Extortions on the rise during ceasefire; More NSCN factional clashes feared

DIMAPUR (Rangapahar), January 22: Though a semblance of peace has returned to Nagaland following the ongoing ceasefire, factional fights among the two warring Naga groups NSCN(IM) and NSCN(K) are going to rock the State and parts of Manipur in the near future. What is a more significant development is that largescale extortion by the militants has also gone alltime high. Although unlike Tripura militants, NSCN militants do not indulge in indiscriminate kidnappings, sustained extortion during ceasefire has certainly been a matter of apprehension for all the Army deployed in the State. The amount the Naga militants have accumulated during this period could be well guessed from the fact that they claim Rs 5,000 from each truck entering Nagaland while each house has to pay Rs 110 per year. It is now alleged that the militants are indulging in timber smuggling. In fact, hundreds of truckloads of timber are rolling out of interior places every day and as per unconfirmed reports, the militants claim Rs 1,500 a truck. Largescale extortion has, however, resulted in protests among the Naga villagers who were so far accustomed with the bloodshed and perennialy problem of militancy for the last three generations. Now the Naga villagers are declaring more and more villages as 'exclusion zones' debarring entry of the militants belonging to both warring factions. This has also added to the factional clashes for command areas among the two NSCN groups. To exploit the ground situation in its favour, the Army has also begun several civic action programmes in the Naga villages. Various training camps, development works, etc are being undertaken with the direct financial and manpower resources of the security forces. Since the ceasefire was promulgated on August 1, 1997, at least 200 militants belonging to both the NSCN(IM) and NSCN (K) and 400 civilians have been killed. According to Lt General T S Shergill, GoC, 3 Corps, out of the killed 400 civilians, 98 per cent belongs to Nagaland and only two per cent to Manipur. While among the 200 Naga rebels killed, 95 per cent activists were from Nagaland and five per cent from Manipur. The semblance of peace that has returned in Nagaland during the ceasefire, has given the beleaguered Naga society to look back to the violent days in the past.