Forecasting a dilemma : Election or solution
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: January 09, 2013 -
Forecasting a dilemma. Election or solution.
Starkly reminiscent of the time when the Nagas of Manipur boycotted the Parliamentary election before the ceasefire agreement came into force in 1997 under the slogan 'Solution not election.'
Not surprising then that there is a certain sense of deja vu' in the stand adopted by six political parties (Nagaland units), including the Congress and the BJP that the election to the Nagaland Legislative Assembly be deferred till a final settlement to the Indo-Naga issue is inked.
A pressure tactic, it could be, to speed up the political negotiation which is reportedly in its final stage, but the sense of urgency can be understood in the backdrop of the announcement by the Election Commission of India that election in Nagaland will be held before March 18.
Interesting in more than one way. From the demand for an Alternative Arrangement for the Nagas of Manipur outside the Government of Manipur pending a final settlement to the Indo-Naga issue to the urgings to defer the Assembly polls in Nagaland till the political dialogue draws to a conclusion, to the formation of the Joint Legislature Forum in Nagaland, all issues have been projected to revolve around the political dialogue between the NSCN (IM) and the Government of India.
This point becomes all that more interesting in the face of the fact that a formal political dialogue with the other groups, such as the Khaplang led faction of the NSCN and the Khole-Kitovi group is yet to start.
A significant point which Delhi, Kohima and civil society organisations purportedly representing the interests and aspirations of the Naga people will not be able to explain satisfactorily.
Ever since the peace deal was signed in 1997 and the political dialogue kick started shortly later, Delhi and the collective leadership of the NSCN (IM) have been able to cast a web of mystery around the peace talk.
Sovereignty, Nagalim, Supra State, Alternative Arrangement are terms that have been bandied about and things seem to have come a full circle with six political parties raising their pitch and urging for the deferment of the Assembly election in Nagaland till a final settlement is inked.
Like everything else in life, peace too comes with a price, but only the Naga people can answer whether the price they are paying in the name of peace is the same as the price they had to pay when the guns boomed and before the 1997 peace deal was inked.
Again it is only the Naga people who can answer whether they are ready to pay more in the pursuit of a political aspiration of which the majority of them may not exactly know or understand what it is all about.
With 60 days or so before March 18 arrives, hazarding a guess may prove futile and even foolish now, but more stormy days may be ahead, not only for the people of Nagaland but also for the people of Manipur too.
How Delhi and the NSCN (IM) play their cards remains to be seen, but it is not going to be a cake walk for either side by any stretch of the imagination.
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