“The soldier must
conquer the pain and the melancholy of the passions.” – Napoleon
The Naga peace talks is certainly at a
crucial stage but the unilateral abrogation of ceasefire by NSCN (Khaplang) and
subsequent aggressive strikes by the militant group has left very few options
with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
The
NSCN (K) had unilaterally announced abrogation of ceasefire with the centre in
March 2015 protesting among other things that the government has refuse to talk
on Naga sovereignty and integration of Naga contiguous areas.
Subsequently,
the end of ceasefire by NSCN(K) has resulted in a series of violent incidents
in the northeast lately and in June in a dastardly attack several
Dogra regiment personnel were killed in a major ambush in Manipur.
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| Modi flanked by Ajit Doval and Naga CM T R Zeliang |
Prime Minister
Narendra Modi is somehow in a tearing hurry to prove that he is making forward
movement in talks with NSCN(IM), now in parleys since 1997 when I K Gujral was
the Prime Minister.
The Naga peace talk
is a complex issue with a principal demand of Naga groups’ 'unity' of Naga
contiguous areas remaining an everlasting hanging fire.
Thus unification of
Naga groups or broad agreement amongst them is must for bringing about a
solution. But with NSCN(K) walking out of ceasefire and subsequently unleashing
an era of violence only have made things more challenging for the Modi-led
dispensation.
Such broad
agreement will be required to ensure that the Government does not end up
creating another Shillong Accord type agreement of 1970s which ultimately led
to the split of A Z Phizo-led NNC and creation of a more potent National
Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN).
It is in this
context the Prime Minister seems to be guided by more sensible way of handling
things. Meeting the all-party delegation of Nagaland legislators including
Congressmen suggest NSA Ajit Doval despite his hawkish doctrine quite often
wants to go steady and slow. In this context the offer from Nagaland Chief
Minister T R Zeliang to send a team of emissaries to NSCN(Khaplang) is highly
appreciable.
Zeliang in a
meeting with the Home Minister Rajnath Singh made his offer which has been rightly
welcomed by the Home Minister.
Rajnath
conveyed that the Government is committed to finding "an amicable solution
to the Naga issue".
"The
Naga delegation led by Chief Minister pointed that in the past, the Interlocutors
to the Naga Peace Talks were authorised only to talk, but not to thrash
out a formula for resolution of the problem.... this time the Naga delegation
of state legislators met Home Minister and suggested that the present interlocutor R N Ravi be fully empowered to bring out a formula," a spokesman for the
Nagaland government later said.
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| Will Khaplang again agree for a ceasefire? |
Such
formula should "form the basis for the consultations" amongst the
Naga militant groups and the Naga people as a whole, said the
state Parliamentary Working Committee comprising of Speaker Chotisuh Sazo
and MLAs from all parties.
The
Naga leaders also urged the Home Minister "to try to re-build the
ceasefire with NSCN(K)", which walked out of the ceasefire recently. The
delegation said the centre should also review its decision of declaring entire
Nagaland State as "disturbed area" under the provisions of the Armed
Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA).
The
lack of 'adequate power' for the interlocutors has been an issue vis-a-vis Naga
peace talks as earlier too previous government negotiators like Swaraj Kaushal
(during Vajpayee regime) and K Padmanabhaiah (during Manmohan Singh government
) had complained over the same.
At
present the peace parleys with NSCN (IM) is at crucial stage as 49 out of 72
listed topics have been discussed and cleared, government sources said here.
'However, the crucial issues have not come for discussions yet," sources
said while making it clear that the government of India will not hold any talks
on Naga sovereignty.
The negotiator R N
Ravi perhaps awaits further directives and power to talk.
 |
| Isak Chishi and Muivah - Tough Negotiators |
In the ultimate even
after 18 years of parleys it appears things are at initial stage only. The Modi
government is not to be blamed for this. By 2011-12 things were progressing
fast and the negotiator R S Pandey had made certain right moves. But Dr
Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister hardly had political will and acumen. In the
case of Modi, an ambitious man that he is, he is hurry to deliver. He may
succeed but bringing in other Naga factions on the negotiating table is must.
Sincerity
and hard work actually move things faster towards success.
Otherwise, as they
say, failure is part of life. Even when it's sunny, one needs a bit of rain
to make a rainbow.
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