25 years of 'Indo-Naga' ceasefire but a solution remains elusive

Many leaders have expressed concern over the delay in achieving a final solution to the Naga talks

The ceasefire agreement the Centre signed with Naga insurgent group NSCN (IM) completed 25 years on Monday but a final solution to the decades-old Naga conflict remains elusive.

The NSCN (IM), leading the Naga insurgent movement, which signed the ceasefire on August 1 in 1997, organised a function at Dimapur, in which Chairman of Ceasefire Monitoring Group, Lt Gen (Retd) Amarjeet Singh Bedi and several leaders of Naga civil society organisations took part. Most of them expressed concern over the delay in achieving a final solution to the Naga talks despite many rounds of talks.

"Twenty five years is a long period in human life and 25 years of ceasefire is not a joke. Many things have happened during this period, good and bad. But NSCN is still struggling to solve the problem," said VS Atem, Member, Collective Leadership, NSCN and team leader, Ceasefire Ground Rules Review Committee, who delivered the keynote speech.

Leaders of Naga Hoho, Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation, United Naga Council, Naga Council Dimapur, Naga People’s Movement for Human Rights, Forum for Naga Reconciliation), Naga Mothers Association, Naga Students’ Federation, Global Naga Forum and Tenyimi Union, Dimapur, also attended the function.

Many Naga groups including the NSCN (IM) claimed that Nagas were never part of India and had even declared Independence on August 14, 1947 soon after the British had left India. The NSCN(IM) leaders and their cadres have been lodged in a camp at Hebron near Dimapur since the ceasefire in 1997.

The Centre in August 2015 had signed a "framework agreement" with NSCN-IM in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, based on which a final agreement was to be signed. But the final agreement has remained elusive mainly due to the NSCN (IM)'s insistence on its "core demands" for a separate flag and Constitution for the Nagas. The Centre rejected the demands.

The NSCN (IM) on July 25 claimed that the Centre did not say no to the flag and Constitution but the final agreement was getting delayed due to objections raised by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

In 2017, the Centre had signed another preliminary agreement with the Naga National Political Groups (NNPG), a forum of seven other rebel groups. The NNPG is not consistent on the demand for a separate flag and Constitution.