Peace is The Way

By Samudra Gupta Kashyap

The Naga movement for a sovereign state, which has been marred by factionalism and violence in the past couple of decades, touched a new landmark when the two warring sides — the Issak-Muivah and Khaplang factions of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN) — signed an agreement this weekend to reconcile on the basis of the “historical and political rights of the Nagas”.

Another faction, the Naga National Council (NNC), the one that had actually launched the armed campaign for a Naga state under the leadership of the now legendary Angami Zapu Phizo, also joined the two NSCN factions to sign the agreement.

While the reconciliation process was facilitated by the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR), the most significant aspect of this effort was the presence of two top leaders of the underground movement, NSCN(IM) General Secretary Thuingaleng Muivah and NSCN(K) leader N. Kitovi Zhimomi. In the words of the FNR, “the leaders patiently listened to each other and emphasised the need for Naga reconciliation and to end all violence and bloodshed amongst the Nagas.”

In the past three or four years, Naga groups, particularly the two NSCN factions, have been busier fighting each other for territorial dominance and expansion. The ground reality is that the more area a group controls, the stronger and financially sound it stays. All the three main factions not only have their respective underground governments, but also collect “tax” from the people at rates that are revised from time to time. Within their respective governments, Muivah and Zhimomi are also regarded as “ato kilonser” — prime minister — of their respective Nagalim.

It has been a fact that though the NSCN(IM) has been in a ceasefire with the government of India since August 1997 and the NSCN(K) followed suit three years later, the two sides have engaged in a series of violent clashes that has left hundreds of cadres dead in the past three or four years. They have also engaged in a war of words, with each calling the other a stooge of the government.

To recall, while the NSCN was formed by Muivah and Khaplang after they broke away from the NNC in the aftermath of the signing of the “Shillong Accord” in 1975, the two subsequently parted ways following clashes in which Khaplang’s followers allegedly killed about 200 of Muivah’s men in 1988. Even after the ceasefires the two factions have signed with New Delhi, there has been a lot of suspicion within the Khaplang faction, because the government has been, for long, talking only to the NSCN(IM). No wonder Kughalu Mulatonu, a senior NSCN(K) leader, even went to the extent of saying, a couple of years back, that the day was not far when the Muivah faction would start singing Vande Mataram!

Factional clashes have also claimed a large number of lives in recent years, prompting the church, traditional institutions like the Naga Hoho and various civil society groups, including the Naga Mothers’ Association, to call upon both sides to put an end to violence in the interest of the peace talks.

While these attempts did not yield much, it was the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR) formed by Wati Aier, a highly respected Naga who heads the Oriental Theological Seminary in Dimapur, which finally managed to put an end to the hostilities. Aier, who has been working on this since 2008, got representatives of the three factions sign the Covenant of Reconciliation at Chiang Mai in Thailand last September, which paved the way for this agreement.

The reconciliation agreement has been already hailed by all quarters across Nagaland. While the Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) has described it as a “landmark in the reconciliation process”, the Naga Hoho has called it “another red-letter day” in the annals of Naga political history. Political parties, too, have not lagged behind in hailing the September 18 agreement.

Now, with the agreement in place, Wati Aier’s FNR has said the signatories should now be engaged in working out their differences in the greater interest of the Naga people. It also reminded all Naga political groups that one without the other would be incomplete. “All of them are part of the jigsaw puzzle of the Naga nation and everyone has a role to play in ushering in an era of peace that Nagaland has been yearning for decades,” Aier said.

Nagaland certainly can no longer afford to seek a solution to the six-decade-old problem with the groups remaining divided. New Delhi has also been insisting that the Naga leaders must come forward with a common voice to hammer out a lasting peaceful solution. It is time Muivah, Khaplang and the others realised the meaning of the old saying: divided we fall, united we stand.

samudra.kashyap@expressindia.com