New Delhi: Union home minister P Chidambaram has offered a tough choice for the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) over future steps that could lead to a final and lasting solution to the Naga political problem.
A sweet-and-sour mix is on the platter Chidambaram proferred. One, the Centre wants a solution; two, the solution mustlie within the Indian Constitution and will be dependent on the ground situation.
Chidambaram sent the message through Parliament last week that talks with all militant groups will be within the ambit of the Constitution.
With that, he made it clear that the NSCN’s opposition to a “pre-condition” will not take the negotiations very far.
At a time when the NSCN groups are talking reconciliation but facing public outcry over extortion, preparing a conducive ground situation for the final talks was the focus of today’s discussions between NCSN emissary V.S. Atem and special secretary (internal security), Raman Srivastava.
The NSCN’s five-member delegation also included steering committee member, Kraibo Chawang, while the home ministry team had joint secretary (Northeast) Navin Verma.
The home ministry team basically acted on the brief that was extracted out of their meeting with Chidambaram yesterday.
“We have decided to meet in August again and look at the ground situation from all angles,” said the ceasefire monitoring cell convenor of the outfit, Phunthing Shimrang.
For the NSCN, “tax collection” has been a traditional job with little opposition from even state government employees. Of late though, home ministry sources said the Centre has been concerned over excessive extortion.
At the political level, the government is clear about finding a solution, perhaps with more autonomy permissible under the Constitution.
However, Muivah has been told that a “special federal relationship between India and Nagalim” as he demands, will not be possible.
The NSCN (I-M) wants to bring Naga-inhabited areas under a single administrative umbrella which Delhi has not accepted.
One of the areas claimed by NSCN is the North Cachar Hills district, currently witnessing ethnic clashes between Nagas and Dimasas, which the rebel outfit is accused of partially fomenting.
Chidambaram said in Parliament that in the NC Hills district, “the Dimasas outnumber the Nagas almost 4:1”, making it amply clear that it does not fall within the claimed Nagalim.
The problem for the outfit is also in Muivah’s maturing perception but, as one home ministry official pointed out, “the attitude of the 1960s and 1970s” that is imperceptible to a changing Naga society.
For the NSCN, the hope seems to lie in reconciliation with rivals to firm up its own consensus on a lasting solution.
Muivah wants to reach a solution on his own conditions and here is where the outfit will need to think hard, government sources said.
Unlike his predecessor, Chidambaram means business and he has made this clear to the rebels as well.
In such a situation, the NSCN has been told to come around for what is available through negotiation and the state government has been asked to clamp down on extortionists and violators of the ground rules.
