Paradigm shift in Swu homecoming today

New Delhi, Jan. 14 : For Naga rebel leader Isak Chishi Swu, 81, it would be a “homecoming” of a different order tomorrow — he is travelling from Bangkok on an Indian passport.

Swu, the chairman of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah), will land in the wee hours on Friday at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi. He and his 22-year-old daughter will have their passports, bearing the Ashok insignia, stamped at the Indian immigration counter.

For a rebel leader who has fought the Indian government tooth and nail since the sixties and carried Bangladeshi passport for decades, this will be a paradigm shift.

Swu has lived in the Netherlands, the Philippines and Bangkok from time to time.

A few years ago, he had sneaked into India from Bangladesh via Meghalaya and reached Dimapur with state help. It is also a paradigm shift for the NSCN (I-M) whose ageing leaders — general secretary Thuingalang Muivah is also a septuagenarian — are trying to find a final and lasting solution.

Swu will join long-time associate Muivah in the national capital and jointly appear at a massive reception by the Naga community.

The reception, which was earlier slated for tomorrow, is likely to be deferred because of Swu’s delay in arrival.

“The leader will stay in Delhi for about a month,” said an NSCN source. During the period, talks with the Centre will be conducted in the presence of interlocutor R.S. Pandey.

Along with Swu and his daughter, six others of a family have also been given Indian passports. Antony Shimray, the NSCN leader picked up from Nepal and later arrested in Bihar last year had his family living in Thailand. Sources said the family members are returning home on Indian passports. They, too, earlier held Bangladeshi passports.

The Bangladeshi passports have been surrendered, sources said.

Militants from the Northeast, including Ulfa commander-in-chief Paresh Barua, have used Bangladeshi passports for years, to travel to the Southeast Asian countries and Pakistan.

With India’s security policy evolving, the responses from militants are changing but so have reactions of North Block. “Why should we not allow them to get Indian passports when they are Indians?” argued an official of the home ministry.

In case of Swu, the NSCN has been demanding that he be given his passport, sources said as his Bangladesh passport was due to expire soon. Security agencies are happy that Indian passports will facilitate the authorities to keep a tab on their movements.

The NSCN leader’s willingness to come on an Indian passport indicates his resolve to solve the problem for good. Flag-waving young boys and girls in traditional attire and choirs singing gospel songs will enliven the reception which is expected to be an emotional affair for the NSCN’s supporters.