade since the signing of political agreements should not go in vain under the present political dispensation.
The council, on behalf of all tribes of Nagaland, therefore urged the Central leadership to honour its own commitment and declaration that the Naga political issue has been solved.
NTC said that the onus lies with the Government of India- it has the right, opportunity, and authority to give the Nagas what they deserve and desire for the welfare of the people.