Aheli Moitra
It is now three years since the Framework Agreement was signed between the National Socialist Council of Nagalim and representatives of the Government of India on August 3, 2015. It is also 21 years since the ceasefire between the two sides came into effect on August 1, 1997. In this time, the two sides have claimed to have put in necessary efforts to propel the Indo-Naga peace talks to fruition.
Given the opaque layers under which the peace parleys happen, it is impossible to know what exactly has transpired between the two teams apart from each of their words on the matter. Even that is confusing for the public as one’s claims are frequently contradicted by the other.
In the 'indigenous paradigm' (Wilson, Shawn 2001), these contradictions would be brought out in public discussions on the issue around a hearth. If such methods were applied to the Indo-Naga peace process, we could all have claimed to be richer, having built a real and honest relationship that the peace process should have been about in the first place. With the entry of the Working Committee of the Naga National Political Groups to a separate negotiating table with the Government of India in 2017, people had hoped for the Indo-Naga peace process to become more transparent and accountable to the people. While some form of civil society ‘consultation’ mechanism existed at some point, the people at large have been left in the blind for the long ceasefire years.
In these years, the Indian government has continued to “mainstream” Naga society to lay down governance. Schools have been built, healthcare centres provided, roads constructed, businesses have developed, media has proliferated, two-way migration has increased, monetary wealth has expanded, agriculture has transformed, sports and festivals commercialized. Nagaland is supposed to be one of the safest states in the Indian Union and social protection is generously provided as per a survey data. It is easy to believe that temporary peace hacks are all that people need to live dignified and self-determining lives.
But people in the Naga lands continue to trip—over half baked education policies, miserable road conditions, faltering businesses, unfree media, creation of the super elite, monoculture, military rule, corruption, multi-layered discrimination, debt poverty. Chauvinistic people’s politics are on the rise. Parasitic relationships have taken root with the Government of India instead of an engaging one between two caring neighbors. Space for scrutinizing of the peace process and governance have shrunk; discussions are hushed up, dialogue sparse.
Bringing the peace process to a closure will bring great dividends for the Naga people as well as the Government of India. But the consensus for it cannot be drawn unless people are party to the peace process and its horizon broadened. It is time to make the Indo-Naga process less complex, open it up for the people, boil it down and bring it to an end before the deficits of ceasefire peace outdo the profits. The crumbling roads stand as a pressing reminder, and the Naga people still have a long way to walk.
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