Manipur-Muivah standoff: Face saving formula for both sides?
To ease the heat of the ongoing confrontation between the Manipur Government and Th. Muivah, the general secretary of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim, the Centre is planning to summon a meeting of the peace talks between the NSCN and New Delhi’s representatives in the national capital.
This would enable Mr. Muivah to leave the small Naga village in Nagaland where he has been camping with a large number of associates for a fresh round of the “Indo-Naga talks”, as the Nagas define the discussions, and talk to Central leaders in New Delhi about the current issues and other problems.
This is a way of helping reduce the political pressure and the heated atmosphere which have erupted around his plans to visit his home village in Manipur. The Manipur cabinet refused to back down from its intransigence despite the visit of a Central team led by Home Secretary Gopal Pillai and which included the Centre’s Interlocutor for the Naga talks, former Petroleum Secretary Raghaw Pandey. The team shuttled between Imphal, the Manipuri capital, Kohima, the Nagaland capital, and Visema, the village where Mr. Muivah is camping, near the Manipuri border allow the visit.
“They just would not budge,” said a top Central official who was involved in the talks. “In fact, all sides were adamant on their views, no one wanted to back down because they were gaining the support of their respective sides and states.”
The New Delhi team tried different approaches including stressing the point that the Naga leader had said he would not be raising any contentious issues that would cause problems during his visit. This was widely seen as a signal to placate fears that he would reiterate his views that the Naga-dominated areas of Manipur need to be incorporated into a larger Naga homeland. But what also irked Manipur, a state extremely sensitive to perceived slights, was that it was not consulted by the Centre when the visit was planned.
“They know it is a touchy issue in Manipur, why did they not even think about telling us?” asked a cabinet minister in Imphal. To which a senior official who traveled to the two states a few days back said, “The Prime Minister has gone on record saying the borders will not be changed, the Government has said this in Parliament, it has been conveyed to Mr. Muivah and all states of the North-east, that there cannot be any change of borders without the consensus of all states – and Muivah is a man who genuinely wants a situation.”
Manipur is a state under siege, literally. A nearly month-long road blockade of NH 39 by Naga activists demanding cancellation or postponed of district council elections in their areas by the state government has meant that essential commodities are in short supply. Prices are soaring along with public resentment, as Manipur, always on a short fuse, simmers angrily.
Petrol is rationed to five liters per vehicle now and queues are one to two kms long. Even emergency services even in hospitals are being curtailed as the state struggles to manage. This has doubled the resolve of Chief Minister Ibobi Singh’s government to weather the storm because giving in to the Naga demand would be seen as bowing to Muivah’s demands: his group and supporters, it says, are behind the bandh and are intimidating and kidnapping Naga candidate (seven were kidnapped in Senapati district) in an effort disrupt the polls.
The Naga militant leadership sees the elections as an effort to undermine its hold in these areas. Nearly 45 candidates have been elected unopposed while another 80 seats will be contested. A majority of the sole candidates were, unsurprisingly, members of the ruling Congress Party.
“Let us wait till the elections are over, only then can the Manipur government say if Muivah can come to Manipur,” said the state cabinet member. That process should be over by the first week of June.
The confrontation escalated last week when Manipur armed police fired on a crowd of Naga protesters on the Manipur side of the state’s border with Nagaland, who were demanding that Mr. Muivah be allowed to travel into Manipur. At least two persons were killed and scores were wounded., a curfew was declared and about 1,000 Naga villagers fled to take shelter across the border.
Manipur’s Naga MLAs have quit en masse to protest the firings, under tremendous pressure, but are not pressing their quit notices; the Speaker of the state Assembly is keeping their letters on hold.
In an effort to calm the situation, and at the Centre’s nudging, the Manipur government announced ex-gratia payment to relatives of those killed and wounded, replaced its police with Central forces at the border and is sending officers to escort the displaced Nagas home.
“What is needed are attitudes that will create a win-win situation all around,” said a Home Ministry official.
Significantly, the face-off has not apparently not had any impact yet on the Naga-New Delhi peace talks, now in their 14th year, and apparently making some progress these past months. “Muivah has said that dialogue is moving along positive lines despite difficulties,” said Mr. Pande, New Delhi’s representative at the talks.
Sanjoy Hazarika
May 16, 2010, The Sunday Guardian