Nagas have turned to God after more than two decades of wait for a political solution to the peace process between the Centre and extremist groups, primarily the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland.
The Nagaland Joint Christian Forum on Sunday organised a special prayer for a solution to the “Indo-Naga political problem” before the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The prayer was held simultaneously across 11 districts and churches belonging to all the Christian denominations.
Seeking God’s help
Responding to the forum’s call last week, thousands of Christians attended the special church service. They hoped the prayers would make “God grant His wisdom and direction to the leaders of the Government of India and the Naga national political (extremist) groups”.
More than 90% of the population of Nagaland is Christian.
“It was a beautiful congregation. The turnout made the day very special,” said Chuba Ozukum, president of Naga Hoho, the apex body of all Naga tribes.
“It has become the attitude of the Government of India to sideline the issues arising from Nagaland and this time around, it has become very clear that they instigate a non-issue to cover up and drag the issue at hand. These are things that we must commit to God so that with the prayer of believers, God will intervene,” a statement issued by the forum on Wednesday had stated.
‘Non-issue’
The “non-issue” is believed to be a reference to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, that seeks to fast-track the process of granting citizenship to non-Muslims who have allegedly fled religious persecution in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan till December 31, 2014.
Extremism by Naga groups across Nagaland, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Myanmar began in the 1950s under the leadership of A.Z. Phizo of the Naga National Council, which signed the Shillong Accord in 1975 signalling an end to a violent separatist movement.
‘Meek surrender’
A section of NNC leaders, however, rejected this accord that they felt was a meek surrender by the Nagas to India. They broke away to form the NSCN in 1980, which suffered several splits since 1988.
The NSCN(I-M), the largest of these groups, declared a ceasefire with India security forces in July 1997 to start the peace process.
A solution had appeared in sight when the Narendra Modi government signed a Framework Agreement with the outfit in August 2015.
At least six other Naga extremist groups were subsequently brought to the talks table, but the final peace deal is yet to be worked out.
