Initiatives of the Naga Hoho and ENPO : Crucial politics of peace
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: February 10 2016 -

Civil society organisations rising to the need of the hour.

This is what the Eastern Nagaland Peoples’ Organisation (ENPO) and the Naga Hoho have taken upon themselves to urge leaders of the NSCN (K) to embrace the ceasefire agreement that it abrogated with the Government of India last year.

While it remains to be seen how the outfit will respond to their urgings, it is nonetheless significant to note that the two organisations have taken it upon themselves to venture to Myanmar and meet the leaders of the said outfit.

Long before these two organisations took the lead to venture into Myanmar, the Government of Nagaland too had urged the Government of India and the outfit to go back to the ceasefire agreement that was inked on May 28, 2001.

The intention is good for it is all about peace which will lead to a political settlement.

Not very clear why the NSCN (K) decided to call off the ceasefire agreement in the first place, for after all the ceasefire had stood for over 10 years, that is from 2001 till the beginning of 2015.

However it also stands that in the long period stretching over 10 years, not much progress had been witnessed, with the political negotiation yet to start.

This is where Delhi need to introspect and study why the ceasefire pact dragged on for so long with no political negotiation.

The ugly part of the breakdown of the truce pact was there for all to see in the bloody ambush at Paraolon in Chandel district on June 4, 2015 wherein 18 soldiers were killed.

What happened after that must still be fresh in the minds of everyone with the Government of India claiming a series of raid at the camps of the rebel group in neighbouring Myanmar and strikes in the North East.

That a truce pact which was in force for over 10 years was called off so abruptly should give food to both entities to study where things went wrong.

Did the ceasefire break down because the two sides could not see anything in the near future or was it a case of the ceasefire not moving to the stage of political negotiation ?

The answer may lie somewhere in between but it is clear that the politics of peace is also crucial.

Again peace does not necessarily mean the guns going silent.

Something somewhere went wrong and it is imperative for both parties to address this or else the gesture extended by the Naga Hoho and the ENPO will fall flat on its face.