Rajnath visit comes amidst report of more delay in concluding Naga talks

November 30, 2018 616 Views No Comment

Can the Union Home Minister announce a Ceasefire with the Khango led NSCN?

Naga Republic News

President of India Ram Nath Kovind announced during the Hornbill Festival of Nagaland last year that a final settlement to the Naga issue is round the corner. Twelve months have gone and it appears that Delhi is still not prepared to roll out a settlement.

The visit of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to Nagaland for the inauguration of the 2018 Hornbill Festival comes at a time when prospects of a Naga peace accord seem to be slowly diminishing.

File photo of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh during his visit in 2017 to the Assam Rifles Training Center & School at Sukhovi, Nagaland (Source: Assam Rifles)

It will be a major breakthrough if the Union Home Minister takes the opportunity of his visit to Nagaland’s capital Kohima on December 1 and officially announces Delhi’s decision to resume peace parley with the NSCN Khaplang group led by Khango Konyak.

Meanwhile reports quoting senior functionaries in the Government of India are now claiming that a final settlement on the Naga issue might come only after the 2019 General Election.

When asked pointedly the fate of “framework Naga accord”, which the Narendra Modi government had signed with National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN)-IM in August 2015, a senior Home Ministry functionary said this to The Tribune newspaper: “Not before the next elections”.

According to the Home Ministry official, the “process of taking on board all Naga groups is on and the Prime Minister’s special envoy for the talks is largely successful in creating a consensus”. “Once everything falls in place, signing of final peace accord will take place”, the report in The Tribune states.

However, sources in the MHA told The Tribune that the Centre had set in motion a process to take all stakeholders, including non-Nagas, on board to create the autonomous councils—two in Arunachal and one in Manipur—for majority Naga settlers there. Noting that broad acceptability of final solution is critical to all the efforts made, sources said the Centre wanted to ensure that any move on its part should not trigger another agitation in the region.

Further clarifying the recent remarks made by Naga groups on integration of Naga-dominated areas of Northeast, sources told The Tribune that the groups that had been engaged had agreed for solution to Naga issues and this did not imply that they would lose their constitutional right to pursue their demand at political level.

Meanwhile, the Government of India appears to be taking time, to officially bring on board the NSCN Khaplang group led by Khango Konyak despite public endorsement by Naga civil society groups to resume ceasefire and political talks with the Khango led group. According to reports, the NSCN (K) under Khango has also agreed to rejoin the peace process.

Going further, the Nagaland GB Federation issued a statement recently saying that Delhi has accepted the olive branch from Khango led NSCN (K). The Government of India (GoI) through its Interlocutor for Naga peace talks, RN Ravi has reportedly accepted the olive branch offered by the Khango Konyak led NSCN (K) and will join the ongoing peace process.

According to a statement issued by the Nagaland GB Federation (NGBF), Interlocutor Ravi during a meeting held on November 1, 2018 at JIC HQ, New Delhi, said that the GoI had “never abrogated the ceasefire with NSCN (K) but that the NSCN (K) walked away from ceasefire on March, 2015.”

As such the GoI still stands and welcomes NSCN (K) for peace process, Ravi reportedly told the NGBF delegation. However, Ravi said “India has a commitment to solve the Naga issue with one comprehensive solution and therefore, cannot have many agreements and is not in a position to take up 3rd party with fresh negotiation.”

RN Ravi also told the delegation that as soon as the NSCN (K) comes into peace process dialogue with the GoI, the “Ban on NSCN (K), Terrorist Tag and Bounties on its leaders will be automatically removed /closed.”

These were some of the conditions of the Khango led NSCN (K) group to re-enter into a ceasefire.

As reported earlier in The Naga Republic, it appears that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is heading the BJP led NDA Government, is putting the brakes on an early settlement to the Naga political issue.

After the initial push to conclude more than 20 years of the Indo-Naga peace process, the Modi government’s new thinking on the Naga issue is to bring other Naga groups other than the NSCN (IM) to the negotiating table and make them part of an inclusive settlement.

The visit of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to Kohima for the Hornbill Festival will be closely watched. An update on the Naga peace process from a senior political figure in the Narendra Modi government will be a welcome gesture for the Naga public. Will Rajnath Singh oblige?