A rally organised by the Angami, name of a Naga tribe Youth Organisation (AYO) and supported by several other Naga organisations on April 2, 2012, saw thousands of Naga youth taking to the streets in Kohima district to protest against unabated extortions, abductions, ransom calls and fratricidal killings between the Naga militant groups that have claimed thousands of innocent lives in the past decades. All these criminal activities have continued despite 15 years of ceasefire and peace talks between the main group National Socialist Council of Nagaland/Nagalim-Issac/Muivah faction and the government of India.
AYO also submitted a memorandum to Nagaland home minister Imkong L. Imchen, asking the government to clamp down on these groups which have been causing anguish to people. It also demanded that all factions/militants strictly adhere to the ceasefire ground rules, that militants be evicted from civilian areas where they have been openly moving about with sophisticated weapons and wearing their “uniforms” and be kept confined to their designated camps. On April 11, in an open show of non-cooperation against the NSCN (IM) “Azha” (diktat) which amounted to an economic blockade on the Changki citizens of Mokokchung, restricting their movement and transportation of essential commodities to the village, more than a hundred Changki village youth travelled up to Mariani in Assam to validate whether the routes were open for the Changki citizens to travel. On April 9, 2012 it was reported that a bus from Changki to Dimapur was halted near Longpha Yimsen junction and asked to move back by the NSCN (IM) cadres; while a Maruti Van carrying passengers from Changki to Kohima were also forced to return to the village near Chungtia village in Mokokchung. This was yet another act of NSCN-IM’s suppression of Naga people.
NSCN-IM’s close links with United Liberation Front of Assam (whose so called pro-talks faction has been having peace talks with the government of India) have further developed into a network of contacts with some other groups in Nagaland, Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh for procuring and trafficking sophisticated arms, which are also being supplied to left-wing extre-mists/Naxal-Maoists, who have made inroads into the north-eastern region, particularly in Assam.
According to the sources cited in the north-eastern media, these arms from Burma and some Chinese agents are being bought for `800,000 for an assault rifle and `400,000 to `500,000 each for sophisticated pistols. Another development reported in May 2012 is that Burma has granted “autonomy” to the NSCN-Khaplang (K) group in three districts of Sagaing, an administrative region in northwest Burma, bordering Nagaland and Manipur and also known as the hub of heroin trafficking. Y. Wangtin Naga, an NSCN-K leader from India who was one of the six signatories of the April 9, 2012 bilateral ceasefire with the Burmese government said, “Nagas have autonomy in Lahe, Layse and Nanyang in Sagaing region and we are looking for self-administration in more Naga populated districts in Kachin.” The Khaplang cadres, who are now free to move unarmed anywhere in Burma, also want self-administration in the Naga areas of Mawlaik, Phongpyn and Homlin in Sagaing and Tanai (Teniang) and Shingbwi-yang areas in Kachin state. Having struck a peace deal with Naypyidaw, the new capital of Burma, the rebels are hoping it will give them greater bargaining power with New Delhi. On August 1, 2012, it had been reported that just before his handing over of the portfolio of Union home ministry, Mr P. Chidambaram had briefed the media in New Delhi that the ongoing peace talks between the NSCN (IM) leadership and government of India had reached a “sensitive stage” and efforts were on to iron out a long standing solution to the over six decades old Naga political problem.
Replying to a question, Mr Chidambaram had said that all the 60 legislators of the Nagaland Assembly belonging to all political parties in the state including the Congress were slated to reach Delhi in the first week of August to meet him and the Prime Minister in support of the ongoing peace talks. He had added that even the Naga Ho Ho, a respected body of the Naga people, had expressed its satisfaction at the “progress report of the ongoing peace talks which are being handled with utmost care and sincerity by the principal negotiators and the government of India”.
It is pertinent to mention here that on July 19 the Nagaland Legislative Forum decided to resign if required, for finding a solution to the ongoing peace talks. Significantly, Mr Chidambaram made it clear that “first we will try to reach an agreement with the NSCN (IM). Only then we will talk with the other two groups provided they are willing to talk to. As everybody knows, one group live outside India.” Regarding the possibility of an interim government taking representatives from NSCN factions Mr Chidambaram had cautioned, “Let’s not go too fast. Let’s complete the first step. Then we will think about the next step.”
Soon, Mr Chidambaram, resigned and took over the finance portfolio and Mr Sushil Kumar Shinde became the new home minister.
Eventually on August 6, 2012, 60 legislators of Nagaland arrived in New Delhi and urged the Prime Minister to finalise an acceptable solution on the Naga issue before the state Assembly election due in February, 2013. Sources in Democratic Alliance of Nagaland government in Kohima reportedly infor-med that the 60 MLAs of Nagaland cutting across party lines met Dr Man-mohan Singh and Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and urged them to finalise a solution which is acceptable and honourable by February 2013. Around the same time the NSCN-K led by S.S. Khaplang had stated that “only sovereignty for the Nagas” will be accepted. In the light of the events mentioned and what has transpired in Assam as a result of prevarication, vote-bank politics, ad-hocism, pandering to certain groups and what have you, all of which have gone into the making of a powerful powder-keg, what emerges is that New Delhi’s dealing with the Naga problem, particularly the “Naglim” concept of unification of all Naga-inhabited areas so far, is fraught with the possibilities of it exploding.