Naga truce gets six-month extension

The statement was signed by the Centre’s interlocuter, K. Padmanabhaiah, and NSCN (I-M) leader Thuingaleng Muivah. Both sides agreed to re-activate and make effective mechanisms to address all ceasefire issues, including modification of ground rules, the statement said.

Recognising that there had been insufficient progress in talks, the two sides decided to carry political negotiations forward and to take new initiatives to resolve the Naga problem, the statement added.

According to sources, the Centre told NSCN(I-M) leaders Muivah and Isak Chisi Swu that there were no secret parleys in progress with the rival Khaplang faction. The government’s emissaries, Padmanabhaiah and senior Congress leader Oscar Fernandes, also told the Nagas that they would make sure that the armed forces were not aiding the NSCN-K.

About the contentious demand for a ‘Greater Nagaland’—which would comprise all Naga-inhabited areas, including parts of Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam—the Centre’s representatives told the NSCN(I- M) leaders that they would hold talks with the state governments likely to be affected by the proposed merger.

However, sources said that it was made clear that talks with other states could only be informal, as official talks could foment trouble in the states. ‘‘A mere suggestion of a merger is enough to create unrest in the neighbouring states. So discussions with them would have to be a low key affair,’’ an official disclosed.

The Nagas—under pressure from their cadres for concrete results—told the government that they were looking forward to seeing if the Centre kept its promises over the next six months. Till last year, the ceasefire with the Centre, in effect since 1997, had received an annual extension. However, in July, 2004, the NSCN(IM) agreed only to a six-month extension, which was all they were willing for this time as well.