Naga People Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR), secretary general Neingulo Krome said if a political settlement were to be made, it should not be above all the piece-meal appeasements that Nagas have rejected during the past several decades of its political struggle.
Delivering the key note address on the occasion of International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (IDWIP) held at Kohima College Kohima, Tuesday the secretary general said it was a fact that India signed Ceasefire with Naga Political Groups, held Peace Talks and political negotiations in the past and continues to do so with ground-breaking admissions and agreements on its part in between, yet solutions should not be made for appeasement. He urged the participants to take future into its hands and join the youth of the world who were now saying “nothing about us without us”. He said the celebration of IDWIP was celebrated in full conscious of the fact that “our rights, our lands” was protected by Naga elders/leaders of the Naga Political movements, starting from the Naga Club to the present day, Naga political groups, through their self-less sacrifices during the most crucial and painful period of Naga history.
Khrome said Nagas were basking in the glory of their achievements today, notwithstanding pending an honorable and acceptable solution, juxtaposed with factionalism and uncontrollable internal contradictions. Dwelling on the theme, Krome said the lands of the Indigenous peoples everywhere was not only being exploited but forcefully taken away, however in the case of Nagas, he said, it was able to assert their rights in any way although faced with opposition from occupational forces, but which was ultimately acknowledged and recognized.
Krome reminded that even if the principles of the Naga political movement were not recognized or accept the imposition of Indian laws and its Constitutional legality over the Nagas, he said the fact remains that Naga way of life and their lands and its resources are protected under Article 371 (A) of the Indian Constitution which was an abstract from the 16 Point Agreement. Khrome added that this protection was again a luxury, when compared with other indigenous peoples in many parts of the world, including those in India itself.
Naga Hoho Elu Ndang said as rightful inheritors of mother earth, Indigenous People (IP) have been protecting the earth through equitable and sustainable use of resources. Ndang said with the catastrophic climate changes that were taking place today there was a desperate search for the values in indigenous practices.
A peace activist from Changlang district Marina Kenglang shared on the problems faced by IPs in Arunachal Pradesh due to the influx of outsiders stating that their land had been taken away by outsiders, in some cases due to arbitrary actions by Government of India and in some cases due to the low population of the IPs. An interaction with the students and faculties was also held on the occasion. IDWIP was jointly organized by the NPMHR in collaboration with Kohima College Alumni Association and supported by Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) under the theme “Protect our Rights, Our Lands!”. An indigenous invocation of blessing was pronounced by Meguo-o Mechülho.