No need to discontinue JLF on Naga political issue: PDA

Dimapur: The People's Democratic Alliance (PDA) today said there was no need to discontinue the Joint Legislators Forum (JLF) on Naga Political Issue at this crucial and late juncture of Indo-Naga political talks.

It observed that the forum has been successfully playing the role of active facilitator in the Indo-Naga peace process since its formation in 2009.

Deliberating on the proposal of Opposition leader TR Zeliang in his letter addressed to Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on November 2, the PDA at a meeting at the chief minister's residential complex in Kohima reiterated its August 20 resolution to continue with the JLF, a release from the chief minister’s office said.

It was not known what Zeliang exactly proposed in his letter but it was definitely to do with the JLF.

The PDA and the Opposition Naga People’s Front (NPF) have been at loggerheads over the role of JLF over the last two months.

According to reports in a section of local media, the PDA and the NPF Legislature Party held a joint press conference on Naga political issue in Kohima today. At today's conference, several key issues were addressed.

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On August 18, the NPF had withdrawn its membership from the JLF citing “huge trust deficit”. The party had constituted the Political Affairs Mission (PAM) comprising its officials and NPF Legislative Party on August 26 to facilitate the Naga peace process.

The meeting also reiterated the appeal of the Government of India, through Union Home Minister Amit Shah, to the NPF to rejoin the JLF and endorse the resolutions of the October 15 consultative meeting on the Naga political issue.

The resolutions of the meeting were conveyed to the Opposition leader in New Delhi on October 20 in the presence of the chief minister and North East Democratic Alliance NEDA convenor Himata Biswa Sarma.

At the meeting, the PDA adopted a four-point resolution.

It congratulated the state government on the successful conduct of the consultative meeting on the Naga political issue at the state banquet hall in Kohima on October 15.

The house extended its appreciation to all the tribal hohos, civil society organisations, church bodies, political parties, NGOs, stakeholders and individuals who attended the meeting and for making it successful and historic.

It welcomed and endorsed the seven-point resolution of the October 15 consultative meeting.

The PDA congratulated the state government, the election department, the administration and police, tribal hohos, NGOs and all sections who positively contributed towards the conduct of peaceful and successful byelections in two Assembly constituencies of the state on November 3.

The House also congratulated the electorate of the constituencies for positively participating in the election and strengthening democracy in the grassroots.

The resolutions were signed by PDA convener and Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party president Chingwang Konyak and PDA co-convener and Nagaland BJP president Temjen Imna Along.

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