New Delhi, Jul 30 : Former Intelligence Bureau special director Ajit Lal is likely to be named the government’s interlocutor for talks with the NSCN (Isak-Muivah), sources said today, amid reports of rising impatience for a settlement to the Naga problem.
The sources said
once Prime Minister Narendra Modi finalises the name of the Centre’s
point man, it would send the message that negotiations were about to
resume.
Lal, a 1974-batch
IPS officer, heads the joint intelligence committee and holds temporary
charge as interlocutor. As Lal is set to retire on July 31, Modi,
sources said, should “logically speaking” finalise the name by
tomorrow. They said Union home minister Rajnath Singh cleared Lal’s name
last week after national security adviser Ajit Doval gave the
go-ahead.
The sources said
the NSCN (I-M) was unlikely to protest the choice as Lal had been
involved in the negotiations as special director too. Lal held a meeting
with NSCN leaders earlier this month but it was believed to be a
warm-up round.
“You can never do
any guesswork in politics. Let us see how things unfold,” a senior NSCN
(I-M) leader said, reacting to the likely formalisation of an interim
appointment.
Since the
ceasefire with the NSCN (I-M) was signed in 1997, Swaraj Kaushal, K.
Padmanabhaiah and R.S. Pandey have served as interlocutors at over 70
rounds of talks held in cities across Europe and Southeast Asia. The
names of Pandey, former Nagaland chief secretary who joined the BJP last
December, and former home secretary G.K. Pillai also did the rounds
before the government decided on Lal.
The decision comes
in the backdrop of increasing impatience for a settlement to the Naga
problem. While the NDA government appeared to be in no hurry to address
the problem immediately after taking over two months ago, intelligence
agencies have reported this sense of impatience, particularly in the
Naga areas of Manipur.
NSCN (I-M) general
secretary Thuingalang Muivah belongs to Manipur’s Ukhrul district,
considered the symbolic heart of the movement aimed at unifying Naga
areas across Nagaland and Manipur.
The NSCN (I-M)
insists on a “special federal relationship” with the government of
India, a demand that is seen as “unrealistic” by both South Block and
North Block.
But over the past
few weeks, arrests of NSCN (I-M) cadres from Ukhrul by state security
agencies have made the hills anxious. There have been other
developments, too, involving the NSCN factions that could temper the
Centre’s strategy. For one, the NSCN (Khole-Kitovi), which broke away
from the NSCN (Khaplang), is waiting in the wings for a chance to hold
talks.
Then, extortions
by multiple rebel outfits in Nagaland and resistance from others have
compelled the rebels to also look for a speedy settlement. Sources said
the government might consider a realistic time frame to reach a lasting
settlement.