CM for ‘honourable settlement’ to Naga problem

KOHIMA: Nagaland Chief Minister Shurhozelie Liezietsu on Tuesday gave a clarion call to the Naga people to seek for an early “amicable and honourable settlement” to the protracted Naga political problem.

“Nagas have been suffering for too long and we want to see an early solution which is amicable and honourable,” he said while addressing a gathering of Ao Naga and Angami Naga tribes at Mokokchung on the occasion of the premier Ao festival Moatsu on Tuesday. Moatsu festival this year had a unique feature, the Ao community had invited the Angami community to partake in the festival.  Accordingly, more than a thousand Angami tribals, dressed in their unique cultural attires, joined in the celebrations at Mokokchung, the district headquarters of the Ao Nagas.

“Let’s do our best to be in a position of a civilised state because fighting for supremacy in a family can never help a family move ahead and it can never compete with other people of the country,” he said hinting at the fragmentation of the Naga political groups into various factions.

“Each one of us needs to contribute our best to see that it (the Naga political issue) is solved once and for all, each one of us has a role. If there is no peace, there cannot be progress and development,” he said echoing his party’s slogan of “Development for Peace, Peace for Development”.

Dwelling on the genesis of the Naga movement for self-determination, the CM recalled how the 2000-odd Nagas were taken to the warfronts of Europe during the WWI who returned home aware that Nagas were different from other people of the world.