[dropcap]I[/dropcap]t is not too late for the Naga civil society to dissuade S S Khaplang and company from going ahead with their extreme decision. The ongoing Ceasefire term between New Delhi and NSCN-K expires on April 28 and we can use this pretty one long month to our advantage. To iron out the feathers ruffled by the NSCN-K in the past few days is not impossible. Technically the Ceasefire is still in force. Having assuaged the people’s concerns (and vice versa) in critical situation for all these years we don’t see reasons the NSCN-K leaders will be indifferent to the public voice all of a sudden.
Decades of engaging in guerrilla warfare and now 14 years of peace, S S Khaplang and his NSCN-K have come a long way fighting for an important cause. We know all engagements must come to an end but not today. Never at this critical juncture.To get so near and yet be so far away is a fate that has befallen many a world revolutionary leaders. History is the witness to it. S S Khaplang may have assumed about his fate in this line. If he does so he has reasons to drive home his point.
For 14 years making him to sit in a bench seeing the other players in the field in action must be perhaps a punishing job. This frustration of his team is well reflected in the press communiqué the outfit issued two days ago announcing the abrogation of the 14 years Ceasefire with India.
“The unjust peace is no peace at all and 14 years of Ceasefire between NSCN/GPRN and India has become a mockery and futile exercise. The shallow commitment and politics of deceit have become a hallmark tradition of India to engage in peace and political discourses… the Nagas’ sovereign legacy cannot be negotiated or relegated to mere ceasefire proceedings”.
Here, we are not making an attempt to give our judgement as which group or which leader should be given the baton of the Naga political issue. Our argument is—if at all there is Ceasefire between two entities then the stakeholders should, both in spirit and in practice, attempt to move forward towards the purpose of inking the agreement.
