Naga Peace Process: Which Way Forward?
Mirza Zulfiqur Rahman
MPhil Student, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
e-mail: mirzalibra10@gmail.com

The Naga peace process which started in 1997 is about to complete twelve years, without any political breakthrough being achieved in the several decades-long insurgency movement. The Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagalim, Isak-Muivah faction (NSCN (I-M)) which has been in numerous rounds of deliberations with the Indian government ever since the peace process started, has not been able to take the necessary steps to finalize any concrete peace deal. The talks have stumbled on two major issues – one, of territoriality which involves the integration of all Naga-inhabited areas of Northeast India and Myanmar and two, on the issue of a solution under the ambit of the Indian Constitution. Two governments have passed by in the national scene, one led by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the other by the Congress (I), but both have failed to find a political solution to the Naga question. 

The talk of an interim solution to the Naga question was raised at intervals by the central government, the state government and the NSCN (I-M) ever since the year 2004; and when the idea of an interim solution can take five long years to gain any sort of fruition, we can very well assess the time required to arrive at a final political solution. As the next round of talks start at Zurich in Switzerland by end of March 2009, the interim proposals are still being discussed and reworked, and the stage for a possible confrontation has been set by the declaration by NSCN (I-M) leader Isak Chisi Swu that any relationship within the ambit of the Indian Constitution will be unacceptable.

There have been many versions of the possible motives behind these never-ending parleys between the central government and the NSCN ((I-M)). Accusations have been made of the central government deliberately delaying the move towards a solution and at the same time working towards destabilizing the NSCN (I-M) by engineering splits and factional fights within. The NSCN (I-M) has also been accused of trying to establish its dominance across Nagalim, and eliminating its opposing factions, before it reaches a final settlement. The involvement of the NSCN (K) (Khaplang) faction in a separate ceasefire with the central government and its role in an ultimate political solution has been intensely contentious.

The conspiracy theories may be many, accusing the central government, the state government, the NSCN (I-M) and the NSCN (K), of delaying the peace or derailing the peace, but the fact remains that the ultimate casualty is the peace process itself. We have to understand that the huge obsession with these formal processes among these aforementioned actors, results in the increasing marginalization of civil society and people’s initiatives in the overall peace process and its bearing on an ultimate solution.

The civil society organizations in Nagaland such as the Forum for Naga Reconciliation, the Naga Hoho and many other women’s and students’ organizations have played an important role in laying the groundwork for the emergence of lasting peace in the region. These are the actors who are working as a bridge between the various regions which comprises Nagalim, in Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and parts of Myanmar; and without any substantial political overtones. They have been successful in reaching out to communities, both Naga and other ethnic tribes, and promoting dialogue and understanding at the civil society level between contesting aspirations of communities in the region, which the political outfits engaged in talks have not been able to do. They have joined efforts to talk to top rebel leaders to stop fratricidal killings among Naga insurgent factions and extortions and threats, and to include more women in the peace talks.

The marginalization of civil society organizations creates conditions for increased factionalism and violence, as demonstrated by the emergence of NSCN (U) (Unification) and the resultant increase in fratricidal killings. The Forum for Naga Reconciliation recently called for turning swords into ploughshares, and for working creatively towards ensuring enduring peace and a lasting solution to the Naga question.

As Subir Bhowmick points out, the NSCN (I-M) have an excellent opportunity to hold on to what the Indian government has offered, which is the ‘special federal relationship,’ under which the present talks are progressing, as this has been unprecedented in the history of state responses towards armed insurrections in India. The fuller potential of this sort of peace deal would be known when it comes to a final solution and the exact contours of the ‘special federal relationship’ emerge. If successful this could unlock solutions to many problems that confront Northeast India today. Moreover, the peace talks at the political level should not be kept under wraps, as has been the case till now, as transparency would enable a fuller participation of civil society organizations to make it more meaningful to the various stakeholders in the region, most prominently the Naga people.

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