We have right to collect tax: NSCN(IM)

The National Socialist Council of Nagalim NSCN(IM),engaged in peace talks with the Centre since July 1997,has asserted it is a “de facto government” and has the legitimate right to levy tax on people within the Nagalim. On Monday,the newly-appointed chairman of the Ceasefire Monitoring Group (CFMG),Lt Gen (retd) N K Singh,had asked the outfit to stop extortions and so-called taxes imposed by it. Singh was holding his first CFMG meeting with representatives of the NSCN(IM) at Dimapur.

On Wednesday,a press note issued by Imcha Longkumer,secretary of the outfit’s Ceasefire Monitoring Cell (CFMC) office said ,“The NSCN(IM) had clearly told Singh that \the NSCN being a de-facto government,has a legitimate right to levy tax in Nagalim and that should not be interpreted as extortion.” Longkumer said the NSCN(IM) representative had also told Singh that “nowhere in the ceasefire ground rules is it mentioned that NSCN cannot levy tax”.