Ukhrul, April 18: At the age of 77, he is only 11 years older to his brother. But in reality, he is a father figure to his sibling, Thuingaleng Muivah.
The modest home of Sangreihan Muivah, unassuming elder brother of the NSCN (I-M) general secretary, is just like any other Naga household.
Sangreihan is reluctant to hazard a guess about what would happen as the Naga peace talks move forward. He does, however, give an idea on how things have shaped for his family since the early days of the Naga rebellion and Th. Muivah’s own association with the movement since the Sixties.
After the successful talks in Delhi, there are reports that the “collective leadership” of the NSCN (I-M) may visit Aizawl for a meeting in the presence of Mizoram chief minister Zoramthanga. “If he comes, I will take along someone with me to Aizawl and stay there for a week with him,” the media-shy septuagenarian told The Telegraph. Sangreihan had met the NSCN (I-M) leader this January in New Delhi, several decades since they last met, to have a “heart-to-heart talk for 20 minutes”.
“I told him that some solution should be hammered out by peaceful means,” he said. To that piece of advice, all that the legendary insurgent leader did by way of reacting was to smile. “He just laughed,” said Muivah senior. But Sangreihan Muivah harbours no hope of being able to meet his brother on home turf, until and unless a solution comes about.
“They will never come to Nagaland before a solution,” he said, without citing any reason. A religious person, the older Muivah is optimistic about the talks and sees a ray of hope in Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. “The PM is good and he may pave the way for peace.”
Sangreihan began his career as a contractor at the family’s native village of Somdal in Ukhrul district. He shouldered the responsibility of educating his two brothers. Their only sister died several years ago.
In the Sixties, however, when Th. Muivah joined the Naga National Council without informing him, the brother was not surprised. Today, he finds his younger brother more “healthy” and “mature too”, he said in the Tangkhul dialect. He had permitted Grandeur Muivah to be a part of the ongoing Naga talks with the Centre. “We don’t expect him here but would certainly like to see him at home,” says nephew Apam Muivah about his uncle.
Apam is the Ukhrul co-ordinator for the Nagaland People’s Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR). He said there was full support for their leader in the district and from their community. He said their “ideas are clear on the other factions”.