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North East

	October 04, 2004

Terror strikes in Nagaland and Assam

A sudden explosion of violence in India’s Northeast on Mahatma Gandhi’s 135th birth anniversary claimed 48 lives and left more than 100 injured. Three blasts in the space of a minute killed more than 30 people and injured 87 in Nagaland’s commercial hub of Dimapur. Unofficial sources put the toll at 36.

In neighbouring Assam, suspected National Democratic Front of Bodoland militants shot dead 13 people in two markets and wounded 25. One militant was killed in a shootout with the police on the Assam-Bhutan border. Suspected ULFA militants carried out four grenade attacks, killing eight.

The first explosion occurred at the railway station - Nagaland’s only rail head - and was followed a minute later by two simultaneous blasts at the busy Hong Kong market. The security agencies later found and defused another bomb at the busy municipal supermarket.

The carnage came as a surprise as the two NSCN factions - Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM) and Khaplang (NSCN-K) - have been observing a “ceasefire” with New Delhi. This is the first major explosion in any public place in strife-torn Nagaland in the past one decade. A minor explosion that took place in Dimapur last month in a bazaar had left three injured. Even during the five decades of Naga insurgency, Nagaland had never witnessed such major explosions.

No insurgent outfit has yet claimed responsibility for the mayhem. Highly placed Assam Police officials say the NDFB is suspected to be behind all the five incidents in Assam. Tomorrow (October 3) is the raising day of the banned Bodo outfit, which has been demanding creation of a sovereign Bodo tribal state.

Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil who briefed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the situation arising out of the latest incidents rushed to Dimapur (Nagaland) on Sunday. He was accompanied by former Union Home Secretary Padmanabhaiah who is the Centre’s interlocutor in the Naga peace process. The Home Minister also spoke to Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio over phone and expressed the hope that the peace process in the region would not be compromised.

Chief Minister Rio in a statement described the incident as “unfortunate” and added that his government would leave no stone unturned in fighting the menace of terrorism.

“Such incidents would only vitiate the atmosphere of peace in Nagaland,” he said, ruling out the involvement of any Naga group in the ghastly incidents.

Rio also announced constitution of a three-member enquiry commission headed by a Commissioner-level officer, which has been asked to submit its report within 10 days.

Observers say that the incidents indicate that there are certain elements, perhaps supported by foreign forces, who do not want peace to be established in the North East.



Naga peace process : NSCN-IM claims near solution

Even as the terrorist strikes in Nagaland shattered both the Centre and State Governments, the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak Muivah) claims to have wrapped up discussions with Delhi on the contentious subjects of “defence, foreign affairs and currency”.

The militant group’s Bangkok-based leadership told a seven-member team of legislators from Nagaland recently that integration of all contiguous Naga-inhabited areas of the North-east was the only hurdle that remained to be surmounted.

The team of Naga legislators met NSCN (I-M) general secretary Th. Muivah and chairman Isak Chishi Swu at a hotel in the Thai capital. Azo Neinu, who led the team to Bangkok and later to Singapore, Hong Kong and China, said the meeting was held in an “informal” atmosphere.

“Everything except currency, foreign affairs and defence will be handed over to the Nagas in a likely solution,” one of the legislators quoted the NSCN (I-M) leadership as saying.

Nagaland became the 16th state of the Indian Union in 1963, but militant groups continue to fight for “political sovereignty”. Though the NSCN (I-M) and Delhi started a peace process seven years ago, neither side has been candid about the progress of the dialogue so far.

Another member of the legislators’ delegation said the NSCN (I-M) leadership’s definition of sovereignty had changed. “We were reminded that Nagaland is a land-locked area and does not have any international link. Therefore, development cannot be achieved without Indian help.”

He said the NSCN (I-M)’s main demand was integration of all Naga-inhabited areas. The militant group’s deputy kilonser (minister) of information and publicity, K. Chawang, echoed him. “We believe that after integration, it will be a smooth road. Without it, talks are meaningless.

Chawang said his organisation was “expecting and hoping for a solution within this year”.

The Democratic Alliance of Nagaland government’s Consultative Committee for Peace has asked all rebel factions to stop “infighting” and be confined to their designated camps. It also urged Delhi to be “sincere and straightforward in the ongoing dialogue with the NSCN (I-M). Chief minister Neiphiu Rio chaired the meeting.

The committee was formed by the Nagaland People’s Front-led coalition soon after it formed the government last year. Though the committee’s primary objective is to end factional rivalry, its efforts to unite the warring Isak-Muivah and Khaplang groups have not yielded any result.

The panel repeated its appeal to both groups to “set aside factionalism, maintain peace among themselves and with the general public, and work together in the spirit of brotherhood for the common political cause of the Nagas”.



Manipur : Protesters put ball in PM’s court

The working committee of the organisations spearheading the agitation against the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act on October 1 agreed to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, holding out hope for an end to the impasse in Manipur.

Governor S.S. Sidhu took the initiative in bringing the Apunba Lup to the negotiation table after the organisation rebuffed the state government and Delhi several times.

A delegation of the Apunba Lup met the Governor this afternoon. The team admitted to being “happy” with the outcome of the meeting, which lasted over an hour.

“We are satisfied with the outcome of the talks. This marks the starting point of the march towards a logical conclusion. We hope the Prime Minister will find a way,” L. Jadu, a member of the delegation, told the media.

The date for the meeting with the Prime Minister has not been fixed.

The Governor is understood to have offered to facilitate talks between the Apunba Lup and the Prime Minister if the organisation was “willing to hold such a meeting”.