Guwahati: Naga National Council president, Adinno Z Phizo, the eldest daughter of Naga nationalist leader Angami Zapu Phizo, died at the age of 94 at a hospital in Kohima on Thursday evening.She headed the NNC (Adinno) faction, which holds to the original NNC position that the Nagas have a right to sovereignty.Her death removes one of the last direct links to the leadership that shaped the Naga political movement since the 1940s. It comes while other Naga groups are in talks with the Centre and with each other, on both sides of the India-Myanmar border.She led the NNC for more than three decades, having taken charge after her father’s death in London on April 30, 1990. She was formally elected president at a general meeting at the Kohima Village Hall on May 12, 1990.AZ Phizo, revered as the “Father of the Naga Nation”, led the movement for Naga self-determination and declared Naga independence on August 14, 1947 the stand which his daughter Adinno consistently upheld.She maintained that the Naga plebiscite of May 16, 1951, in which 99.9% of Nagas voted for independence, remained the mandate of the Naga people, and that the Nagas have a right to self-determination and sovereign recognition.She spent several decades in exile in London with her father. Her funeral service is expected to be held on October 10.The NNC said, “The Naga people mourn the passing of our National leader. Throughout her life she carried the responsibilities entrusted in the service of the Naga national struggle with dignity, integrity and strength, and remained committed to the political institution and aspirations of the Naga people till her last breath.”
