Manmohan Singh meets Naga rebels

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday met with Naga rebels in an attempt to end one of India's longest-running insurgencies in the remote northeast, a rebel spokesman said.

India is offering wide autonomy to Naga people as it already has rejected the rebels' demand for an independent homeland in northeastern India bordering Myanmar, where most of the 2 million Nagas live.

The Naga insurgency is India's first ethnic rebellion, claiming around 25,000 lives for more than 55 years since 1950s. The NSCN-IM wants a 'greater Nagaland' comprising Naga-inhabited areas of the neighbouring states of Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, that would unite 1.2 million Nagas.

These states are vehemently opposed to the idea, and it is a major sticking point in negotiations between the Naga rebels and Delhi.

NSCN-IM also wants sovereignty for Nagaland. Talks between the two sides began in August 1997, when the rebels decided to explore the possibility of a settlement through dialogue and a ceasefire was announced.

NSCN-IM has accused the Indian government of using the ceasefire as cover to tighten its grip and of jeopardising a peace process. New Delhi has accused them of breaking ceasefire and indulging in covert arms-dealing.

At least 50 rounds of peace talks in over a decade to end one of South Asia's longest-running insurgencies.

Another factional group, NSCN-K, headed by Burmese Naga separatist leader SS Khaplang, has voiced strong opposition to Delhi's decision to continue the talks only with NSCN-IM.

The rebels' meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh lasted 40 minutes, said Imcha Longkumer, a spokesman for the National Socialist Council of Nagaland. He declined to give details.

There was no immediate official comment on Tuesday's meeting. The five-member delegation of rebels was led by the National Socialist Council of Nagaland General Secretary, Thuingaleng Muivah.

However, G.K. Pillai, the Home Secretary, said last week that there was no question of accepting the rebels' demand for a sovereign homeland outside India. "It is also impractical to redraw state boundaries to facilitate the Nagas living in northeastern states to live together. We are considering granting them a good deal of autonomy so that their hopes and aspirations can be taken care of," said Pillai. The last round of talks between Indian officials and the rebel leaders was held in Zurich in Switzerland in March last year.

National Socialist Council of Nagaland NSCN (IM) faction leader Thuingaleng Muivah, who arrived here late last night along with group chairman Isak Chisi Swu, for talks with the Centre, has said it was high time India took the issue of Nagaland seriously. ''We are hoping that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was serious about finding a lasting solution to Naga issue,'' he told a television channel.

Union Home Secretary G K Pillai in a conciliatory statement has said ''NSCN(IM) was not a banned organisation and we hope that we can move forward and try and settle the Naga issue once and for all.'' The Naga leaders, before meeting the PM will first be interacting with the government’s newly appointed interlocuter R S Pandey, who has replaced former Home Secretary K Padmanabhaiah. They will be also calling on the Home Minister P Chidambaram later in the week.

Isak and Muivah, who are reportedly based in Amsterdam, are also expected to visit Nagaland and will try to iron out difference with its rival NSCN (Khaplang) that has resulted in clashes in the recent past.

The NSCN(IM) is one of the oldest and most powerful of about 30 rebel groups in India's north-east. Earlier it had been demanding an independent homeland for the Nagas, but later proposed a Greater Nagaland to be formed from parts of adjoining states that have Naga tribal populations. This demand has, however, been rejected by the Centre and also by governments of Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.

- Asian Tribune -