New Delhi, July 30
The first fuzzy contours of a solution to the contentious Naga problems are emerging on the pattern of the present settlement in Kashmir. Well-placed sources say that the deal offered to the NSCN(I/M) led by T.H. Muivah and Isak Chisi Swu will be “Kashmir type” powers in Nagaland; instead of the sovereign status the group has been fighting for.
This will not be the kind of separation of powers envisaged in the original Kashmir package but is similar to the “situation prevalent on the ground today” according to a senior minister of the UPA government involved in the negotiations.
Sources reveal that the three ministers, including Mr Oscar Fernandes and Mr Prithviraj Chauhan of the PMO, who are involved in the negotiations see sense in offering the NSCN(I/M) an honourable deal. Says one of the ministers: “At the moment the situation is ripe on the ground. If we dilly dally now a new generation will be ready to take to the gun”.
This realisation has also found a taker in the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, despite opposition from National Security Adviser M.K. Narayan who, sources say, wants to tire out the NSCN.
There is a growing realisation in the government that with the Naxal problem, resurgence of militancy in Punjab and no solution yet in sight for Kashmir the government cannot afford to open another front in the North-East.
The seven-year-old cease-fire with the group is likely to be extended and after the current round of talks in Amsterdam, with the Centre’s interlocutor K Padmanahiah. When asked to comment he refused to give any idea of the sensitive and secretive nature of the dialogue.
The deal that will be offered to the NSCN will be akin to Kashmir’s status as it prevails today. Officials involved with drafting out the deal are emphatic that it will not be based on Kashmir’s original article of accession. A semi-autonomy, with most of the provisions of the Assembly and other constitutional arrangements that prevail in Kashmir today, is on the drawing board. Inheritance and laws preventing the purchase of land by outsiders will also form part of the package. Suitably important titles may also be allowed for the protocol
conscious NSCN leadership.
The NSCN’s demand that boundaries should be redrawn to accommodate all Naga people — which is being opposed by Manipur — is also being considered. Official’s say that there is nothing sacrosanct about state boundaries; citing the demand for Telangana.
Sources in the NSCN told the Tribune that they had faith in the current
negotiators and were agreeable to return to India to negotiate. While not explicitly not ruling out sovereignty, they seemed to see the writing on the wall.
While, the deal is yet to be inked and many twists and turns remain, what will finally be offered is what a minister terms “Kashmir lite’”. Will it finally be light at the end of the tunnel for the fifty year old Naga conflict
?
— The writer is an anchor with SAB TV.
