NISC urges Myanmar government to initiate dialogue with Naga

Imphal, June 24: In an open letter forwarded media houses, Naga International Support Center (NISC) has urged the Government of Myanmar to initiate peace talk with the Nagas in their country.
It said as the  Nagas in India are close to coming to a solution to the deep rooted conflict and will have a kind of Shared Sovereignty but with their own Naga passports the NISC appealed the Myanmar Govt to take the request of the Nagas in Myanmar seriously as the country has signed the UN covenant for peoples who have the right to self determination.
“Since 1954 Nagas of India have been fighting for Independence and to this day around 200.000 soldiers of the Indian Army are present in the lands of the Nagas. Nagas were politically separated by the border between India and then Burma but also in India divided administratively by four states. One of the main important issues there, as well as for the Nagas in Myanmar, is reunification. Because the border was arbitrarily agreed upon, it literally runs through houses in villages, Nagas want it removed and so East and West Nagaland to be reunited”.
NISC said that for Nagas it is essential to be reunited but two/third of their land is in India, one third (Sagaing Region) is in Myanmar. NISC knows the Nagas self-administered area but also we know that some areas are excluded. Consequently NISC asks you to include all ancestral lands of the Nagas.
The open letter also stated that that Nagas inhabiting at various part of Myanmar were never part of the Union of Burma.
Lauding the initiative to hold the second Panglong conference, NISC said that it is high time the Indigenous Peoples of Myanmar are recognized for their right to self determination, a right laid down in the covenant of the United Nations and signed by Myanmar.
The first  Panglong Conference  was held in February  1947 at Panglong  in the Shan States in  Burma  between the Shan, Kachin and  Chin ethnic minority  leaders and Aung San, head of the interim  Burmese government. The Nagas did not attend the conference.
It alleged the Myanmar government for force conversion of Nagas to Budhism  and those convert are given more privilege.
NISC said the Panglong Conference could be a great initiative to bring the Indigenous Peoples of Myanmar together to make them feel at home and appreciated.
“Still there are some peoples who do not wish to be part of Myanmar and after deliberations of the why and how should be left alone to govern themselves. Though this is already bad enough, NISC feels there is much more regarding the Naga Peoples of Sagaing Region”, the statement added.
NISC also asked the Governments of the United Kingdom and India to show proof of the transfer so that unequivocally India can state it has the right to call Western Nagaland India. Likewise NISC would like to see the papers of India, signed by the first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru and Prime Minister U Nu to that effect.
NISC further cautions Myanmar government not to make the Naga issue as a roadblock to the relationships between India and Myanmar under the India’s Look East Policy.