The confusion over the reported appointment of former Lok Sabha speaker P. A. Sangma as the special envoy of the Prime Minister, in place of present incumbent K. Padmanabhaiah, to hold talks with the Naga underground leaders, is in fact disturbing as well as disappointing to the peace-loving people of the North-East. At a time, when the region is limping back to normalcy, after much furore over the extension of the ceasefire area beyond the territorial limits of Nagaland, in which at least 15 lives were lost and properties worth crores were damaged, it should be the endeavour of all concerned to keep the ongoing Naga peace process free from all such uncalled for controversies to give peace a chance in this strife-torn region.

It is quite astonishing that though the confusion is showing all the signs of snowballing into a major crisis, the Centre is maintaining a deafening silence over the issue. Considering the delicate nature of the talks, the Centre is not expected to respond to all the questions raised, but when at times, confusion as prevailing now has the potential to derail the entire peace process, the Centre should clear its stand at the earliest.

Interestingly, while the Centre is mum, P. A. Sangma went on record to claim that the Prime Minister himself had informed him about former’s appointment. He also claimed that before taking the final decision, the Prime Minister also spoke to Sharad Pawar. Going at length, the MP from Tura, divulged more saying that he had handed over eight-point formula to Mr. Vajpayee, which he is confident can bring back peace in the region.

Mr. Sangma’s revelation has added more fuel to the controversy. The NSCN (IM) has already termed it as a unilateral decision of the Centre. The outfit made it clear that it had strong reservations about Mr. Sangma as the former speaker had also opposed the ceasefire area extension beyond Nagaland.

Eversince the June 14 agreement between the Centre and the NSCN (IM), demands were heard from various quarters that K. Padmanabhaiah should be relieved from his post alleging that he had misled the Centre on the issue of ceasefire area extension. Mr. Padmanabhaiah has earned the wrath of the politicians as well as student leaders. Even a section of the populace was of the opinion that the former Union home secretary was unnecessarily soft towards the NSCN (IM). Time has come for the Centre to clear all such clouds of confusions. Otherwise, not only it will once again allow the NSCN (IM) to raise its oft-repeated allegation that the Centre is not sincere in solving the Naga problem, and may put a halt to the ongoing peace process. If the Centre feels the need of changing its emissary, it is its prerogative, provided the change should be made in a transparent manner. Confusions and controversies will not help to reach anywhere. Rather it will complicate the things further.