Truce and violence

The extension of the Union Government's ceasefire agreement with the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isaac-Muivah) to Naga-inhabited areas in Manipur inflames the people of the State.

KALYAN CHAUDHURI in Imphal and Kohima

MANIPUR is on the boil. The Union Government's agreement with the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isaac-Muivah) extending the ceasefire in Nagaland to Naga-inhabited areas in the neighbouring States of Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh sparked off large-scale violence in the northeastern State. In a spontaneous upsurge of anger that took the administration by surprise, mobs torched the Assembly building, the Chief Minister's office and the Speaker's residence in the State capital Imphal.

Within hours of the official announcement of the signing of the agreement with NSCN(I-M) general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah in Bangkok on June 14 (Frontline, July 6, 2001), student and youth organisations of Manipur called a 66-hour bandh, which paralysed normal life in the State. The situation took a violent turn on June 18 when thousands of people took to the streets in Imphal. They targeted politicians of all hues and set fire to the Assembly building, 12 bungalows of legislators and former Ministers and offices of all political parties. Four MLAs and Speaker Sapam Dhananjoy, who was in his residence when it was set afire, were injured. Two MLAs who were inside the Assembly building received serious burn injuries. The Manipur Assembly is in suspended animation after the Centre imposed President's Rule in the State in early June following the collapse of the government led by the Samata Party's Radhabinod Koijam and the impasse over government formation.

On June 18, 14 people were killed when the security forces opened fire on a mob. The Centre rushed additional companies of paramilitary forces to the State. For two days, Manipur remained cut off from the rest of the country as all flights to Imphal were cancelled. The entire State was brought under curfew, which was relaxed for a brief period during the day. Fearing an outbreak of similar violence, the Assam and Arunachal Pradesh governments took elaborate security measures.

The movement against the Centre's acceptance of the NSCN(I-M)'s demand for the extension of the ceasefire to areas beyond Nagaland is spearheaded by the All Manipur Students' Union (AMSU) and the All Manipur United Clubs Organisation (AMUCO). They see Union Home Minister L.K. Advani as the villain of the piece. Their ire was not directed against any community but against the Centre and the people's representatives in the State. During their demonstrations in front of the Raj Bhavan, AMSU activists said: "Let us target all the 60 MLAs. We elected them but they are busy fighting for power instead of guarding the State's territory." They demanded the resignation of the MLAs and three MPs, including Union Minister Thonoujam Chaoba Singh. The Manipur Students' Federation (MSF) asked the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Samata Party and the Manipur State Congress Party (Chaoba), all constituents of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) from Manipur, to give an assurance that the Centre would revoke the ceasefire. The MSF warned that if these parties did not get the truce extension revoked, they would not be allowed to function in the State.

The Centre's latest agreement with the NSCN(I-M) is seen as being unilateral and hasty. The general feeling in Manipur is that it should have consulted the Chief Ministers in the northeastern region before deciding to extend the ceasefire and that Advani's handling of the issue is marked by insensitivity. For instance, the Home Minister told mediapersons that the Prime Minister had called a meeting of the Chief Ministers of all northeastern States in early January, including Tripura, and that they had broadly agreed to the proposal to extend the ceasefire. In reality, it is said, the Chief Ministers of Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Megha-laya and Tripura had disapproved the idea. Again, the Chief Ministers of Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya had met the Prime Minister and urged him to extend the ceasefire after holding talks with all militant outfits in the region. They had made it clear to the Centre that entering into an agreement with the NSCN(I-M) alone would not solve the insurgency problem. There were nearly 50 underground militant groups in the region, including the Khaplang faction of the NSCN, they had pointed out.

It was obvious that the Centre had failed to foresee the consequences of extending the ceasefire to the contiguous Naga-inhabited districts of Senapati, Ukhrul and Chandel in Manipur. A Home Ministry official said: "The Govern-ment was apprehensive of some reaction in the form of protests and demonstrations against the latest truce with the NSCN(I-M). But the scale of violence that rocked Imphal was beyond our expectation."

