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The Rediff Special/Nitin Gogoi

Peace eludes Nagaland

Nagas want the Indian government to undertake confidence-building measures, to reactivate the peace process in Nagaland.

Grinder Muivah, nephew of guerrilla leader Thuingaleng Muivah, said recently that the Nagas have started losing confidence in the peace process.

Grinder has been accused of having attempted to hijack an Indian Airlines plane from Mizoram's capital Aizwal. "The government is trying to implicate me in the hijack case since I have been acting as a go-between of the Centre and Naga rebel group," Grinder said.

For over four decades, the problem looked as intractable as the Palestine-Israeli row. Nagaland, witness to Asia's longest running insurgency, has been at the centre of an endless chain of violence since 1956. For three years, the guns have occasionally fallen silent, thanks to a path-breaking truce between the Centre and the most powerful underground group in the state, the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN). As it is led by Issac Chisi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah, it is known as the IM faction.

At least seven rounds of talks have been held subsequently between government emissaries and the NSCN-IM leadership (CHRONOLOGY: The Nagaland ceasefire). That the talks have got nowhere is the downside of the process, but for the first time security forces and militants are not fighting each other.

And people are breathing a little easier, spared of being caught in the crossfire. Despite the ceasefire, factional fights between NSCN-IM and the NSCN (K) have claimed several hundred lives in three years.

According to the home ministry, 536 people, 211 of them civilians and the rest cadres of other underground outfits, have been killed in Nagaland since July 1997.

Despite the killings, the northeast looks forward to lasting peace in Nagaland since the NSCN-IM is regarded as the fountainhead of insurgency in the region. If the NSCN-IM comes to an understanding with the government, other groups will follow suit. Several extensions later, the three-year old truce is to end in July.

The key to whether this ceasefire continues lies in a high-security prison in Thailand. Confined to a well-fortified cell is the man who could make or break the painstakingly put together peace process. Thuingaleng Muivah, powerful general secretary of the NSCN-IM, is facing trial in a Thai court for using a forged passport.

It is an irony that the legendary guerrilla leader, who flitted in and out of various countries as an underground leader, was caught in January when on his way for talks with an Indian government representative. The talks were to be the eighth round between government representatives and Muivah's outfit, outside India.

Five months later, negotiations are stalled since the NSCN has not nominated a replacement for Muivah, who is expected to be in jail for another year. Muivah's absence has created a piquant situation, since New Delhi does not know whom to talk to. Indications from the Union home ministry suggest that outfit chairman Issac Chsi Swu could resume the dialogue if Muivah fails to nominate a replacement. Prime Minister A B Vajpayee's emissary for Naga talks, former home secretary K. Padmanabhaiah is to meet Swu either in Philippines or Netherlands soon, home ministry sources say.

The talks process, which began in 1997, has got nowhere with both sides failing to establish even common points on which discussions can take place. In Nagaland, there is concern among prominent Church leaders, social activists and common people about the lack of progress,

"The government of India and NSCN-IM must be blamed for their insincerity and unrealistic stand,'' Rev V K Nuh and Rev L Mhasi of the Nagaland Baptist Council of Churches said in a statement. The duo had recently met Muivah in Thailand. "Had both sides been sincere and bold there would have been a breakthrough within three years, but even primary issues have not been touched," the two said.

The church leaders, who have been working towards unification of several underground factions in the state, blame the NSCN-IM. "Except for the NSCN-IM, all Naga 'national' organisations have responded positively for peace and unity," they said.

The NSCN-IM, considered the most powerful insurgent outfit in the region, has doubts over the credibility of the church leaders. A statement by the NSCN-IM's publicity wing said: "Nuh and Mhasi are sponsored by the state and they speak like the state's politicians. They speak with authority but without serious thought."

Charging the state as being the main obstacle to unity moves, the underground outfit maintained that the pastors were trying to create confusion among the people.

With a little over a month to go before the ceasefire deadline expires, the Centre has stepped in to reactivate the process. The main bone of contention is interpretation of the ceasefire ground rules. Although the NSCN-IM and New Delhi have agreed to reactivate the Cease-Fire Monitoring Group (CFMG), differences over ground rules persist, Union home ministry officials said.

At a meeting on May 25 and 26 in Delhi, the Centre insisted the ceasefire extend to security forces and civilians, while the NSCN-IM faction, led by 'finance minister' and former army chief V S Atem, apparently insisted that the truce be applicable to security forces and that the outfit had the right to defend itself from other underground groups. This dispute apart, the Centre and NSCN are now keen to revive dialogue immediately.

Padmanabhaiah is optimistic about the process. "Though I could not meet them, I have been briefed by home ministry officials that the meeting was fruitful and positive," Padmanabhaiah told a newspaper in Guwahati.

Nagaland Chief Minister S C Jamir has reiterated that the NSCN-IM cannot be sole arbitrator of the fate of Nagas. In a hard-hitting speech at a gathering of 1068 village heads of the state, Jamir criticised those "trying to assume the leadership role in the state through violence, force and the barrel of the gun."

With no love lost between Jamir and the NSCN-IM leadership, any attempt for a settlement between the Centre and the militant outfit will be difficult to sell.

Either way, peace in Nagaland is elusive, the seven rounds of negotiation abroad notwithstanding.

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