The Nagaland People’s Front (NPF) while reaffirming its support to the ongoing peace process has come out with some interesting pointers on the prevailing political situation. No one will disagree on the statement coming from the party that the unabated factional clash taking place in the State is ‘un-nationalistic’. And everyone will agree that unless there is an immediate stop to such killings, the emerging situation will only awaken more feelings of anger and reprisal. Moreover, fratricidal killing is clearly something that the peace loving Naga people do not deserve. The desire of the Naga people for complete cessation of all hostilities is a clear mandate, which the different Naga political groups will have to honor sooner or later.
But till then, there is also going to be the serious dilemma when two groups from the same family engage in bitter feud. And it is this Catch-22 situation, which the present State government is confronted with every time there is a factional clash. Because of this, there is also so much hue and cry amongst the political parties on whether the situation arising out of this is a ‘political’ or a problem of ‘law and order’. The ineffectiveness of the ceasefire ground rules signed by the NSCNs with the Government of India also adds to the confusion.
One of the flaws in the current ground rules is that it remains a limited agreement without taking into consideration the political side of the Naga underground situation. While it is clearly stated that movement of armed cadres should be strictly restricted to the respected designated camps, this clause has become a mockery against the backdrop of the turf wars between the hostile Naga groups. There is therefore a clear case for a thorough review of the ceasefire ground rules, which the Government of India if it is sincere on peace, should not ignore. The recent visit of senior Home Ministry officials to Nagaland and their meeting with the NSCN groups will hopefully bear fruit on this front because even here the stand of the Naga public is clear, which is to keep armed cadres out of civilian populated areas.
Coming back to the State, NPF President Dr Shurhozelie Liezietsu, while making his presidential address on the occasion of inaugurating the party’s central office building, commented that the Naga problem is basically political and a human problem which can be solved only through political and human approach. In terms of a clear cut policy while dealing with the spate of factional clashes, taking a ‘human approach’ cannot be merely derided. This is something that emerged last year during the height of the factional clashes in Zunheboto. Whether it was a well thought out policy not to intervene in order to avoid more aggravation of the situation or whether it was pure failure of the government, at least the positive that has come out of this unpleasant experience is the advantage of following a non interventionist approach.
However for the government machinery, this ‘human approach’ to handling factional clashes should not be a substitute towards performing its basic duty of protecting the lives and property of the public, which will continue to demand proper attention of law enforcing agencies. The government should fully explore the vast options available for intervening in a non-confrontationist manner. For this, the active participation of tribal hohos and other public mandated groups will remain fundamentally important if at all the present DAN government’s ‘human approach’ in dealing with factional clashes is to remain both acceptable to the Naga public and also successful towards its stated objective of peace and understanding.
