An End to India's Longest Insurgency?

By Biswajyoti Das

This photo shows a Naga rebel in the in northeastern Indian state of Nagaland.

Guwahati, Sep 28 : An end may at last be in sight to India's longest running insurgency, which has killed tens of thousands, with talks between the government and tribal rebels in the troubled northeast inching closer towards a peace deal.

A myriad of violent insurgencies have beset India's northeastern region for decades, killing over 50,000 people since the country's independence in 1947.

But the oldest insurgency launched by Naga rebels over 60 years ago in the remote mountainous region of Nagaland may soon see an end after 14 years of protracted negotiations. The rebels have been demanding a separate homeland for the ethnic Naga people.

About 20,000 people have been killed in the conflict. A 1997 ceasefire truce has largely capped the violence, but inter-factional fighting has continued.

Leaders of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) faction -- headed by T. Muivah and Isak Chishi Swu -- and federal authorities in New Delhi are now in the last stages of a final agreement.

Officials say a deal which includes giving increased powers to lawmakers in Nagaland, as well as creating autonomous councils for Nagas in their stronghold regions of Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh could well be the solution.

Both officials and rebel leaders have said the deal could be signed sometime in November or December this year, but have refused to divulge more details. "There has been progress although some of the issues are yet to be sorted out. It would be difficult to give any dates,” said R.S. Pandey, interlocutor for the Naga talks told the Hindustan Times newspaper.

Nagaland has a history of tribal and ethnic rifts. All past peace initiatives have failed to resolve the age-old animosity between the various Naga tribes and many remain sceptical saying that without all factions involved, there can never truly be peace.

"Even if an accord is signed with the NSCN, a new group will definitely come up opposing the deal. History is witness to it in Nagaland," said a senior journalist in Dimapur, the commercial hub of Nagaland.