Heated exchanges mark Naga ceasefire meet

GUWAHATI, July 20: After a gap of six months, a meeting of Ceasefire Monitoring Group (CFMG) was held on Tuesday at Dimapur in Nagaland in a heated atmosphere marked by trading of charges and counter-charges. The meeting was attended only by representatives of the Centre, including the Union Home Ministry and the Army, and the Isak- Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN). The state government of Nagaland had withdrawn from the CFMG after the NSCN(IM) ambushed Chief Minister SC Jamir's convoy in November last year. The main purpose of the meeting, chaired by PD Shenoy, Additional Secretary in the Union Home Ministry, was to break the stalemate over the ceasefire monitoring mechanism after the ambush on Jamir and the subsequent closing down of the NSCN(IM)'s ceasefire monitoring cell in Dimapur by the Assam Rifles, a Union Home Ministry Force. When the cell was closed down, the Assam Rifles had said that it was being used by the NSCN(IM) for illegal purposes like holding 'kangaroo courts', issuing extortion notices and plotting killings and kidnappings. After heated debate, it was agreed that the NSCN(IM) would be allowed to once more open a ceasefire monitoring cell at Diphupar, about 6 km from Dimapur, for one year, but with the express provision that no activities in violation of the ceasefire be carried out in it. The NSCN(IM) on its part alleged that the security forces of the government had violated the ceasefire by raiding houses of its top brass. It also raised the issue of the killing of 12 of its cadres by Army troops near Bholapunji village in Assam's Cachar district on the night of July 11. According to the NSCN(IM), this 'violation` of the ceasefire took place in a ceasefire area; but the Union Home Ministry pointed out that Assam is not covered by the ceasefire and rejected the NSCN(IM) contention of ceasefire violation. The Union Home Ministry team at Tuesday's meeting also refused to commit anything on the extension of the current ceasefire which expires on July 31, saying this would be decided by their 'higher authorities'. The Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee, meeting the same day, urged the Centre and the Naga underground groups to extend the ceasefire.