With the Naga peace process de­railed due to the pre­var­i­ca­tion of the In­dian gov­ern­ment and its in­tran­si­gence on the con­tent of the mu­tu­ally-agreed Frame­work Agree­ment, now the gov­ern­ment of In­dia, act­ing at the be­hest of the Gov­er­nor, who is also the in­ter­locu­tor of the peace process has started a witch-hunt of the peace ac­tivists and hu­man rights de­fend­ers. More than a hun­dred hu­man rights ac­tivists, civil lib­er­tar­i­ans and so­cial ac­tivists have de­nounced the right to travel to a des­ti­na­tion of one’s own choice to Nein­gulo Krome, the Sec­re­tary-Gen­eral of the Naga Peo­ples’ Move­ment for Hu­man Rights  (NPMHR).

MEDHA PATKAR, TAPAN BOSE, JOHN DAYAL and a hun­dred other dis­tin­guished ac­tivists from across In­dia, in a state­ment re­leased to the me­dia, have con­demned the silent but tar­geted at­tack by the Gov­ern­ment of In­dia and its agen­cies on the Naga civil so­ci­ety lead­ers and the lead­ers of the NSCN.

Nein­gulo Krome, Sec­re­tary-Gen­eral of Naga Peo­ples’ Move­ment for Hu­man Rights (NPMHR), was il­le­gally and un­law­fully de-boarded from a Kolkata-Bangkok flight on 5th Feb­ru­ary 2020, by the im­mi­gra­tion au­thor­i­ties at Kolkata. He was told that he is not al­lowed to travel abroad as per the or­ders of the ‘Gov­ern­ment’. There was no ad­di­tional clar­i­fi­ca­tion of­fered to him nor any list shown with his name.

The NPHMR ac­tivist has been a key speaker at the NAPM bi­en­nial at Puri, and at the De­mo­c­ra­tic Rights Con­ven­tion in Delhi in Sep­tem­ber 2019. He is a com­mit­ted hu­man rights de­fender.

The il­le­gal and un­law­ful de-board­ing of Krome has been pre­ceded by sev­eral cases slapped on hu­man rights and po­lit­i­cal ac­tivists.  NSCN cadres and lead­ers have been framed un­der UAPA and are lan­guish­ing in jails.

The state­ment reads that “We are cer­tain that by not al­low­ing the leader of one of In­di­a’s old­est hu­man rights or­gan­i­sa­tions to travel abroad, the In­dian gov­ern­ment has shown yet an­other ex­am­ple of in­tol­er­ance and ar­ro­gance.”

“Ad­di­tion­ally, we are con­cerned that it is also in many ways an open at­tack on the Naga peo­ples’ rights, amidst a 23-year-old peace process and cease­fire. De­spite hav­ing signed the ‘frame­work agree­ment’ with the Na­tional So­cial­ist Coun­cil of Na­galim (I-M) in 2015, Gov­ern­ment of In­dia is yet to con­cre­tise or pub­li­cise the de­tails of the doc­u­ment.”

Speak­ing to WSN, Dal Khalsa spokesper­son Kan­warpal Singh said, “I know Nein­gulo Krome. He is a stead­fast hu­man rights ac­tivist fight­ing for peace in the North East through de­mo­c­ra­tic and peace­ful means. Sikhs are aware of the se­ri­ous­ness of the Naga is­sue and con­demn the strong-arm tac­tics of the In­dian state ma­chin­ery.”

Naam Tami­lar Katchi leader See­man, speak­ing on the phone line with this cor­re­spon­dent said, “the rights of the Na­gas must be pro­tected. We protest this vi­o­la­tion of a hu­man rights de­fend­er’s right to travel.”

Hu­man rights ac­tivist Jag­mo­han Singh said, “This is yet an­other move to scut­tle the protests against the CAA and NRC. It is not so sim­ple as it looks. The gov­ern­ment of In­dia is not se­ri­ous about the Peace ac­cord. Ravin­der Narayana Ravi -the Naga gov­er­nor and the in­ter­locu­tor of the peace process is silent since the last few weeks. He is play­ing ping pong with the NSCN (IV Muivah) lead­er­ship and will ul­ti­mately back out. That is my fear.”

.All the hu­man rights de­fend­ers have said that “The in­sult to dig­nity and de­nial of travel rights for the NPMHR leader is yet an­other sign of the In­dian gov­ern­men­t’s dis­re­spect to­wards and back­track­ing from the cease­fire and the frame­work agree­ment.”

Ex­press­ing deep con­cern, the civil lib­er­tar­i­ans said: “We are wor­ried that the Gov­ern­ment of In­dia while bat­tling with­out an es­cape route in the siege in Jammu & Kash­mir, is open­ing an­other war front in the North­east re­gion.”

