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North East : Naga ceasefire extended for another six months

	February 06, 2006

Kept on tenterhooks for months, Nagaland heaved a sigh of relief as the Union Government and the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) finally agreed to extend the ceasefire between them for another six months. The decision was reached after a “heated and serious” round of talks held in Bangkok from Jan. 27 to 31. Besides representatives of the Government of India and NSCN (IM), several Hoho leaders participated in the talks.



“It is a welcome development, particularly at this critical juncture when non-extension of the ceasefire could have led to serious consequences both socially and politically,” Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio said in a statement.



The eight-and-a-half year-old truce was in jeopardy when the Naga militant group insisted on a three-month extension only. The two sides, however, signed an agreement extending the ceasefire for another six months hours before the previous one expired.



Rio congratulated the Centre and the NSCN (I-M) for displaying “sagacity and maturity” in dealing with the sensitive issue.



The Chief Minister reiterated his government’s policy of “equi-closeness” to the warring Naga militant factions and said he would surely step down from power, as promised earlier, to pave the way for an “alternative arrangement” in the event of a settlement between the NSCN (I-M) and Delhi. Hailing the agreement, M. Vero, president of Naga Hoho the apex organisation of the Naga tribes, said a six-month extension was better than nothing.



The Naga leader said the pressure to keep the talks on track was greater on the Centre. “The pressure from the people seems clearly on the Centre. The Government of India is the larger party so they should take the risk. They cannot expect the minor party to take risks.”



The former parliamentarian, who was awarded the Padmashree this year, said if the two negotiating parties kept looking for mistakes in each other, not much could be achieved. Naga student organisations also welcomed the extension of truce.



In Manipur, the United Naga Council (UNC) said the onus was now on both Delhi and the NSCN (I-M) to quickly take the dialogue forward. “Eight years of ceasefire and talks is too long a period. We have already made it very clear to the Centre that a solution must not be delayed further,” its president, Puni Modoli, said.



The United Committee of Manipur (UCM), which is spearheading the movement against the integration of Naga-inhabited areas, also welcomed the truce extension but said it should be kept confined to Nagaland.



The UNC announced that from now on, taxes paid by Nagas in Manipur would be paid to Delhi through the Nagaland government and not the Manipur government. The UNC’s decision is likely to provoke the Meiteis who have made it clear that they would not tolerate any attempt to break up the state.





The crucial Bangkok talks



According to reports, the current round of Bangkok talks was a hard nut to crack both for the Centre and the NSCN(IM) which wanted the extension of its ceasefire with Indian security forces to be “conditional” on Delhi fulfilling commitments specified in advance. It was, therefore, unwilling in the current round of negotiations to specify any time period for the ceasefire extension. The mood seemed to be to further cut short the period of extension.



Indian negotiators, however, told the NSCN (I-M) that if the ceasefire extension was curtailed further say, from six months at present now to three months, then that would be construed as an “insult” to the Government of India. Minister of State Oscar Fernandes and former Home Secretary K. Padmanabhaiah were actually pushing for a one-year extension of the ceasefire, claiming that doing so for only six months would do more harm than good to the NSCN (I-M).



They told the NSCN (I-M) negotiators, led by its general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah, that a shortened extension would send the wrong signal to rival groups as they would assume that all is not well with the peace process and would be encouraged to jeopardise it further. This was what happened because of the last extension of six months, they claimed.



Fernandes and Padmanabhaiah are believed to have told Muivah that there was a contradiction between his claiming to have “tremendous faith” in the Prime Minister, Sonia Gandhi and the Union Home Minister’s commitment to peacefully resolving the Naga issue and, at the same time, not being inclined to extend the ceasefire long enough to explore a solution.



The Nagas, they said, must ask themselves whether they had gained or lost from the eight-and-a-half years of ceasefire and then take a balanced view on its extension. Muivah agreed with them but said that Delhi would have to commit to some confidence-building measures to sustain the ceasefire.



Muivah charged the Indian government, especially the Army, with encouraging the NSCN (I-M)’s rival groups in a bid to control it. Therefore, among other things, he demanded that the government make a firm commitment that it would not use any group against the NSCN (I-M) during the ceasefire. If Delhi did not do so, Muivah argued, then there was no point in extending the ceasefire.



For its part, the government is proposing that the two sides recognise that the commitment to a peaceful negotiated settlement had been given at the highest level and that some progress had, in fact, been made in the past, even though the last eight months had not been very productive. They want the two sides to jointly identify the roadblocks to a settlement and extend the ceasefire by a year to enable this process.



To meet the NSCN (I-M)’s concerns about the ground situation during the ceasefire, the government seemed willing to give a renewed commitment to honour and implement the ground rules of the truce both in letter and spirit.



This was to assuage the Naga concern about groups inimical to the peace process being propped up deliberately. The negotiators also proposed a joint exploration of some new initiatives to break the deadlock in the peace process.





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Hoho chief on life-support



Naga Hoho president Horangse Sangtam was admitted to a hospital in Bangkok on February 4 in a critical condition, after he complained of breathing problems.



Sources quoted hospital authorities as saying that Sangtam has been on life-support system following the collapse of his internal organs.



The president had led a seven-member delegation of Naga Hoho to Bangkok to interact with the NSCN (I-M) leadership during the four-day talks with the government for extension of the ceasefire agreement.





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