Is the Naga issue intractable?

Naga groups want Naga-inhabited areas of Burma and adjacent Indian states to be brought together

India's 55-year-old Naga insurgency has been contained by a slew of ceasefires. But chances of a settlement appear dim after 15 years of negotiations because the rebel factions cannot agree on the territorial limits of a future Naga homeland or state, writes Subir Bhaumik from Kohima, the capital of Nagaland.

Various factions of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) have been negotiating with the Indian government since 1997, pushing for a greater Naga state for all ethnic Nagas.

But, a new group is now seeking a break up of Nagaland to provide for a new state called "Frontier Nagaland" to fulfil the aspirations of smaller Naga tribes.

The NSCN, formed in 1980, is now split in three factions - each with its own vision of a future Naga homeland.

Its leaders broke away from the Naga National Council (NNC) - that had led the armed separatist movement from 1956 - after the NNC signed an accord with India in 1975.

But the NSCN split into two in 1988 with Indian Naga leaders Issac Swu and Th Muivah breaking off with the Burmese Naga leader SS Khaplang and triggering a bloody faction feud in which hundreds of Nagas, guerrillas and civilians have died.

In 1997, the Issac-Muivah faction started negotiations with India and so far more than 60 rounds of talks have been held.

Conflicting demands

The group wants a "Nagalim" (greater Naga state), created by integrating the Naga-dominated areas of the three states of Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh which border Nagaland.

Its leaders are mostly from the Tangkhul Naga tribe of Manipur.

The Issac-Muivah faction has been told that India cannot afford territorial reorganisation to create a "Nagalim" because of the huge opposition from Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

Instead, the group was offered "a supra-state body" covering Naga areas in these states - a body that could ensure cultural and emotional integration of the Nagas and provide them greater financial autonomy but not powers like law and order.

Even this offer has met with fierce resistance in these three states as it is seen as undermining their control on the Naga areas.

The Khaplang faction, however, wants a "Naga homeland" that would include the Naga-inhabited areas of Burma's Sagaing Division with Indian Naga areas.

The group has maintained a ceasefire with India for 14 years and it was renewed in April after the Khaplang faction agreed to three conditions set by Delhi. The conditions included:

• No shelter to other hostile northeast Indian rebel groups on its bases

• No violence against other NSCN factions

• Total adherence to the "ground rules" imposed by the ceasefire monitoring group.

India also asked 45 of its senior leaders and commanders to carry GPS-fitted identity cards.

Despite the long ceasefire with the Khaplang group, India is yet to start negotiations with them.

"We want to be included in the negotiations because we have waited long enough. It is no use imposing conditions if Delhi does not talk. We signed the ceasefire with both India and Burma's governments because our Naga people live in both countries like the Kurds live in Iran, Iraq and Turkey and their rebels have to deal with all three governments," said Khaplang's India representative DT Lincoln.

"But Khaplang is a Burmese national and the group is based in that country. They also provide shelter to most other north-eastern rebel groups that are fighting us, among them the anti-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa) and Manipuri rebel groups. There are obvious difficulty starting talks with this group," said an Indian home ministry official who was unwilling to be named.

'Arm-twisting'

Also, the Issac-Muivah faction has opposed Khaplang's inclusion in the talks.

Now there is a third NSCN faction, led by Khole Konyak and Khitovi Zhimomi, both hailing from Nagaland state, who say they are prepared to solve the "Naga problem within the present boundaries of Nagaland".

These leaders broke away from Khaplang over personality clashes and conflicting perspectives on the Naga problem.

"Delhi is preparing to invite us for talks after we signed a ceasefire recently and we have already discussed the issues with our community leaders in Nagaland," Mr Zhimomi said.

"We want a solution within the boundaries of Nagaland because India cannot change territorial configurations," he said.

"This is the group that will make Indian officials very happy because they don't demand territorial changes and would perhaps settle for greater financial autonomy and a federal largesse in the shape of development funds," says Sujit Chakraborty, who has closely followed the India-NSCN negotiations.

And then to make matters more complex, a new group, Eastern Naga Peoples Organisation (ENPO), is demanding a division of Nagaland to create a separate state they call the "Frontier Nagaland".

"About 45% of the total Naga population lives in eastern Nagaland's four districts of Mon, Tuensang, Longleng and Kiphire. These four districts will be included in the proposed new state and we have the support of all the six Naga tribes - Konyak, Chang, Sangtam, Phom, Yimchunger and Khiamniungan - living in these four districts," says ENPO chief Toshi Wongtung.

"We also want to incorporate the two Naga-inhabited districts of Arunachal Pradesh - Changlang and Tirap - into the proposed Frontier Nagaland," he said.

"They are our brothers and sisters and we want to live together and we have not got our due in Nagaland," he added.

NSCN factions allege that ENPO is a "creation of Indian intelligence to arm-twist" them into accepting a solution within Nagaland. But, they admit the development and security concerns of the "eastern Nagas".

Indian negotiators have said Delhi is prepared to extend greater powers to Nagaland through a "special federal relationship" that has been largely worked out.

But, it is the differing territorial perceptions of a future Naga homeland amongst the rebel factions that is complicating the negotiations and delaying a settlement to India's longest running ethnic insurrection which is almost as old as the Indian republic.