Advani has been accused of maintaining secrecy about the negotiations between the government's interlocutor, former Union Home Secretary K. Padmanabhaiah, and NSCN-(I-M) leaders Isaac Chisi Swu and Muivah on June 13 and 14 in Bangkok and ignoring the warnings given by Manipur Governor Ved Marwah and Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi about a possible outbreak of violence. Advani, who has been guided in this matter by Padmanabhaiah, insisted that there was no ground for such apprehensions.

Leaders of the NSCN(I-M) had warned that they would pull out from the four-year-old ceasefire agreement after its expiry on July 31 if their demand for the extension of the ceasefire was not conceded. The Centre, according to observers in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur, should not have succumbed to the threat, ignoring the stiff opposition from these States. Manipur was particularly opposed to the extension of the ceasefire to areas within its territory, owing to intricate equations between and within tribal communities in the State. This is especially true in Ukhrul and Senapati districts on the Manipur-Nagaland border where Tangkhul Nagas coexist with other tribal communities. Muivah, who is fighting for an independent Nagaland, is from Ukhrul district and most of his cadres belong to this area. The Meiteis (Manipuris) see the extension of the ceasefire as the beginning of the process of slicing these districts out of their State and handing them over to Nagaland and thus fulfilling the demand of the Isaac-Muivah group for a "greater Nagalim". Meiteis' fears have been fuelled by Muivah's recent statement that Nagaland covers 12,00,000 sq km, whereas the actual area of the State is 16,579 sq km.

With the opposition from various sections of society mounting, political leaders in Manipur were under pressure to oppose the ceasefire extension. A delegation of MLAs and MPs from all parties, including the BJP, met top functionaries of the NDA government and demanded the revocation of the agreement. It set July 31 as the deadline for this. When it met Advani on June 23, he ruled out any revocation but assured the members that it would be reviewed. He said that the Centre was committed to maintaining the territorial integrity of Manipur and other northeastern States. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee also refused to revoke the agreement. But he said: "The review of various aspects arising out of the ceasefire with the NSCN(I-M) is under way and the process will be expedited." The BJP's central leadership, under pressure from the party's Manipur unit, has sought to incorporate certain provisions in the ceasefire agreement that would ensure the territorial integrity of the northeastern States.

The Manipur leaders took up the matter with George Fernandes, leader of the Samata Party and convener of the NDA. Fernandes told them that the Manipur unit of the Samata Party was from the outset against the extension of the ceasefire beyond Nagaland. Before Manipur was brought under President's rule on June 5, the Koijam government had passed two resolutions in the Assembly opposing its extension to Manipur. The resolutions said that the extension of the ceasefire was a direct threat to Manipur's territorial integrity.

The NSCN(I-M) was the first militant group to respond to Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao's proposal for peace talks. Several rounds of talks were held between government representatives and NSCN(I-M) leaders during the regimes of Narasimha Rao and his successors. Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda met Isaac and Muivah in Zurich in February 1997. It was in August 1997, when I.K. Gujral was Prime Minister, that the first ceasefire agreement was signed. The ceasefire was confined to Nagaland then. The NSCN(I-M) had been demanding its extension to all Naga-inhabited areas of the neighbouring States. Prime Minister Vajpayee met Isaac and Muivah in Paris in November 1998 in an effort to find a permanent solution for the Naga problem. This was the beginning of another round of talks between the NSCN(I-M) and the government interlocutors - Swaraj Kaushal initially, and Padmanabhaiah now. Although the ceasefire has been extended several times since 1997, peace has remained elusive, mainly because of the absence of a similar agreement with other Naga groups. Also, the ceasefire has been violated frequently.

The outbreak of violence in Manipur has affected the chances of formation of a popular government in Manipur. The BJP, which has 26 members in the 60-member Assembly, is the worst sufferer. Senior political leaders in Manipur say that the Centre's attempt to form a popular government will not succeed now. Former Chief Minister Koijam told Frontline that anyone attempting to form a government at this moment would be lynched by the people. The ceasefire issue has gone beyond the State's control and any new government will have to toe the Centre's line, which will be opposed by the people.