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Nagaland weighs its stakes : Pins hope on UNC-backed candidates

	February 19, 2007

As Manipur parties cross swords in the battle of the ballots, Nagaland is praying for the 11 United Naga Council-backed Independent candidates in the Naga-dominated hill districts of its neighbouring state.



According to Naga Hoho, the apex organisation of the Nagas, the victory of the UNC-backed candidates in Senapati, Ukhrul, Tamenglong and Chandel will help set up a pressure group in the Manipur Assembly.



For Manipur, this is no ordinary election too. For the first time the territorial integrity of Nagas is uppermost on the minds of the electorate in the four Naga-dominated hill districts.



“This is good for the Naga people. I hope they will win and take a collective decision which is good for us too,” Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio said.



While reacting to Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s assertion that territorial integrity of Manipur would be protected at any cost, he said, “In democracy it’s the will of the people that ultimately prevails. Individual opinion doesn’t count.”





India-Myanmar joint action against insurgency



The home secretary-level talks between India and Myanmar in the wake of a renewed offensive by the military regime in Yangoona against the NSCN (Khaplang) have given the Naga militant group and its ally from Assam, ULFA, a lot to worry about.



The NSCN (K) admitted on Feb. 15 that its chairman, S.S. Khaplang, has had to vacate his council headquarters in Saigaing division and move deeper into the forests of that region.



“The attacks have been going on for almost a month now, and our chairman has left the council headquarters and gone deeper into the jungles,” A.Z. Jami, a senior leader of the Khaplang faction, said over the phone. He dismissed speculation that Khaplang had sneaked into Arunachal Pradesh.



The ULFA, which shares the NSCN (K)’s camps across the international border, has also been affected. The army claims to have rounded up at least 10 ULFA militants while they were trying to flee Myanmar.



An Indian delegation, led by Union home secretary V.K. Duggal, reached Myanmar on Feb. 13 for four days of talks. The Myanmarese Deputy Home Minister Brig. Gen. Phon Swe led the host country’s representatives in the parleys, which have coincided with the resumption of the military offensive after a rain-forced break.



Duggal’s agenda for the talks with Myanmar included issues pertaining to border management, security and drug trafficking, but insurgency figured prominently in the discussions, sources said. New Delhi has been repeatedly conveying its concern over Myanmar’s territory being used by militant outfits for anti-India activities.



The Khaplang faction has been sheltering and training ULFA militants for several years now, calling them “revolutionaries” fighting for a cause similar to the one it professes to uphold. Three ULFA members, including two women, were arrested in Dimapur last week, sources said. A week earlier, seven ULFA members were arrested in Nagaland while trying to escape from Myanmar.





Factional rivalry intensifies



Meanwhile, factional fighting between the two major Naga militant outfits, NSCN(IM) led by Swu and Muivah and the NSCN(K) led by S. Khaplang has intensified.



In the latest incident, at least four activists of the Naga National Council (NNC) were killed in an ambush by suspected members of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (IM) on Feb. 17 near Pfutsero town, in Phek district.



The NSCN (Khaplang), an ally of the NNC, disclosed that none of its own cadre was involved or slain in the ambush.



The Pfutsero area is a stronghold of the NSCN (I-M). The NNC, supported by the NSCN (K), has been trying to oust the rival group from this area and Phek district.



The NSCN (I-M) leadership has threatened to call off the ceasefire with New Delhi if the rival Khaplang group is not reined in. The Union home ministry has asked the Nagaland government to take all precautionary measures to stop a full-blown war between the militant groups.