Won't forgo demand for flag, Constitution: NSCN-IM

Naga insurgent group, NSCN-IM on Sunday stated that under no circumstances it would forgo its demand for recognition of the "Naga National Flag" and the Constitution.

The outfit's insistence on the flag and the Constitution issue is seen as a stumbling block to ending the seven-decades-long Naga conflict.

"Time and again the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN) has taken the resolute stand that it shall never deviate from the Naga National Principle at any cost and uphold and protect the Naga unique history.

Significantly, NSCN attached great importance to the Naga National Flag and Constitution (Yehzabo) as part of the Naga political solution. Thus, NSCN, under no circumstances can forgo these core issues that symbolised the Naga National identity," the NSCN-IM said in a statement emailed to DH.

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Many Naga groups including the NSCN-IM claim that Nagas were never part of India and had even declared Independence on August 14, 1947.

The NSCN-IM has been in a ceasefire with the Centre since 1997 and its leaders and members are lodged in a camp at Hebron near Dimapur in Nagaland since then. The outfit signed a "Framework Agreement" with the Centre in August 2015, based on which a final agreement was to be signed.

But the NSCN-IM's insistence on a separate flag and Constitution for the Nagas has delayed the final agreement. The Naga National Political Groups, a forum of seven other Naga rebel groups, however, is ready to sign the final agreement without insistence on the flag and Constitution.

On Sunday, the NSCN-IM stated that it would maintain the "Naga National Decision" it had taken on May 31 this year when it decided "to uphold and protect the Naga unique history and Naga National principle at any cost."