NSCN-IM leaders Th. Muivah and Isak Chishi Swu.
Nagaland is a paradox. There appears to be a distinct mental and intellectual gap between one generation and the next. While those over 50 continue to harbour hopes that something will emerge out of the ongoing peace exercise with the Centre, the younger generation is doubtful about it.
Many feel that this peace process has reached a stalemate with no light at the end of the tunnel. Naga people are now beginning to express their views more openly about the futility of the peace process itself.
For those at the forefront of the Naga National Movement, currently led by the NSCN (I-M) which is the only group sitting at the high table with representatives of the Centre to work out a peace formula, the entire exercise has become a matter of Naga honour. If they are unable to show they have wrested something from the Centre, it would be seen as a futile mission with a very high cost.
But the manner in which things are moving seem to suggest that the Centre cannot set a precedence which might balkanise not only the northeastern region with so many ethnic groups laying similar claims to a past sovereignty, but also other troubled parts of India. The Naga claims would have to be seen from so many different perspectives and not just the Naga viewpoint. That, to my mind, is the crux of the matter.
Since many other armed groups in Assam like Ulfa and the NDFB are also waiting in the queue to talk of settlements with the Centre, it becomes even more crucial for the government to appear to be doing the right thing.
Future worry
Deals signed with any group have to be equitable, or else the Centre would be sowing seeds of future dissension in the region. It is learnt that Muivah and other leaders of the NSCN (I-M) are currently consulting some of the best international minds, from Australia and the US among others, on setting out a template for negotiations with Delhi.
When this issue was broached with some Naga intellectuals and those intensely engaged in the peace processes in Nagaland, they expressed surprise that such things are going on in New Delhi. Many felt that if such international scholars are helping to put together a framework of negotiations then they should have come to Nagaland and meet the people here to better understand the internal dynamism of Naga society.
Hiring international consultants with tried and tested skills and the calibre for putting together a workable, mutually acceptable formula for a Nagaland with a different political arrangement is expensive business. But the NSCN (I-M) is willing to put its money where its mouth is.
After negotiating with the Centre based on its own indigenous wisdom and getting nowhere near a solution, perhaps the outfit feels it should now use all resources at its command. However, as a lay person with limited understanding of sophisticated peace formulas and complicated political procedures, I wonder if there can ever be a future for Nagaland that leaves the Meiteis out in the cold with only a fraction of their land.
There are those who follow the rule of thumb in negotiation processes and propose this formula, “In a negotiation you have to state your case implicitly and explicitly without being apologetic about how your case will affect others. It is the business of the principal respondent, (in this case the Centre) to work out the nuts and bolts and convince the other party to accept the settlement.”
The leaders of the NSCN (I-M) have been following this trajectory for over a decade. It has left a trail of bad blood and mutual distrust which has hardened the stances of the Meiteis and the government of Manipur which is increasingly playing out its role as the protector of Meitei cultural and political articulation, if not chauvinism. This is perhaps the most difficult obstacle and it is here that things refuse to progress beyond a point.
Road map
There are other forums in Nagaland such as the Peace Committee of the Nagaland Baptist Church Council which are also struggling to make sense out of the 64-year-old struggle and to see how the present can be extricated from the complicated past with its vicious stances of revenge and the slow transition to reconciliation.
I am not so sure that this platform has the wherewithal to negotiate the rough and tumble of the Naga political conundrum. Often, prayer alone is not enough to solve humanly created jigsaw puzzles. You need political acumen, an astute sense of the present and its implication on the future and, of course, a fair degree of pragmatism. Does the NBPC have this? What pool of experience is it drawing from? Are church leaders alone able to provide a road map for political negotiations? And, are they aware of the latest developments in the peace process? Or do they only wait to be briefed by Muivah when he deigns to visit Camp Hebron? Are they able to express their independent views to the NSCN (I-M)? Or, do they have to weigh every word they say for fear of retribution?
There are several other civil society groups in Nagaland other than those ordained by the NSCN (I-M). Are they able to articulate their positions and points of view as they see them now, as opposed to what happened in the past? There is a huge generation gap in Naga society. The present generation speaks a different language than its elders. It speaks the language of development and progress, of secure livelihoods, of a more stable environment (the current engagement on the future of the Intanki forest, the lifeline and oxygen cylinder of Nagaland) and of food security, among others. The Naga youth are unwilling to be passive witnesses to political and bureaucratic corruption. The recent byelection to Ungmah constituency to fill the void left by late Nongshilemba Jamir, apparently cut a neat hole in the pockets of the contenders, of which the senior patriarch S.C. Jamir was one.
Clean polls
Last week there was an animated discussion on clean elections in Nagaland. The target is the 2013 Assembly election. Nagas want to curtail election expenditure so that the more capable young people with no money to splash around can also contest, win and serve the electorate. So far, politicians just throw money around to get elected and spend the next five years recovering it with profit.
There is a genuine desire to put an end to this vicious cycle. Some resource persons from Mizoram were brought in to share their experiences since that state is a model for the most thriftily conducted elections.
So there is at once a sense of hope in the future of democracy in Nagaland but also a sense of futility each time the agenda of the peace process is flagged. People are living and walking two difficult and apparently mutually exclusive paths. Which one wins the day remains to be seen. But there is one thing you cannot accuse the Nagas of. They are never contented with the status quo. They continue to be restive about the future even while seeming to have fit in very well with the modern ideas of Indian democracy. Nagaland is indeed a paradox! But an interesting one, if not for the fratricidal clashes and the rising extortion from armed outfits. Extortion is killing the entrepreneurial spirit of the average Naga youth who wishes to follow the honourable way forward.
(The writer can be contacted at patricia17@rediffmail.com)