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North East : Naga peace talks : Kashmir-type status on the anvil

	August 01, 2005

The UPA Government headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appears to be making last ditch efforts to salvage the Naga peace process which was virtually broken earlier this year with the two sides - the Centre and the NSCN(IM) - falling apart on several contentious issues like sovereignty, separate arrangements for defence, currency and Naga national flag. However, the two sides then agreed to continue with the negotiation process, the only positive outcome of the much publicised Delhi round.

The latest round of talks is currently going on in Amsterdam and there are reports that New Delhi is making all out efforts to solve the five-decade old Naga problem by offering the maximum that the Government can afford without compromising national integrity and honour.

Media reports quoting well-placed sources say that the latest deal offered by New Delhi to the NSCN(IM) leadership is Kashmir-type status for Nagaland, instead of the sovereign status the group has been fighting for.

This will not be the kind of separation of powers envisaged in the original Kashmir package but is similar to the situation prevalent on the ground today, according to a senior minister of the UPA government involved in the negotiations.

Sources reveal that the three ministers, including Oscar Fernandes and Prithviraj Chauhan of the PMO, who are involved in the negotiations, see sense in offering the NSCN(IM) an “honourable” deal. Says one of the ministers : “At the moment the situation is ripe on the ground. If we dilly dally now a new generation will be ready to take to the gun.”

This realisation has also found a taker in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, despite opposition from National Security Adviser M.K. Narayan who, sources say, wants to tire out the militant outfit.

There is a growing realisation in the government that with the Naxal problem, resurgence of militancy in Punjab and no solution yet in sight for Kashmir, the government cannot afford to open another front in the North-East.

The deal that will be offered to the NSCN-IM will be akin to Kashmir status as it prevails today. Officials involved with drafting out the deal are emphatic that it will not be based on Kashmir’s original Article of Accession. Semi-autonomy, with most of the provisions of the Assembly and other constitutional arrangements that prevail in Kashmir today, is on the drawing board. Inheritance and laws preventing the purchase of land by outsiders will also form part of the package. Suitably important titles may also be allowed for the protocol conscious NSCN leadership.

The NSCN’s demand that boundaries should be redrawn to accommodate all Naga people, which is being opposed by neighbouring states like Manipur, is also being considered. Officials say that there is nothing sacrosanct about state boundaries, citing the demand for Telangana.

Sources in the NSCN said that they had faith in the current negotiators and were agreeable to return to India to negotiate.

Muivah, meanwhile, is expected to proceed to Bangkok by the end of the second week of August. He will then begin consultations with invited groups of Nagas first in Bangkok and later, in Dimapur and Camp Hebron in Nagaland.

Minister of State for Programme Implementation and the leader of the ministerial group negotiating with the NSCN (I-M), Oscar Fernandes, was present in Amsterdam. “Oscar met me twice but he was not part of the formal ceasefire extension talks”, Muivah said.



India to strengthen anti-infiltration measures

In an effort to boost anti-infiltration measures along the Indo-Bangladesh border in Assam, the Union Home Ministry has cleared a pilot project for installation of floodlights in all vulnerable stretches of the 262-km international boundary.

The floodlights will cover a 126-km stretch that is most prone to infiltration. Assam shares a 262-km border with Bangladesh, of which 92 km is riverine.

A senior official in the Border Security Force (BSF) said on July 29 that the Home Ministry’s sanction was based on an analysis of the situation. The report said foolproof surveillance along the vulnerable sections was impossible as Bangladeshi infiltrators and smugglers were sneaking in after dark.

The Ministry decided to send a team of experts to Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico to explore the feasibility of procuring sophisticated sensor systems used in America to prevent cross-border infiltration.

According to a Home Ministry report, the second phase of construction of fencing along a 71.5-km stretch on the Indo-Bangla border in Assam at an expenditure of Rs. 133.4 crore, is expected to be completed by early 2007. To expedite the process, two more construction agencies, Engineering Projects (India) Ltd and National Projects Construction Corporation Ltd would be engaged, an official said.

The state public works department, central public works department, Border Roads Organisation and National Building Construction Corporation are involved in erecting the eight-foot iron and steel fences along the border.

As many as 28 border outposts of the police force and three tactical headquarters had been set up by the state home department in accordance with the scheme of second-line of surveillance, an official of the department said. He said Assam was now in the process of raising a river patrolling outfit of the state police, which would be equipped with fibre-glass boats.