Limitations of the idea of Greater Nagaland

Cecil Victor *

A proposed map of Nagalim covering other States in the North East region and part of Myanmar :: Pix - TSE

The oldest insurgency in India by the Nagas needs to read the writing on the wall in the current massacre of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. Myanmarese (Burmese) nationalism is singularly intolerant of "outsiders". Indians should know, they have been chased out of Burma after Independence. The very concept of a Naga homeland inclusive of parts of Myanmar contiguous to India will set the pot boiling once the country has stabilized itself under the new regime.

At the moment a situation wherein Myanmar territory is used as a sanctuary by Indian insurgent groups including the Naga, the Manipuri, Mizo and Tripuri is acceptable in that it is seen as a temporary phenomenon. Any permanent occupation on the basis of ethnicity, religion or nationality will sooner or later attract reprisals from Myanmar. "Resident aliens" are acceptable only up to a point. That point is underscored by the current pogram against the Muslims. It has its roots in an accident of history when shipwrecked Arab traders were swept onto the beach of Arakan and in the import of indentured labour by the British to service the tea plantations and manage government business.

Any assertion of Naga nationalism at the cost of Myanmar will soon turn an hitherto hesitant central government in Nay Phi Tah the new capital into an enraged host with grave consequences for the Naga tribals who have for centuries lived on land that now constitutes the boundaries of a nation that wrested statehood from Britain.

In this context there are two aspects to the Naga situation. One is the existence of sanctuaries and bases occupied by both the Isak-Muviah and the Khaplang groups in Myanmar. The Isak-Muviah group is under a ceasefire arrangement with the Government of India and its cadres are tolerated even while they are indulging in kidnapping and extortion and practically running a parallel government in Nagaland.

The Khaplang group of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim broke way from the original NSCN because of inter-clan rivalry between the Konyaks of the Khaplang faction and the Thunkuls of the Isak-Muivah entity. The clan divisions exist on both sides of the India-Myanmar border and cannot be wished away.

The other is that there is competitive gun culture of the two factions which has kept the whole of the north-east on the boil with the writ of the State government being whittled almost daily with kidnappings and extortion rackets by both sides. Their intention of creating a "Greater Nagaland" or Nagalim from Naga dominated areas within the north-eastern states and the contiguous Myanmar territory has time and again erupted into violence by Mizos, Manipuris, Assamese and Arunachalis within their state boundaries.

The most significant was the conflagration that erupted when the Central Government indicated that it would examine how, if at all, a Nagalim could be constructed from the dispersed Naga populations of several states. The Manipuris, long harassed by embargoes and roadblocks that cut off essential supplies to their state, exploded in anger—underscoring how difficult it would be to redraw the political map of the whole of the north-east.

Thus, the ceasefire between the NSCN (IM) and the security forces is in existence but tenuous and is a daily reminder of the inability of the state government to prevent large-scale criminal activity and intimidation of the local populations by gun-toting youngsters. Such is the ambiance of chaos that the Nagas have begun to see great profit in fostering terrorism beyond the north-east. Training camps are being set up within their respective fiefdoms to boost the military capabilities of such diverse groups as the Maoists, United Liberation Front Asom, and even jihadi groups intent on acquiring bomb-making technology for improvised explosive devices.

How combustible is the situation is illustrated by the mass exodus of people belonging to the north-east from other parts of India after the clashes in such widely separated areas as Kokhrajhar and Pune. Pakistan has exploited the situation to the full but it cannot but have brought home to the people of Nagaland that this kind of violence is the outgrowth of frustration within the many anti-India groupings that beyond such mindless violence there is no constructive picture of growth, development and expansion of horizons that the so-called insurgent groups can peddle to attract the people to their cause.

Civil society in the north-east must take this opportunity to bring home to the peoples of the states that comprise the "Seven Sisters" that the future of their children lies only beyond the gun culture that is the prime moving force of the insurgencies in the north-east. Nearly all of them have become tools in the hands of China and Pakistan who care two hoots for the welfare of the people they are instigating.

The Government of India on its part needs to convince the Myanmar Government that it will gain tremendously if its writ is strengthened along its western borders with its neighbours. Greater connectivity with all the most populous regions of its neighbourhood will bring Myanmar consequential prosperity.

In a build up to the possibility that Myanmar will agree to act in unison with India to tackle a common problem of trans-border insurgencies the Government of India must strengthen the internal security situation in all the states that comprise the north-east. Strengthening the local police forces at the grassroots level will be the building block of statal control. Assured to protection from armed gangsters civil society will be able to assert itself and underscore that violence by any side has a tendency to boomerang.

Much has been said of the manner in which Bhutan handled the insurgencies that had taken root in its territory but it needs to be recognized that the top leadership of the ULFA managed to slip away into new sanctuaries in Bangladesh. If it was not for the graciousness shown by the Begum Hasina Wazed government we would not have been able to lay our hands on the top leadership.

Something similar needs to be worked out with Myanmar which should not be too difficult given the congenital aversion to "resident aliens" within Myanmar society.