Delhi should give up its double talk : SoO pact - Not moving an inch
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: Ocotber 09, 2014 -
Inked sometime in 2006.
That is the Suspension of Operation agreement between the Government of India and the Kuki armed groups. The State Government came on board in 2008 and hence the oft repeated term, tripartite agreement.
Eight years or six years. This is the age of SoO.
A child born back then would now be 8 years or 6 years old but by all account, the SoO agreement has remained where it was, at that stage when it was first conceptualised and later signed.
The Kuki National Organisation and United Peoples’ Front, the two conglomerate organisations of the Kuki armed groups, have every reason to feel peeved.
The only sign that the SoO pact is alive and kicking is the yearly exercise of extending it but this cannot be the answer.
At best the annual exercise of extending the SoO pact may be taken as nothing much more than an attempt at keeping the Kuki armed groups at bay and something for Delhi to tom tom that it is indeed serious about the issue.
The result is there for all to see. No dialogue yet.
Other than the signatories of the SoO pact, no one seems to know the charter of demands or points which the Kuki armed groups are likely to put up if and when the formal talks actually begin.
Delhi may have a fair idea on what to expect, but the biggest stakeholder, that is the people appear to be in the dark. This is not acceptable.
Weave a web of uncertainty and in the process sow seeds of suspicion and misunderstanding. Maybe this is what Delhi wants, but what the mandarins there should realise is the truism that peace cannot be bought or sold over the counter.
All solutions or peace should be arrived at only through political engagements. Human history is the proof of this.
It is as yet not clear why the two Kuki organisations should insist that the political talk with the Government should be held at Delhi and not Imphal.
A tacit submission that the State Government cannot be trusted at home or highlighting a point that they (KNO and UPF) should be given the opportunity to decide on the venue of the talk ?
The reasons could be anything but it has not yet come out in the public domain but a significant point has already been delivered.
It remains to be seen how the Government respond to the demand or condition laid down by the armed groups but it is interesting to see that such a line has been laid down now at this point of time.
Not reading the tea leaves, but such a situation or condition may not have come about if the political dialogue had not been put in cold storage all these years.
On the other hand it is also important for the Kuki armed groups to come to the realisation that the peace pact they have signed is on behalf of the people and peace benefits all.
The question of peace cannot be reduced to a tool to serve the sole benefit of anyone or any body. Enough time has been wasted and it would do good for all to sit down and start the political negotiations.
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