Nagaland CM for early solution to separatist movement

Mokokchung (Nagaland), May 2 (IANS) Nagaland Chief Minister AShurhozelie Liezietsu on Tuesday urged the Naga people to seek an early and amicable settlement to the six-decade-old separatist Naga movement.

"Nagas have been suffering for too long and we want to see an early solution which is amicable and honourable," he told a large gathering of Ao Naga and Angami Naga tribes here on the occasion of the premier Ao festival Moatsu.

"Nagas have been suffering for too long due to non-resolution of the political problem," Liezietsu said.

Moatsu festival this year had a unique feature in that 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 to move ahead and it can never compete with other peoples of the country," he said, hinting at the fragmentation of the Naga political groups into factions.

"Each one of us need to contribute our best to see that it (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."

Dwelling on the genesis of the Naga movement for self-determination, the Chief Minister recalled how 2,000 odd Nagas were taken to the warfront in Europe during World War I.

They returned home with the feeling that Nagas were different from other peoples of the world.

After the Nagas came back, they officially formed the Naga Club in 1919 through which awareness was created for the Nagas to move towards togetherness and also the political consciousness to stay as one people.

"We need to be Christians not only in Church. There is no looking back now: we need to build our Naga brotherhood on a stronger foundation. Let this be a milestone between our different communities and between God and us," Liezietsu said.