“We de­mand that the Gov­ern­ment re­spect the spirit and let­ter of the peace process and de­sist from the witch-hunt against Naga peo­ple and their lead­ers and al­low Krome to travel to any coun­try of his choice,” added the note signed by Medha Patkar, NAPM, Syeda Hameed, For­mer Mem­ber, Plan­ning Com­mis­sion, New Delhi, Tapan Bose, Pak­istan In­dia Peo­ple’s Fo­rum for Peace & Democ­racy, Dr Sunilam, So­cial­ist front, Ashok Choud­hary, All In­dia Union of For­est Work­ing Peo­ple, Ut­tar Pradesh, Arun Roy, MKSS, T. Pe­ter, Na­tional Fish­work­ers Fo­rum, Ker­ala, John Dayal, An­a­lyst and au­thor, New Delhi, Vi­jayan MJ, PIPFPD, New Delhi, Rita Man­chanda, Re­search Scholar, New Delhi, Roma, AIUFWP, Gauhar Siraj, Prof. Sushil Khanna, Aca­d­e­mic, Kolkata, Sushoba Barve, So­cial and peace ac­tivist, Priya Pil­lai, En­vi­ron­men­tal­ist, Manoran­jan Mo­hanty, Aca­d­e­mic and Au­thor, New Delhi, Haris Kid­wai, New Delhi, Jatin De­sai, Se­nior Jour­nal­ist, Mum­bai, Adv. Clifton D’Rozario, Man­than Law, Ban­ga­lore, Di­nesh Mo­han, Aca­d­e­mic, New Delhi, Dunu Roy, Re­searcher and Writer, New Delhi, Aswathy Pad­mase­nan, The Re­search Col­lec­tive, New Delhi, Adv. Aradhna Bhar­gava, Mad­hya Pradesh, Ra­jku­mar Sinha, Chutka Par­maanu Vi­rodhi Sang­harsh Samiti, Nikhil Dey, Ra­jasthan,  Shankar Singh, Maz­door Kisan Shakti San­gathan (MKSS), Na­tional Cam­paign for Peo­ple’s Right to In­for­ma­tion, Kavita Sri­vas­tava, Peo­ple’s Union for Civil Lib­er­ties (PUCL); Kailash Meena, P. Chen­na­iah, Andhra Pradesh Vyavasaya Vruthi­darula Union-APVVU, Ra­makr­ish­nam Raju, United Fo­rum for RTI and NAPM, Chakri (Samalochana), Balu Gadi (RSV), Bapji Juvvala, NAPM Andhra Pradesh; Ka­mayani Swami, Bi­har, Ashish Ran­jan, Jan Ja­gran Shakti San­gathan, Ma­hen­dra Ya­dav, Kosi Navnir­man Manch, Sis­ter Dorothy, Aashray Ab­hiyan, Gau­tam Ban­dopad­hyay, Nadi Ghati Mor­cha; Chhatis­garh, Kaladas Da­hariya, RE­LAA, Ra­jen­dra Ravi, NAPM: New Delhi, Bhu­pen­der Singh Rawat, Jan Sang­harsh Vahini, An­jali Bharad­waj, New Delhi, Am­rita Johri, Sa­tark Na­grik San­gathan, San­jeev Ku­mar, Dalit Adi­vasi Shakti Ad­hikar Manch, Anita Kapoor, Delhi Shahri Mahila Kaam­gaar Union, Sunita Rani, Na­tional Do­mes­tic Work­ers Union, Nanhu Prasad, Na­tional Cy­clist Union, Mad­huresh Ku­mar, Priya Pil­lai, Arya­man Jain, New Delhi, Di­vyansh Khu­rana, New Delhi, Evita Das, New Delhi, Anil TV, Delhi Sol­i­dar­ity Group, Anand Maz­gaonkar, Gu­jarat, Swati De­sai, Gu­jarat, Kr­ish­nakant, Gu­jarat, Parth, Gu­jarat, Nita Ma­hadev, Gu­jarat, Mu­dita, Paryavaran Surak­sha Samiti, Lok Samiti, Gu­jarat, Dev De­sai, Gu­jarat, Mu­jahid Nafees, Gu­jarat, Ramesh Tadvi, Gu­jarat, Aziz Mi­nat, Gu­jarat, Bharat Jam­bucha, Faisal Khan, Haryana, Khu­dai Khid­mat­gar, Haryana, J S Walia, Haryana, Daya­mani Barla, Aadi­vasi-Mool­ni­vasi As­tivtva Rak­sha Samiti, Jhark­hand, Bas­ant Het­am­saria, Jhark­hand, Aloka Ku­jur, Jhark­hand, Dr. Leo A. Singh, Jhark­hand, Afzal An­ish, Jhark­hand, Sushma Bir­uli, Jhark­hand, Durga Nayak, Jhark­hand, Ji­pal Murmu, Jhark­hand, Priti Ran­jan Dash, Jhark­hand, Ashok Verma, Jhark­hand, Sis­ter