Talking peace and threatening others : It does not add up
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: July 31 2018 -
It just does not add up.
On the one hand is the NSCN (IM) actively engaged with the Government of India in a peace process while on the other hand leaders of the Zeliangrong Baudi (ZB), Zeliangrong Youth Front (ZYF) and All Zeliangrong Students’ Union (AZSU) have sought the attention of the Union Home Ministry with the claim that they are under threat from the NSCN (IM).
Peace talk on behalf of the Naga people on the one hand and threats allegedly issued to Naga leaders of a particular tribe or if one goes by the stand of the NSCN (IM), Naga leaders of three tribes, the Zeme, Liangmei and Rongmei.
And it is this which is central to the issue right now, with the NSCN (IM) purportedly decreeing that Zeliangrong tribe has been trifurcated into the Zeme, Liangmei and Rongmei tribes, while the three said civil society organisations are staunchly against the trifurcation move by the Naga outfit.
It is not the case of The Sangai Express to enter the debate on the trifurcation move and both sides may have their own merits and demerits, but threats issued by an armed organisation which is in a peace process with the Government of India is a bit hard to digest.
Peace cannot be at the convenient call of anyone. It has to be all encompassing.
This is the universal understanding of peace.
By threatening leaders of civil society organisations, that too Naga leaders, the NSCN (IM) is not doing anything good to their cause.
Tough to say whether the threats have been issued with the full knowledge of the collective leadership of the outfit or not, but surely this is something which will not go down well with the Naga people.
That the latest development has come about when the peace talk between the Government of India and the NSCN (IM) is reportedly at its final stage is what makes it all that more distasteful.
Waving the white flag and at the same time issuing threats certainly do not go together and it remains to be seen how things will unfold in the coming days.
With the Zeliangrong CSOs having already opened up and levelling the threat charge against the NSCN (IM) the possibility of the threat perception getting more acute in the coming days cannot be ruled out.
It is this reality that the Union Home Ministry should take note of.
The State Government too should see what it can do to ensure the safety and security of the leaders of the said Zeliangrong CSOs.
Another case of the NSCN (IM) being in the news for all the wrong reasons, at least in Manipur.
A 24 hour bandh is scheduled to begin from midnight of July 31 and here again the Naga outfit is central to the proposed bandh, thanks to the likely outcome of the peace talk.
The bandh is yet to start, but one can feel the tension in the air and already a former Minister and a political bigwig who joined the BJP some time back has quit the party, citing a number of reasons, the likely outcome of the peace talk being one of the chief factors.
The ground reality should not be lost on the NSCN (IM) leaders and that is it would not be in their interest to target community leaders of the Nagas.
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