Warns Indo-Naga ceasefire is headed to a dead-end
Staff Reporter
DIMAPUR, AUGUST 27
THE NSCN (IM) on Tuesday outrightly rejected the “arbitrary imposition” of ban on carrying of weapons by any member of NSCN group(s) during the period of by-election to Noksen Assembly constituency in Tuensang district. At the same time, it also shot off a warning that the Indo-Naga ceasefire agreement was headed towards a dead-end “at this rate.”The by-election will be held on September 4.
Chairman of Cease Fire Monitoring Group (CFMG) Lt Gen (Rtd) NK Singh on August 26 wrote to all the three Naga political groups party to ceasefire agreement informing of the ban on carrying of arms, including by those cadres with green cards.
This prompted a miffed NSCN (IM) on Tuesday to retort that the outfit was well aware of the sentiment of the public as well as “universal norms and practices.”
“The NSCN understands and will never do such kind of foolish things. The matter has been taken care of already,” NSCN (IM) convener of CFMG, Kraibo Chawang, told a press conference here.
Yet such kind of “arbitrary imposition” from the CFMG chairman is unacceptable and contrary to ceasefire ground rules, Chawang stated. “It has become a big problem,” he said while regretting that “every time some elections come, such arbitrary order is imposed.”
He reasoned that “any law of the land was not applicable to the NSCN (IM)” and hence the “agreed” ceasefire ground rules between the NSCN (M) and New Delhi. “And nowhere in the ground rules is it mentioned that we cannot carry weapons,” he clarified.
Chawang also showed separate copies of ceasefire ground rule agreement signed by the NSCN (IM) and NSCN (K) with New Delhi and pointed out that the NSCN (IM) had never agreed to allow (Indian) security forces to retain the “right to enforce measures necessary to uphold the laws of the land”, as rival NSCN (K) did.
“They are trying to impose and apply on us the ground rules (agreed) with NSCN (K). It has become a big problem. The chairman of CFMG, who is supposed to be the guardian of the ceasefire ground rules, is officially violating the ground rules,” Chawang said.
He said the chairman should not be issuing a list of dos and don’ts to the NSCN
(IM). “At this rate the ceasefire is nearing to a dead-end. Because all our cadres, our authority, they are not happy.
“Whether the government of India is going to respect the ground rules or not, is the big question. If they are not going to respect it, then how can there be a ceasefire,” Chawang questioned.
He argued that the NSCN (IM) had been turned into victims of the ceasefire agreement, mostly through its own decision to show patience in their pursuit of “peace and solution.” “But the NSCN is thinking very seriously about it now.”
Chawang admitted that the problems and confrontations between the NSCN (IM) and New Delhi arise largely because of differences in their interpretation of the ceasefire ground rules. There is a ground rules review committee “at a higher level”, headed by the Secretary of Internal Security, government of India, in which the NSCN (IM) is represented by senior functionary VS Atem.
The NSCN (IM) said he had already requested the present CFMG chairman to take up the issue with the review committee but regretted that the latter had failed to do so.
Similar ban on carrying of weapons during this year’s Assembly elections in February had caused outrage in the ranks of the NSCN (IM), who bluntly refused to follow the diktat on the contention that the ceasefire ground rules do not forbid them from doing so.
