NSCN-IM says forced union with India by military option won't work

GUWAHATI: The NSCN-IM on Saturday said that if the Centre chooses military option to impose a “forced union” with India, there will be no end to the Naga problem and the “issue will remain alive and kicking.”
In a strong message to the Centre, NSCN-IM chairman (Yaruiwo) Q Tuccu said, "At no point of time, the Nagas have agreed to live within the Union of India.The Nagas will associate with India in many fields as two entities. Therefore, we have chosen the path of living together with India with the spirit of cooperation and coordination. However, the Nagas are strongly opposed to forced Union. We are aware that forced Union will certainly breed fighting and killing within the box."
This move by NSCN-IM has come a day after interlocutor and Nagalnd governor, RN Ravi told the state’s civil society at Kohima that “NSCN –IM has adopted a procrastinating attitude to delay the settlement raising the contentious symbolic issues of separate Naga national flag and constitution” and assured that the Centre is firm on inking the final agreement to end the country’s longest peace talks “without delay”.
Ravi in his statement said, "The government of India expect all negotiating parties to heed the will of the people, and facilitate conclusion of the Naga peace process within the stipulated time."
NSCN-IM and the Centre is expected to have at least one more round of discussion to try and break the deadlock in the 22-years long peace process over the former’s twin demands of separate flag and constitution, which the Centre has already rejected.
Ravi on Friday said that a mutually agreed draft comprehensive settlement, including all the substantive issues and competencies, is ready for inking the final agreement. "Unfortunately at this auspicious juncture, the NSCN (I-M) has adopted a procrastinating attitude to delay the settlement raising the contentious symbolic issues of separate Naga national flag and constitution on which they are fully aware of the government of India’s position."
In response Tuccu said, “The Indo-Naga political solution without Naga flag and constitution is not conclusive and that will create a room for future headache. We are looking for a lasting solution.”
The NSCN-IM chairman said that by virtue of the framework agreement signed with the Centre in 2015 in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, “Nagas will coexist with the Union of India as two entities as different kind of flowers bloom together.”
“If government of India chooses military option to dictating the negotiating team, that will not be the end of the matter. The issue will remain alive and kicking. The Nagas are always for a negotiated settlement based on the doctrine of mutual consent and recognition of rights. I believe the present Indian leadership will not commit the mistake of their past leaders,” Tuccu said.
He said that after a decade long armed confrontations, the government of India first invited the Naga National Council (NNC) leadership for political dialogue in 1964, which he said “ended in deadlock due to lack of political will of India. Thereafter, confrontation resumed.”
He said that later the leadership of NNC and FGN (Federal government of Nagaland) finally ended with the Shillong Accord on account of acceptance of the Indian constitution in 1975 but it is known to every Naga that the “16–Point Agreement and Shillong Accord could not solve the problem the Nagas have been facing; rather they are the seeds of division and killing among the Nagas on the one hand, and prolonged fighting with India on the other. So, the resistance movement continued.”
NSCN-IM claims that there is no communication from Ravi on a deadline for closing the talks yet. Ravi had said in July that Prime Minister Narendra Modi desires to conclude the peace process within a three-month time, which was construed to be deadline set to end in October.