Th Muivah : Man in the news: Time frame of 3 months
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: August 21 2019 -

Thuingaleng Muivah is certainly a news maker in the North East region of the country and it was therefore not surprising to see the information that he is back at Dimapur making big news, at least in The Sangai Express.

A man who cannot be ignored.

This is the reality and whether one likes his agenda or not, the general secretary of the NSCN (IM) will continue to make news as long as the final deal between the outfit he leads and the Government of India is yet to be inked.

Even after the final solution is inked, he may continue to make news and this is the reality.

Stationed at New Delhi, but with the headquarters of the NSCN (IM) now at Camp Hebron near Dimapur, Th Muivah must have made numerous journey between Delhi and Dimapur but what makes his visit this time all that more interesting is the series of report coming in that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reportedly instructed Interlocutor to the peace talk and now Governor of Nagaland, RN Ravi to wrap up the talks within three months.

This directive is believed to have been issued before Ravi assumed office as Governor of Nagaland on August 1 and this in effect means that the deadline to ink the final deal is today just a little over two months.

The time frame of three months reportedly set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in line with the intent and purpose the BJP led Government demonstrated ever since it came to power in its first term in 2014 and now in its second term in office.

Remember the Framework Agreement was signed on August 3, 2015, just a little over a year after the BJP came to power in 2014.

Now that it has returned to power after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Modi has again demonstrated that the Government is no longer interested in pussy footing the issue and the three months time frame falls in line with this observation.

Encouraging to note that in Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there is a political leader who seems determined to settle the longest armed movement in the North East region of the country and it is this intent of purpose which everyone in the region must be keenly watching.

If the past is any indication then the latest development must have evoked intense interest in Manipur.

Remember 2001 when the words ‘ceasefire without territorial limits’ were inserted in the ceasefire pact on June 14, 2001.

It was Manipur which was the epicentre of the protest, so much so that after 2001, June 18 has become a calendar date which must have been marked in red by many civil society organisations as well as individuals.

This fact must have registered in the consciousness of the Centre, for all indications say that the territory of the North East States would not be compromised.

However it should also be kept in mind that the NSCN (IM) does not seem to have given up its stand on a Greater Lim and this is something which must have registered in the minds of everyone.

How the Centre takes the issue ahead is yet to be seen, but it is significant to note RN Ravi reportedly stating that major issues have been settled and what remains are the symbolic points.

What these symbolic points would turn out to be is the intriguing part and perhaps it is this which must be keeping the neighbouring States of Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh on their toes.