Nagaland Church defies separatist outfit diktat

Kohima, Nov. 15, 2004 – The Nagaland Baptist Church Council has boldly rejected the NSCN (I–M)’s diktat that all private schools in the state should register with its education wing.

After discussing the issue at an executive committee recently, the apex baptist organization maintained that the official directive of the separatist outfit was 'premature' and that the Church and the state should keep separate existence.

The NBCC general secretary Rev. Zhabu Terhuja, exhorted in a press statement recently that the council would "maintain the tradition of the Baptist Church and its institutions of being free from decrees, policies and regulations of other organizations".

The NSCN (I–M) in September had directed all private schools and educational institutions to register themselves with its education wing and asked them to observe certain days as "national holidays".

Almost all the 20 church associations under the NBCC in Nagaland run their own educational institutions.