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Nagaland : Centre mulls new ceasefire monitor |
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The Union Government is considering a change of guard in the Ceasefire Monitoring Group which oversees the truce agreements of the two NSCN factions. According to sources, former Andhra Pradesh DGP Swaranjit Sen may replace Lt Gen (retd) R.V. Kulkarni, the current incumbent.
Sen, who retired in December, may take up the assignment in Kohima after Gen. Kulkarni vacates the position.
The move is likely to displease the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) but make its rival group, led by S.S. Khaplang, happy. The latter had been campaigning for Gen. Kulkarni’s removal.
The “real” reason behind the move, apparently, is to use the Khaplang group to flush ULFA rebels out of Myanmar. The NSCN (K) reportedly trains ULFA militants in its Myanmar camps.
From Upper Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, ULFA militants cross over to that country with the help of the Naga outfit.
Gen. Kulkarni had repeatedly told the home ministry that despite a ceasefire, not even one per cent of the group’s armed rebels stayed within designated camps, whereas nearly 55 per cent of NSCN (I-M) rebels lived in camps. This apparently displeased those in North Block who are in favour of the NSCN (K)’s help to tackle ULFA.
Khaplang group in peace overture with NSCN(IM)
The Khaplang faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland has responded to a call by its rival Isak-Muivah group for peace and reconciliation in the “Naga homeland”.
NSCN (K) general secretary N. Kitovi Zhimomi said an endeavour for imparting stability to the “Naga nation” was his heartfelt wish. He pledged to take up the task of ushering in peace in Nagaland.
Zhimomi rued the internecine trends that have developed over the decades during which the uprising has continued, eventually entrenching themselves in the “very socio-political” fabric of the Nagas.
Meanwhile, NSCN (I-M) leader Isak Chishi Swu has reached Camp Hebron, the council headquarters of the outfit. He called for reconciliation and forgiveness among the Naga groups, going to the extent of promising forgiveness to those who had committed mistakes that had affected his organisation and the Naga people.
The Khaplang group has already apologised to the Naga people and Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and his family for any “unethical” acts by its members in the past or policies implemented in any form which are not in consonance with the slogan “Nagaland for Christ”.
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