Coming heavily on the Manipur government’s move to declare United Naga Council (UNC) as an ‘unlawful organization’, the Committee for Joint Naga Civil Societies, Delhi (CJNCSD) called the Ibobi government’s move as “propounding a new definition of the term ‘unlawful organization’ to facilitate gagging and curbing of dissenting voices at the whims of the state government”.

Calling ‘dissent’ and ‘democratic protest’ as not ‘unlawful’, the CJNCSD said that by observing peaceful partial suspension of commercial vehicular movements along the National Highway in protest against the formation of seven new districts, UNC can’t be termed ‘unlawful’.

The Naga committee, in a press release on January 28, further added that the “United Naga Council is the customarily mandated apex traditional body of the Nagas in Manipur with a democratic set-up of grassroots-level and institutional support, participation and representation from all the Naga tribal bodies and village traditional authorities and thus, the legitimacy and mass-based organizational structure of UNC cannot be put to question.”

“CJNCSD affirms that the Naga people and their endearing organization UNC cannot be distinguished and separated as UNC constitutes the Naga people themselves and thus, any move on the part of the state government to declare UNC as ‘unlawful’ would amount to declaring the entire Naga people as ‘unlawful’”, the release said.

“CJNCSD accordingly slams Ibobi led Congress government’s relentless attempt to vilify the sacred cause of the Nagas by painting UNC as a ‘terror’ organization. UNC, by voicing the interest of the Nagas, does not make it a mouthpiece of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN-IM),” the release further added.

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