17 years wait for a political solution : From PV Rao to NaMo
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: September 24, 2014 -

If there is one positive trait that has to be admired and acknowledged in the Isak-Muivah faction of the NSCN, then it is unquestionably their patience to work out a solution with the Government of India.

No one seems to know the primary demand of the IM group, much less the outcome of the talk, but it is nonetheless significant that the group has waited for over 17 years for the political negotiations to come to fruition.

And this is a long period by any yardstick. So while India has seen the coming and going of a good number of Prime Ministers in the last 17 years, Messrs Thuingaleng Muivah and Isak Chisi Swu have been at the helm of the outfit long before the ceasefire agreement and the truce pact were signed.

True the NSCN (IM) came to the negotiating table only after August 1, 1997, but the possibility of the finer nuances of the proposed talk being discussed earlier is something that cannot be wished away that easily.

It would not have been for nothing that the now defunct Sunday weekly magazine ran a story on the then Prime Minister of the country deputing emissaries to Bangkok to send feelers to the NSCN (IM) functionaries long before the ceasefire agreement came into force on August 1, 1997.

So it is that while Messrs Muivah and Swu have remained the top leaders of the outfit, Delhi has seen the coming and going of numerous Prime Ministers since then.

Significant to note that the peace talk was initiated during the time of PV Narasimha Rao when he was the Prime Minister only to come to fruition in 1997.

Since then, India has seen a number of Prime Ministers prominently, IK Gujral, Deve Gowda, Atal Behari Vajpayee, Dr Manmohan Singh and now Narendra Modi.

With each Prime Minister, the pressure of pulls and pushes exerted by the NSCN (IM) too have been felt in Manipur.

Greater Nagaland or Nagalim, geographical coverage of the cease fire, Supra State, Alternative Arrangement etc are all issues which have been raised from time to time and surprisingly Manipur seems to be at the centre of all these issues.

Now with Prime Minister Narendra Modi most likely to meet the leadership of the IM group after his return from the USA, the Naga rebel group is once again exploring the idea of the geographical coverage of the cease fire agreement.

Early days yet to predict or say how the Prime Minister would respond to the question of geographical coverage of the cease fire, but it would be important for Delhi to keep in mind that it was during the earlier BJP Government, when Atal Behari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister and LK Advani the Union Home Minister, that Delhi had to roll back the Bangkok Declaration following intense and wide spread protest in Manipur in 2001.

Important to keep in mind too that the Bangkok Declaration had inserted the clause ‘cease fire without territorial limits’ in the truce pact signed between Delhi and the NSCN (IM) on June 14, 2001.

The present is the living testimony of what happened after June 14, 2001 and surely Delhi would do wise to carefully study and go through those days, for after all 13 years is not such a long time.

Peace may come with a price but it would serve no purpose or make sense to make Manipur the sacrificial lamb in this case.

On the other hand, it would do good for Imphal to seriously ponder why centrifugal forces are rearing their heads.

Time for not only the political leaders of the day, but also all the people to realise that there is no point in sowing the seeds of suspicion and mutual distrust amongst the indigenous people of the land.

Let there be political dialogues, let there be some settlements or agreements, but nothing should come in the way of Manipur to continue existing as a geo-political entity.

It goes without saying that dismembering the State would defeat the idea and notion of a Manipur.