`If it's the Northeast, no one cares'

`If it's the Northeast, no one cares'

Officials dealing with the Naga peace negotiations heaved a huge sigh of relief when T.H. Muivah, general secretary of the dominant Naga faction, the NSCN(I/M), was arrested and sentenced to a year in prison by the Thai government. The slightly strange official response was caused by unofficial jubilation due to the indefinite postponement of the next round of peace negotiations, scheduled to be held in Germany between the NSCN(I/M) and the Prime Minister's Principal Interlocutor, K. Padmanabhaiah.

Muivah is considered to be the ``hard man'' of the NSCN(I/M) by the Ministry of Home Affairs, which feels that he is not prepared to compromise an iota on the sovereignty issue. After his second arrest in a fortnight for travelling on fake documents, official attempts to denigrate and rubbish him have begun in earnest. Witness the latest round of Muivah-bashing, executed by an unnamed official spokesman who was speaking to news agencies. He accused the NSCN leader of ulterior motives on the ground that he hadvisited Karachi. ``The visit of Muivah to Karachi proves, beyond any shadow of doubt, his links with Pakistan's ISI,'' he said. The spokesman added that this linkage would naturally hinder any pragmatic solution to the Naga problem.

``How can an indisciplined leader, lacking moral courage and concern for civility, be relied upon to deal with the Naga issue in a fair and impartial manner? It is obvious that Muivah has always placed his narrow parochial interests over and above Naga aspirations,'' the spokesman said.

He said the re-arrest of Muivah on January 29, while trying to leave for Kuala Lumpur from Hatyai airport in Southern Thailand, had ``exposed the Naga leader and brought to the fore his dubious personality traits, besides his total disregard for the laws of the country where he has been residing for a number of years.''

This, according to NSCN members, is precisely the crux of the problem. ``The officials appointed by your government are not interested in a solution. All they do is denigrateus, rubbish our demands and tell lies to the political leadership. Why don't they understand that we are not going to give in so easily. We have fought for nearly 40 years,'' says an NSCN leader close to Muivah.

The official sniping at the NSCN(I/M) had nearly jeopardised the peace talks earlier. The top NSCN(I/M) leadership had threatened to call off the talks if the government persisted in appointing bureaucrats as negotiators. The provocation for the November ultimatum of the NSCN(I/M) was an interview given by G.K. Pillai, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs in charge of the Northeast. Pillai criticised Muivah and another leader, Issac Chisi Swu, while speaking to Deshkaal in August. The NSCN(I/M) reacted by writing to the government saying that they no longer wanted to negotiate with bureaucrats, much to the dismay of the actual negotiating team.

Says a senior member of the team: ``It seems like the Home Ministry is determined to sabotage the Naga peace talks. Otherwise, how could anofficial of the level of joint secretary, who is supposed to keep his counsel, make such provocative statements?'' Even more unbelievably, despite the negotiators' complaint, Union Home Secretary Kamal Pande did not take any action against Pillai. An unrepentant Pillai had earlier said that he did not regret giving the interview and stood by his statements on Muivah and Swu. The NSCN say that they waited for two months hoping that the government would take action against Pillai, but were ``bewildered and hurt'' when he continued to hold the sensitive portfolio. ``They do not want to leave us with any face. If it had been Kashmir, quick changes would have happened; but if it's the Northeast, no one cares. We are always being humiliated like this,'' says a Naga leader based in Bangkok.

Obviously, no lessons were learnt from the earlier episode as the same own-goal approach was adopted in branding Muivah an ISI agent. Says a senior intelligence official who is in charge of the Northeast desk: ``The Hurriyathas open links with Pakistan, but the same MHA is prepared to talk to them. In any case, can every visitor to Karachi be branded an ISI agent.''This insensitive and nearly inimical approach of the MHA towards the Naga talks have nearly destroyed the negotiating brief. While a fresh brief is approved every time by the Prime Minister, the constraints imposed by the Home Ministry leave little room for manoeuvring. Officials say that even tiny concessions are frowned upon by the MHA, which takes an inexplicably hardline approach. For instance, the Naga leaders are very protocol-conscious and want the negotiators to call them by their titles. They also want them to wear suits. But the MHA has been insisting that the negotiators, who routinely wear suits, wear casual clothes and not address Swu and Muivah by their titles during meetings.

The MHA was acutely uncomfortable when former Mizoram governor Swaraj Kaushal was principal negotiator, as he took the position that small concessions did not matter as long asthe big picture was kept in mind and the sovereignty issue not conceded. His approach led to the only hopeful moment in the Naga talks when, after 38 years, Muivah and Swu came to Nagaland. However, before any breakthrough could be achieved, Kaushal was removed and the MHA tried to derail the peace process. Naga leaders say that if the government continues with this carping approach, there will be no point in future talks.

With the battle-lines drawn on both sides, the negotiators now want the PM to revise the brief. ``We have to make some concrete concessions. Everything short of sovereignty should be on the table. Some creative thinking with limited autonomy is the only solution,'' says a senior official. This view is not shared by the MHA, which is still insistent that the Nagas be tired out by using the ceasefire to destroy NSCN(I/M) strongholds.