Nagas on tenterhooks as truce expiry date nears

GUWAHATI, July 18: The people of Nagaland are highly apprehensive as July 31 approaches. On that day, the three-year-long ceasefire between the Isak-Muivah faction of the NSCN and the Government of India expires. The common people are hoping against hope that it will be extended, as has been demanded by several representative and public organisations in the non-governmental sector. Keeping this in mind, the political affairs committee of the state cabinet has recommended that the Centre extend the ceasefire for another six months, subject to certain conditions. But the principal parties, the Government of India and the NSCN(IM), are playing a game of brinkmanship. The Union Home Ministry has said that it is in no hurry to extend the ceasefire. The NSCN(IM) has laid down a set of conditions for extending the ceasefire which the Home Ministry cannot accept, as also the state government of Nagaland. NGOs like the Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC), the Naga Gaon Burrhas` Union (village headmen), Naga Ho Ho (apex body of tribal councils), Naga Mothers` Association (NMA) and the Naga Students` Federation (NSF) have called for an unconditional extension of the ceasefire beyond July 31 in the interests of peace. The political affairs committee of the Nagaland state cabinet also wants the ceasefire extended, but it wants a 'real ceasefire`, meaning that the NSCN(IM) has to stop all hostile activities against rival groups as well as activities 'detrimental` to civilians like extortion, robbery, kidnapping and threats. The state cabinet also wants the ceasefire to be extended to the NSCN(K) and the NNC/Federal groups. The NSCN(IM) is adamantly opposed to including its rival groups in the ceasefire agreement, as it believes it is the sole representative of the Naga cause. It also holds that the ceasefire applies only between its cadres and the Government of India's forces; all other actions by it against civilians, the state government and rival factions come under 'Naga internal affairs` and are excluded from the ambit of the ceasefire. Under this reasoning, the NSCN(IM) ambushed Chief Minister SC Jamir's convoy on November 29 last year, as a result of which two policemen died and the state government's position against the NSCN(IM) hardened. The NSCN(IM) has questioned the sincerity of the Government of India in carrying on the peace process and has said that there is no reason to extend it unless the latter takes note of certain issues. First, it wants the ceasefire to cover all Naga-inhabited areas, the so-called 'Nagalim,` including those in Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. The present ceasefire covers only Nagaland state. It wants the government to release all NSCN(IM) personnel arrested and held in jail since the ceasefire began on August 1, 1997, to stop raiding the homes of NSCN personnel and the Naga people, to withdraw the Disturbed Areas Act from Naga-inhabited areas of Manipur and to withdraw all arrest warrants and cash rewards issued or announced by different state governments. The NSCN(IM) has also pointed out that extension of the ceasefire is meaningless if political talks cannot be held; and that meaningful talks cannot be held as its General Secretary Thuingaleng Muivah is currently in jail in Thailand. PD Shenoy, additional secretary in the Union Home Ministry, on the other hand, has said that the Centre has no immediate plans to extend the ceasefire with the NSCN(IM). A decision on this will be taken only after a committee appointed for the purpose revises the ceasefire ground rules, Shenoy said in New Delhi last week. Home ministry officials have also indicated that the Centre has taken serious note of the NSCN(IM)'s help to militant groups outside the ceasefire zone in recent months. The Centre is well aware, and concerned, about the NSCN(IM)'s help to groups like the United People's Democratic Solidarity (UPDS) and the Dima Halong Daogah (DHD) in Assam which have carried out a series of massacres of civilians and attacks on government servants in the last few months. This factor will play an important role in the Centre's decision on extending the ceasefire, Home Ministry sources said.