On the occasion of the 77th Naga Independence Day celebration at Camp Hebron, Nagaland on Monday, NSCN-IM General Secretary Th Muivah said, “Nagas are a sovereign people, who have been living in their own land from time immemorial”.
Muivah also said that Nagas are not begging for a piece of land from others. Nagas have every right to build their own nation-state in their land. Muivah added that Nagas must decide their future by themselves.
“We Nagas are proud of our past dynamic leaders who took the right decision in declaring the Naga National Independence on August 14, 1947, on the eve of the British departure from the British India... It was a historic step that gives new meaning to the Naga national identity and saved the future of the Nagas.”
In yet another challenging moment, according to Muivah, the Naga people reaffirmed their national decision to remain a sovereign independence Nagalim, rejecting the offer of Union of India and that of the Burma. “I adore and salute those visionary leaders and the revolutionary generations”.
Immediately after rejection of the Union of India by the Nagas, the Indian aggression on Nagalim started resulting in massacre, mass torture, summary execution, mass rape, and mass detention in concentration camps, destruction of villages, churches, schools and forests.
At every stage of the movement, the Naga people have no dearth of revolutionary patriots who can lead the nation in the right direction against all odds, Muivah stated.
Upholding the national decision, the Naga National Assembly rejected and condemned both the so-called 16-point memorandum and the Shillong Accord as treacherous acts of treasons, he further added.
The Naga national resistance movement is all about defending the inherent sovereign right of the Nagas and their land.
After 18-year-long political talks, the Government of India and the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN), the one and only authentic political organization of the Naga people finally signed the historic Framework Agreement on August 3, 2015, on the foundation of recognition of the unique history and sovereignty of the Nagas, and shared sovereignty and coexistence of the two entities, the NSCN-IM leader stated.
“This is a mutually agreed official document. This Framework Agreement is our legacy. We must defend what we have achieved with our own sweat and blood”.
On the issue of integration of all Naga areas, according to Muivah, the Government of India has officially acknowledged that it is the legitimate right of the Nagas and therefore, “it shall be finalised accordingly”.
The NSCN-IM general secretary then said flag and constitution are naturally inseparable from the sovereignty of a people. “It is universally an accepted truth that flag and constitution are constituent parts of sovereignty. There is no ambiguity about it. The Indian leaders understand it too. They must take the stand to speak the truth”, he also stated.
To the Nagas, Muivah called upon and said, “Dear compatriots, we must understand that freedom is not the end of the matter. Freedom to worship God, the Creator, freedom to choose salvation, freedom to choose peace and progress and freedom to choose your kingdom is the heart and soul of the matter. Freedom is meaningless if we choose slavery or death”.
The NSCN-IM general secretary then concluded his speech by saying, “This free Nagalim for Christ is our portion of land from God. We must possess it and defend it at all costs. No power on earth can stop the moving wheels of history. We will keep going”.
