In what may be a serious embarrassment for the law enforcing agencies in Nagaland, the two dominant factions of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland have rejected the directive of the Cease Fire Monitoring Group where in movement of Naga rebels with arms and ammunition was banned till the February 23 election is over in the state.
In a statement issued at Dimapur the convener of the political affairs committee of NSCN (IM) on Monday not only refused to abide by the directive but also alleged that the chairman of Cease Fire Monitoring Group (CFMG) Maj. Gen. N. George (Retd) “overstepped” his jurisdiction by issuing such directive. The convener claimed that it also violated the ceasefire ground rules (CFGR) by the chairman, “who is supposed to enforce the CFGR without any tendency of being partial in favour of the centre.”
The NSCN-IM said that the cardholders would continue to carry weapons as mentioned in the ceasefire agreement. This came after the chairman of the cease-fire monitoring group Maj. Gen. N. George (Rtd), following a directive of the Election Commission of India stated on February 5 that all members of the three NSCN factions, including identity card holders have been banned from carrying any type of weapon between February 7 to 23. In a statement, NSCN(K) also announced that such ban on movement of armed cadre was not acceptable because Indian election law cannot be applied to NSCN/GPRN which is different entity.” It argued that the ‘Naga national movement’ existed before Nagaland state came into being and would continue even if ‘Nagaland state vanishes’.