As per the joint communuique issued after the meeting, the next round of peace talk will be held in Delhi some time next year.

ALL well that ends well. Perhaps it is the best way to describe the outcome of latest round of peace talk between the Centre and the NSCN (IM). Both sides, after an extended meeting in Bangkok, from December 6 to 9, had agreed to continue talking. As per the joint communuique issued after the meeting, the next round of peace talk will be held in Delhi some time next year. By agreeing to talk, both sides have shown great maturity and managed to avert a possible derailment of the ongoing peace process over the controversial issue of Greater Nagaland. Speculations were rife even before the start of latest round of negotiations that the ongoing negotiation might fail this time as the NSCN (IM) had taken a stubborn attitude over the integration of Naga-inhabited areas with Nagaland. While the Centre is in favour of political consensus to settle this controversial issue, NSCN (IM) remained intransigent on its stand. In response to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s call for consensus on this vexed issue, NSCN (IM) leader T. Muivah found the statement on integration of Naga-inhabited areas by Mr. Vajpayee as “highly questionable and unacceptable’’.

“The insistence on consensus of other people to determine the future of the Nagas is absolutely irrelevant. Rather, it is an attempt at shifting responsibility to switch the ongoing peace process off the track,’’ Mr Muivah wrote in a letter, adding, “it is pointless continuing the discussions without Delhi clarifying its stand on Naga integration.’’ As a matter of fact, this vexed issue by and large dominated last couple of rounds of peace negotiation. It may be mentioned here that in the last round of talks before December 6, held in Dtuch capital Amsterdam, the same issue created a stalemate, which provoked former Nagaland chief minister and senior Congress leader S. C. Jamir to claim that the talks was a failure. Mr. Jamir commented that the settlement of the Naga political issue continued to be as elusive as ever with both parties rigid in their stands. Thus, this time before the commencement of talks, when T. Muivah wrote the hard-hitting letter to K. Padmanabhaiah, Centre’s emissary, asking the Centre to make a public statement or give in black and white its position on this critical issue, the fate of the ongoing peace process became uncertain.

The Naga peace process, which was initiated in 1996, has now reached at a crucial juncture. Impatience or rigidity, from either side, can derail this peace process. So far, both the sides showed admirable maturity, but the situation demands something more. Sensing the gravity of the situation, the Centre has already urged the North Eastern states and NSCN (IM) to review their respective stands on greater Nagaland. Although Nagas are in majority in Ukhrul and Tamenglong districts of Manipur and Tirap of Arunachal Pradesh such states cannot be divided to form Greater Nagaland by undermining the sentiments of the people of these states. How volatile the issue is can be judged from the fact that when the ceasefire between the NSCN (I-M) and Centre was extended to Manipur, the State witnessed violent protests and it had to be withdrawn. Similarly, the Arunachal and Assam Governments had also vehemently opposed any further bifurcation of their states. But NSCN (IM) is not ready to buy this argument. From Muivah’s letter it is clear that NSCN (IM) will continue to put pressure on the Centre for the creation of greater Nagaland. ‘’The Nagas will not seek solution at the expense of their territories and their rights to other people. To us, the policy that clearly tends towards making the future of Nagas to be determined according to the consensus of other people is ridiculous, and as such it shall be treated as the greatest insult to the Nagas of our time,’’ Mr Muivah observed in that letter. Thus, it is more praiseworthy that despite all such obstacles peace process was not derailed. Moreover, the decision to hold the next round of talk in Delhi demands a special mention. It will definitely help to create a more conducive atmosphere. The Naga leaders visited Delhi after 37 years in January last and in their own admissions that visit helped immensely in melting the ice between the two sides. Hope, 2004 will not be much different from January 2003.

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