Many thought the Naga issue was over. Far from it. Now the primary Naga organization, the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) or NSCN (I-M) has termed the Indo-Naga Treaty as insulting the Nagas.
The NSCN (I-M) has accused the Centre’s interlocutor for Naga peace talks and Governor RN Ravi of not only making a mockery of the Framework Agreement co-authored by him representing the Prime Minister of India but also of insulting the Nagas as a whole by reducing the talks to the State of Nagaland only. NSCN (I-M) reiterated that the talks were on Naga political issues for all Nagas and covering all Naga-inhabited areas in that part of the world.
It pointed out that even though Ravi’s off-repeated catchphrase was “one issue one solution”, he had signed two agreements – Framework Agreement with NSCN (I-M) and Agreed Position with NNPGs. Thus, it questioned Ravi where he was trying to take the Nagas to. Accusing Ravi of wanting to keep the Nagas divided by signing a parallel agreement, NSCN (I-M) said he tutored his “favoured Naga groups” on how to look at the Framework Agreement after manipulating its contents that simply recognized Nagas’ past history and nothing else.
But since Ravi, acting as the Interlocutor and not the Governor, created imbroglio in the talk process, the Prime Minister, it is said, has given the mandate to continue talks to a team of IB officials as a fast-track channel for communication and clear the pending points. The NSCN (I-M) leadership believes that after this process is over, the political settlement will be dealt with by the PM himself.
Interestingly, this is not the first time that the Government of India is dealing with the Naga problem and the various organizations involved in it. History has many examples of failures too. Now, the Indo-Naga Treaty has a new face to deal with. How effective the Intelligence Bureau officials, tasked to thrash out a solution to this long-standing issue, will be is anybody’s guess.
However, accepting naming of the treaty as ‘Indo-Naga Treaty’ might sound defeatist from the beginning.