Thaw in Naga peace process as Centre seeks damage control post Manipur

The Centre reportedly agreed to show similar flexibility last week in meeting a contentious demand of the ULFA, another militant outfit from the northeast. The twin developments are an indication that the BJP-led government is frantically looking for some successes in the northeast ahead of the 2024 parliamentary elections after the mishandling of the Manipur crisis.

An eight-member delegation of the Naga militant outfit led by its supremo Thuingaleng Muivah held a marathon discussion with the Centre’s emissary, AK Mishra, in New Delhi on Wednesday (August 23). The peace parleys had come to a standstill after the Centre had declared that demands for a sperate flag and Constitution of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) were non-negotiable.

Secret talks

To break the impasse, the government replaced RN Ravi (now governor of Tamil Nadu) with Mishra as its interlocutor in September 2021. Mishra had even flown to NSCN (IM) headquarters called “Camp Hebron” near Nagaland’s commercial capital Dimapur in April last year to convince the NSCN leadership to give up the demands. He held another round of parleys with Naga leaders in April this year in New Delhi without much success.

The first sign of thaw came on Monday (August 21) during an “informal meeting” between Mishra and Muivah in New Delhi. The Centre’s readiness to go an “extra mile in the interest of achieving mutually-beneficial and sustainable peace,” was conveyed to the NSCN IM) general secretary, said a home ministry source. Muivah agreed to resume “formal peace talks” with the Centre following the assurance.

“Serious discussions on core issues were held today (Wednesday). The meeting discussed how to protect and accommodate each other’s rights and interest pertaining to uses of the flag,” NSCN (IM) spokesperson R John told The Federal.

Dialogue to continue

The two sides would carry forward the discussions on August 25, John added. The issues related to the NSCN (IM)’s demand for a separate Constitution would be taken up subsequently, sources privy to the negotiations said.

The NSCN (IM) has reiterated that its two demands are “non-negotiable.” The Centre held similar peace negotiations with the leadership of the pro-talk faction of the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) last Thursday and Friday (August 17-18) in New Delhi.

It was the first huddle between the two sides after the outfit had rejected a draft peace proposal of the Centre in May this year. The ULFA rejected the proposal on the ground that it did not address its main demand of “political and constitutional” safeguards for the indigenous people of Assam.

ULFA demands

Another round of meeting with the ULFA leadership will be held soon to iron out all pending issues, the home ministry source added. “The BJP government’s claim of establishing peace in the northeast took a beating in Manipur, which is reeling under ethnic-clashes for nearly four months now without any sign of normalcy,” said Dipankar Roy, the editor-in-chief of a Shillong-based daily, The Meghalayan.

“There is clear urgency on the part of the Centre to do some damage control now. What would be the better way to deflect attention from the Manipur fiasco than a successful peace deal with either of these two major militant outfits of the region -- NSCN (IM) or ULFA,” he added.

The back-to-back meetings with the two outfits were manifestations of that urgency, Roy observed. He, however, added in the same breath that Centre would require to do lots of balancing acts to find a solution to the Naga or the ULFA problem and that would not be easy because of overlapping of territorial jurisdictions and political interests.

The jurisdiction of NSCN (IM)’s proposed homeland includes Naga inhabited areas of Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh besides the present state of Nagaland. Similarly, definition of indigenous people in Assam is not clearly defined and hence providing political and Constitutional safeguards to only certain groups adhering to ULFA’s demand is fraught with fresh complications.

Eager for peace

A fresh trouble in the region would be the last thing the beleaguered Centre would want after the flak it received in Manipur. Over 180 people have been killed and 60,000 rendered homeless in the raging conflicts between Meiteis and Kukis in Manipur.

Both the conflicting parties pointed fingers at the home ministry. The Meitei groups accused the Assam Rifles, a paramilitary force under the home ministry, of siding with the Kuki militants. The Manipur Police even filed an FIR against the country’s oldest paramilitary force alleging that the central force helped militants to escape after a raid on Meitei villagers in which three people were killed. Kuki-Zo organisations attacked Home Minister Amit Shah for his claim in parliament that the present crisis in Manipur is due to influx of illegal migrants from Myanmar.

Shah criticised

They demanded clarification from the minister. Stating that Kuki-Zo people felt “greatly disheartened by the statements” Kuki MLAs told Shah in a letter the remarks “appear to tread the line of the Manipur government, linking the ethnic cleansing to the issue of illegal immigration.

“Therefore, we urge the Central government to come up with actual figures of illegal immigration and refugee influx due to the political turmoil in Myanmar," the 10 MLAs stated in the communique.