Flays Cs’s remark; calls for I-Day boycott
Public Action Committee (PAC) of Naga Council Dimapur (NCD) Tuesday deferred its mass ‘pledge campaign’ against illegal Bangladeshi immigrants (IBIs) by two weeks.

This followed an emergency meeting held here at NCD office. The meeting adopted a five-point resolution that included a severe criticism of state’s chief secretary, Lalthara’s statement which was published in local dailies Tuesday. PAC has termed the chief secretary’s statement as “derogatory and blasphemous” and a “fanatical promotion” of IBIs.

In a separate comment on Lalthara’s statement, PAC also said the chief secretary was directly inviting IBIs to settle in Nagaland and was in effect supporting anti-social activities.

Calling the statement “outrageous”, PAC stated that if any untoward incident befalls Nagas in mainland India, the Naga people should blame the chief secretary for “promoting and inciting communalism” through his statement.

On Lalthara’s statement that NGOs were not authorized to carry out the pledge campaign, PAC said that it was an insult and understatement of the Naga people’s intelligence.

The meeting also resolved to abstain from participating in the Independence Day celebration and called upon all “like-minded” Naga citizens to boycott the same.

Asserting that the ‘pledge campaign’ was a “voluntary” signature endorsement not to “patronize” IBIs, the resolution stated that it was a peaceful social venture and had nothing to do with what had happened in Kokrajhar and the “hate-campaign” against Northeast people in Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and other parts of India.

Pointing out that the campaign against IBIs in Nagaland started in February much before the current conflagration of Bodo-illegal migrants conflict in Kokrajhar (lower Assam), PAC warned that any individual, organization and government “abusing and misrepresenting” the issue to “malign” Naga Council, PAC and civil society organizations would be considered “anti-Naga”.

Earlier in the meeting, Naga Council Dimapur president, Savi Liegise said that the campaign had nothing to do with any community as it was a campaign initiated against the illegal immigrants for conducting illegal activities in Dimapur.

Claiming that 90% of illegal activities were carried out by the illegal immigrants in Dimapur, Liegise said that any community could come and earn in the state provided they do not indulge in illegal activities.

Though the campaign was deferred, the representatives of various organizations present in the meeting took the pledge.