Naga ceasefire to be extended

NEW DELHI, July 27: India has decided to extend the ceasefire with the Nagaland militants for another year. This, in effect, is the upshot of the visit by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's special emissary K Padmanabhaiah and Intelligence Bureau (IB) director Shyamal Dutta to Amsterdam where they recently held prolonged discussions with the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah). Represented by Isak Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah, it is the only warring group fighting for '"free Naga" cause that India acknowledges. Padmanabhaiah, who recently replaced Swaraj Kaushal for the job deemed crucial by successive governments, and the IB chief returned to New Delhi on Monday evening after talking with the NSCN representatives for two days. Observers, however, point out that the modalities of the fresh ceasefire (the existing one ends on July 31) are yet to be worked out and this fact alone may complicate things for the two sides. The NSCN, for one, has been told that as the general elections in India were round the corner, the caretaker Vajpayee government was not in a position to commit itself on several issues dogging the two sides. A crucial unresolved issue ever since the ceasefire was declared two years ago is the area to be covered under the ceasefire. Theoretically, and according to the Indian government's official stand, the affected areas includes only Nagaland. But the NSCN vehemently disagrees with the government's stand and wants all "Naga-inhabited" areas - these include parts of Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh- covered under the ceasefire. It was for this reason that the NSCN often accused the security forces in these three states.