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North East : Naga peace talks : Centre talks tough, Army for new truce rules |
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The Union Government has decided to “keep all options” open on continuing its ceasefire with the NSCN (Isak-Muivah) even as the Army pressured it to amend the truce rules to prevent the militant group and the rival Khaplang faction from repeatedly getting away with violations.
A highly-placed source said the decision was taken at a meeting convened by the Home Ministry to review the peace process in Nagaland. Top officials of the Army and several senior bureaucrats, including Defence Secretary Shekhar Dutt and Home Secretary Vinod Duggal, participated in the review session. Also present was former Home Secretary K. Padmanabhaiah in his capacity as Delhi’s chief interlocutor in the talks with the NSCN (IM).
It was the second high-level meeting on the Naga impasse in less than a month. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Oscar Fernandes, who heads the group of ministers negotiating with the NSCN (IM), participated in the first discussion.
“The government has discussed all possibilities and decided that if they (NSCN-IM) continue flexing their muscles, we will also keep our options open,” the source said, implying that Delhi was not inclined to extend the truce for the sake of it.
The NSCN (IM) too, has been threatening to abrogate the ceasefire agreement “ signed in 1997 “ if Delhi does not give in to its demand for the integration of all Naga-inhabited areas of the Northeast. The next round of talks is to be held in Bangkok on December 15, but NSCN (I-M) chairman Isak Chishi Swu is reportedly stranded in the Philippines because his visa has lapsed.
The ceasefire has been hanging by a thread ever since the NSCN (I-M) declared that its activists had “pulled up their socks” in readiness for a possible breakdown of the talks.
Lt Gen. Z.U. Shah, general-officer-commanding of the Army’s 3 Corps, said it was about time both factions of the NSCN were prevented from moving about freely with firearms in civilian areas. “The set of rules is such that there is scope for double interpretation. We have sent our recommendations to the Army headquarters,” he said.
Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, who has often been accused of being “soft” on the NSCN (I-M), admitted recently that both militant groups were equally guilty of violating the rules governing their ceasefire with Delhi.
Lt Gen. Shah described the situation in Nagaland as “stable”, but said much needed to be done to keep the peace process going.
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