Candlelight vigil prays for Naga re-conciliation

It was jointly organised by various civil society groups led by Naga Council of Dimapur where speakers stressed on the urgency of the proposed summit among top underground leaders to carry forward the “Naga re-conciliation: A journey of common hope” initiated by Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR).

They also urged the public to voice out in unison their desire for a speedy meeting of the top Naga leaders asserting that an inordinate delay of the proposed summit might prove counter-productive to the re-conciliation process.

At the initiative of FNR,two groups of NSCN and NNC/FGN had signed the ‘Covenant of Reconciliation (CoR)’ in June 2009 in Chiang Mai in Thailand and subsequently a Joint Working Group (JWG) was constituted to implement the peace pact.

As part of the Naga re-conciliation process,the FNR has initiated a summit of top leaders of two groups of NSCN and NNC/FGN in the first week of this month at “some convenient place” for which NSCN(I-M) chairman Isak Chishi Swu and its general secretary Th Muivah has already arrived in Nagaland.

But chiefs of NSCN(K) and NNC/FGN,in a joint statement,recently asked the organisers to defer the proposed summit till NSCN(I-M) to withdrew its “territorial expansion mission and cadre” from Eastern Nagaland (Naga inhabited areas of Myanmar).

In this connection the FNR admitted that the Naga re-conciliation process hit some roadblocks,but vowed to remove those hindrances by continuing its efforts towards the proposed summit.

At Kohima,Church leaders,Naga legislators,civil and police officials and tribal leaders assembled at Union Baptist Church on Saturday for a ‘Day of Prayer and Fasting’ called by Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC).

This special prayer congregation,organised for the second consecutive year by NBCC with an aim to build stronger relationship with God,for repenting,thanksgiving and peace and re-conciliation,was also attended by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and opposition leader Tokheho Yepthomi.

Meanwhile,international peace makers,the Quakers,have cautioned the Naga political groups against delaying the proposed highest-level meeting of their leaders,saying “the more the meeting is put off,the more the difficulty in carrying the Naga re-conciliation process forward”.

The Quakers in Britain wrote an open letter to Th Muivah,Kitovi Zhimomi (NSCN-K general secretary) and S Singnya (NNC/FGN president),received here yesterday,saying that the Naga leaderships should now seize the opportunity to meet by going beyond the difficulties.

Earlier,the Quakers had assisted the FNR in fructifying the peace deal CoR among three Naga underground groups.