Naga accord framework cannot be disclosed: CIC

Times of India: New Delhi: Tuesday, May 30, 2017.

Two years after an RTI was filed seeking details of the Naga peace accord between the government and the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland, the central information commission (CIC) has ruled in favour of the home ministry withholding the contents of the accord.

Agreeing with the ministry of home affairs decision to withhold information, the chief information commissioner, R K Mathur in his decision said, "In the present case, the sovereign and integrity of India and the security, the strategic interests of the state may be prejudicially affected. The public interest served by non-disclosure has to be weighed against the immediate public interest of disclosure."

The order cites R N Ravi, chairman of the joint intelligence committee and interlocutor, who told the CIC the ground situation was "sensitive and fragile", and the "premature release" of the information would be "prejudicial to national security". "The government does not wish to lose the gains arising out of the Framework Agreement," Mathur quoted Ravi as saying.

The RTI was filed in September 2015 by Venkatesh Nayak, an RTI activist, seeking details of the Naga Framework Agreement between the Centre and the NSCN- IM after an announcement of the same by the prime minister's office through a press release. The RTI was transferred from the PMO to the ministry of home affairs, which at first claimed that the document was not available with the ministry. It later refused to give the information citing Section 8(1)(a) pertaining to national sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of the state. Nayak then went to the CIC in appeal.

While agreeing with the MHA's decision not to disclose the contents of the Naga peace accord, the transparency panel was scathing about the many months it took the ministry to identify that the records related to the agreement were under the joint intelligence committee.

Information seeker Nayak claimed that a press release after the agreement was signed had said the "details and execution plan" would be released shortly. But even after 18 months, the information was still not out. He said the extension of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in the region in December 2016 buttressed the argument that that there was a gap between "official talk" and the situation on the ground.