Nirmalya Banerjee
KOLKATA: The body count is going up in Nagaland, once again. And Delhi may have missed a chance to settle the intractable Naga political issue offered by two years of relative calm in 2009 and 2010 after the signing of the Covenant of Reconciliation (CoR) between three rebel groups - NSCN (I-M), NSCN (Khaplang) and NNC - to end factional feuds.
Though former Union home secretary G K Pillai said in Guwahati recently that the situation in Nagaland is better, with 61 incidents of violence in 2011 as against 64 in 2010, the statistics tell a different story.
According to a portal on security affairs, there were 10 killings in Nagaland in 2011 - seven civilians and three rebels - as against only three in 2010, all of them militants. In 2009, there were 18 killings - seven civilians and 11 rebels - but this was low compared to 2008, when the death toll was 145 with 42 civilians, two securitymen and 101 militants being killed. This year took off to a violent start, with eight killings till now.
Killings have mounted with factionalism among the Naga undergrounds intensifying. The years 2007 and 2008 were particularly bad - there were 108 deaths in 2007 - with a group of cadres breaking away from NSCN(I-M) to form NSCN(U). The recent upsurge in violence is a consequence of a split in the NSCN(K), with one faction being led by Khaplang and the other by Khole-Kitovi. Zunheboto district, Athibung in Peren district and Dimapur are the new battlegrounds between these factions. "Most clashes are now between the Khaplang and the Khole-Kitovi factions of the NSCN," said a state government official.
Observers say chances of a political solution will recede if factional feuds among the Naga rebel outfits continue. In such a situation, underground groups cannot present a united face to the government. And the Centre, too, would be at a loss on whom to talk to. Only a settlement acceptable to large sections of the Naga people can be permanent. In view of the clashes between the Khaplang and Khole-Kitovi factions, the Centre prevented Muivah from going to Zunheboto, but this prompted NSCN (I-M), the biggest of the underground groups, to call a 36-hour bandh in January in Naga-inhabited areas. Factionalism was low in 2009 and 2010 because of efforts of the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR).
Former Nagaland chief minister S C Jamir feels that it is high time the Naga issue is settled. "The nine-point Hydari agreement in 1947 had taken only three days to be drawn up. The 16-point agreement in 1960 was also finalized in three days. But the current negotiations with NSCN(I-M) are continuing for the past 14 years," he pointed out.
Underscoring the need for the solution to be "honourable".