Naga Hoho disapproves ceasefire abrogation with Khaplang faction of NSCN

GUWAHATI: Naga Hoho, the apex body of the Nagas, has assured its support to any positive move by the government to restore peace in Nagaland and Naga-inhabited area, even as it disapproved the recent ceasefire abrogation with the Khaplang faction of National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN).

A six-member delegation of Naga Hoho led by president P Chuba Ozukum and general secretary Mutsikhoyo Yhobu met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Friday and sought a permanent settlement to the Naga political issue.

Now is the "right opportune moment for arriving at the honorable settlement"’ which would be a "historic moment for the nation and for the Nagas in particular", Hoho said.

The ceasefire agreement with the NSCN (IM) in 1997 and later with other factions had created a peaceful atmosphere. According to Hoho, Nagas are getting disillusioned with the process due to the delay in the ritual of negotiation during the past seventeen years without any tangible outcome.

Hoho appealed the Prime Minister not to withdraw the special status of Nagaland.

The Khaplang faction unilaterally abrogated the ceasefire with the government this March. The Khaplang faction, United Liberation Front of Asom (Independent), Songbijit faction of the National Democratic Front of Boroland and the Kamatapur Liberation Organisation have formed a common platform to fight against India.

This platform has been floated in the lines of the erstwhile Indo-Burma Revolutionary Front. The group has called itself United National Liberation Front of WESEA.

Out of ceasefire, the outfit ambushed eight Assam Rifles jawans at Changlangsu in Mon district on May 3. Khaplang along with Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup and Kangleipak Communist Party ambushed and killed 18 army jawans in Manipur on June 4.