Celia, Do­mes­tic Work­ers Union;  Kar­nataka, Maj Gen (Retd) S.G.Vom­bat­kere, Kar­nataka, Nawaz, Kar­nataka, Dwiji, Kar­nataka, Nalini, Kar­nataka, Suniti SR, Ma­ha­rash­tra, Suhas Kol­hekar, Ma­ha­rash­tra, Prasad Bagwe, Ma­ha­rash­tra, Bi­lal Khan, Ghar Bachao Ghar Ba­nao An­dolan, Mum­bai, San­jay Mango, Ma­ha­rash­tra, Mukta Sri­vas­tava, Ma­ha­rash­tra, Yu­vraj Gatkal, Ma­ha­rash­tra, Chetan Salve, Ma­ha­rash­tra, Jameela, Ma­ha­rash­tra, Gee­tan­jali Cha­van, Ma­ha­rash­tra, Pra­fulla Saman­tara, Lok Shakti Ab­hiyan; Odisha, Lin­graj Azad, Sama­jwadi Jan Parishad & Niyam­giri Surak­sha Samiti, Odisha, Manorama Khatua, Ant-Posco Move­ment, Odisha, Lin­garaj Prad­han, Odisha, Satya ban­chor, Odisha, Anant, Odisha, Kalyan Anand, Odisha, Arun Jena, Odisha, Trilochan Punji, Odisha, Lak­shimipriya Mo­hanty and Bal­akr­ishna Sand, Odisha, Manas Pat­naik, Odisha, Gu­ruwant Singh, Pun­jab, Gabriele Di­et­rich, Tamil Nadu, Penn Uri­may Iyakkam, Madu­rai, Geetha Ra­makr­ish­nan, Un­or­gan­ised Sec­tor Work­ers Fed­er­a­tion: Tamil Nadu, Suthanthi­ran, Tamil Nadu, Arul Doss, Tamil Nadu, Jee­van Ku­mar & Syed Bi­lal (Hu­man Rights Fo­rum), Telan­gana, P. Shankar (Dalit Bahu­jan Front), Telan­gana, Vissa Ki­ran Ku­mar & Kon­dal (Ry­thu Swara­jya Vedika),Telan­gana, Ravi Kan­neganti (Ry­thu JAC), Telan­gana, Asha­latha (MAKAAM), Telan­gana, Kr­ishna (Telan­gana Vidya­van­tula Vedika-TVV), M. Venkatayya (Telan­gana Vyavasaya Vrut­ti­darula Union-TVVU), Meera Sang­hami­tra, Ra­jesh Seru­pally, Vi­lay­odi Venu­gopal, Ker­ala, CR Nee­lakan­dan, Ker­ala, Prof. Kusumam Joseph, Ker­ala, Sharath Ch­e­loor, Ker­ala, Vi­ja­yaragha­van, Che­liya, Ker­ala, Ma­jeen­dran, Ker­ala, Magline, Ker­ala, Sandeep Pandey, Ut­tar Pradesh, Richa Singh, San­gatin Kisaan Maz­door San­gathan; Ut­tar Pradesh, Arund­hati Dhuru, Ut­tar Pradesh, Ra­jeev Ya­dav, Ri­hai Manch, Ut­tar Pradesh, Suresh Rathaur, Ut­tar Pradesh, Arvind Murti, Ut­tar Pradesh, Satish Singh, Ut­tar Pradesh, Jagriti Rahi, Ut­tar Pradesh, Al­ta­mas Ansari, Ut­tar Pradesh, Zainab Khatun, Ut­tar Pradesh, Ram­beti, Ut­tar Pradesh, Nakul Singh Sawney, Ut­tar Pradesh, Mashiud­din, Ut­tar Pradesh, Vi­mal Bhai, Matu Jan san­gathan; Ut­trak­hand, Jabar Singh, Ut­trak­hand, Uma, Ut­trak­hand, Samar Bagchi, West Ben­gal, Bi­nayak Sen, West Ben­gal, Su­jato Bhadro, West Ben­gal, Pradip Chat­ter­jee, West Ben­gal, Pasarul Alam, West Ben­gal, Ami­tava Mi­tra, West Ben­gal, Tapas Das, West Ben­gal, Tahom­ina Man­dal, West Ben­gal, Pabi­tra Man­dal, West Ben­gal, Kazi Md. Sherif, West Ben­gal, Biswa­jit Basak, West Ben­gal, Ayesha Khatun, West Ben­gal, Ru­pak Mukher­jee, West Ben­gal, Mi­lan Das, West Ben­gal, Asit Roy, West Ben­gal, Mita Bhatta, West Ben­gal, Yasin, West Ben­gal, Matiur Rah­man, West Ben­gal, Bai­wa­jit Basak, West Ben­gal, Amit Ku­mar-Stu­dent, Fac­ulty of Law, Delhi Uni­ver­sity, Sathish Ku­mar, Gen­eral Sec­re­tary, so­cial­ist work­ers Cen­tre, Tamil­nadu, Sun­dara Babu, Re­searcher, Tamil Nadu, Vinod Koshy, Dy­namic Ac­tion, Ker­ala, Poonam -Gen­eral sec­re­tary, Pra­gatisheel Mahila San­gathan Delhi, Dr Mri­g­ank and IFTU Delhi Com­mit­tee.