Kohima, May 15: The Naga National Council (NNC) has welcomed the ceasefire agreement signed between the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang) and the junta-backed Myanmar government.

In a statement issued from London, NNC president Adinno Phizo said the ceasefire would bring much needed peace to the region. “The NNC welcomes the recent political changes in Myanmar and keenly looks forward to friendly understanding and much needed peace in the region and beyond,” she said.

On the eve of the 61st anniversary of the Naga plebiscite on May 16, the NNC president also criticised other Naga groups terming them “non-state Naga dissident groups” which were recently engaged in the peace process with the Centre to solve the Naga political problem. According to her, the peace process was India’s wishful thinking and only her group would sign any final settlement to the Naga problem.

“Much to our people’s dismay, certain cursed parasite groups fantasise that the GoI in its desperation to save face has no other option than to circumvent the NNC and the Federal Government of Nagaland to reach a final settlement with a willing party to legitimise Indian occupation of Nagaland,” she said.

Regardless of Delhi’s next step what matters is that the NNC has Naga consensus, she added.

The NNC president said the world had radically moved towards peaceful processes over the past 60 years in contrast to India’s anachronistic neo-colonial ambition against Nagaland. She said Nagaland and India never shared a common history and, therefore, there was no ground for India to stake claim to it.

The Naga plebiscite conducted by then NNC president A.Z. Phizo showed that 99 percent Nagas favour sovereignty for Nagaland. But the Centre never accepted it and almost full-fledged war broke out between security forces and Naga militants.