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North East : Naga peace process : No progress so far, says Muivah

	December 19, 2005

On the eve of the latest round of peace talks between the Union Government and the Naga militant outfit, NSCN(IM), which began in Bangkok on Dec. 16, party general secretary T. Muivah, has criticised New Delhi for what he called “spurning the Naga hand of friendship.”



Speaking to newspersons in Bangkok on Dec. 15, he said the talks were entering a “turbulent zone” and claimed that in the last six months of the ceasefire, there had been no progress from the Indian side.



Taking stock of the present state of the peace talks, Muivah remarked that as of now, there seemed to be no meeting point between the government of India and the NSCN (I-M). He said that in the last eight years of the ceasefire, India had given “neither a roadmap nor a timeframe for a settlement”.



“Now we are wondering whether it has been worth our while to have come so far.”



Muivah said if the Nagas were asked to go beyond what was “acceptable and honourable”, then they would have no option but “to surmise that India’s current leadership does not really want a solution.”



That the peace negotiations were moving into a blame game was clear when Muivah said: “The real intention of the government of India is to destroy what he described the “righteous cause” of the Nagas, treacherously using Naga renegades who have no support among the people.”



The NSCN (IM) leadership, he claimed, was not responsible for the present situation. “If I have not done enough to understand the position of the Government of India or its constraints, then I should be blamed for merely talking big. But we are sure that we have done the best we could to address all issues of India’s apprehension.”





Provocation slur on Rio govt



The Nagaland Congress has slammed the Neiphiu Rio government for misleading the people of the state on the Naga peace process saying the Chief Minister’s statements are “provocative and dreadful”.



In a statement on December 14, the Congress reacted strongly to Rio’s statement two days earlier, asking the people “to be ready for anything” if the ceasefire is abrogated.



The Chief Minister had practically washed his hands of the issue saying the onus of continuing with the ceasefire rests entirely on the Centre and the NSCN (Isak-Muivah).



The Congress has accused Rio of lying when it said that the government maintained “equi-closeness” with all underground groups. “It has proved to be a huge lie with recent events clearly pointing out that it is closer to and more inclined towards a particular group,” vice-president of Nagaland Congress Nuzota Swuro said with an oblique reference to the NSCN (I-M).



Swuro accused Rio of wishing that the ceasefire breaks down. “Rio’s statement implies that he wants the negotiating parties to break off the talks without achieving any goal.”



The Congress said if there is any breakthrough in the latest round of Bangkok talks, the credit should go to the negotiating teams for showing their maturity in understanding the aspirations of the Naga people.



The Congress urged the Centre and the NSCN (I-M) to keep in mind the aspirations of the Naga people and sincerely pursue it until an honourable and acceptable solution is achieved.



“It would be worthless to have entered into the ceasefire for such a long period if it is abrogated without arriving at any solution,” the release said.



Drawing a parallel with the 1960s, the party said when the first ceasefire was abrogated, Nagas had to go through long periods of severe hardship. Swuro said the people would not like a repeat of that when the talks between the Centre and the NSCN (I-M) are going in the right direction.