The NSCN (IM) may have its reasons for turning down the demand of the Core Committee to hand over the three suspects under its custody, but it is nevertheless significant that the outfit has assured that it would make public the findings of the case within seven days time.

The assurance was given on April 2 after the Cabinet of the outfit reportedly decided to expedite the investigation of the case and the same was conveyed to members of the Core Committee during a meeting at Hebron in Nagaland.

So far the few points that the public know, or what the outfit and the Core Committee have disclosed to the public, is that three suspects are in the custody of the NSCN (IM) where they have been reportedly subjected to interrogations.

The houses of two suspects have already been set on fire by an enraged mob after the skeletal remains of Muheni Martin and Hriini Hubert were discovered from a hillock in Senapati district headquarters more than hundred days after they went missing on December 14 last year.

So far preliminary investigations and whatever little information that we have been able to cull suggest that the two kids were probably stabbed to death and that they may have been murdered three or four months back.

According to this preliminary finding, it may not too far off the mark to say that the two kids may have been done to death either in December or early January.

This is the first premise on which the investigation may start, we presume, and while the State Government has also initiated an investigation into the case, what has been of more interest or seen to be of more significance is the course of action likely to be taken up by the NSCN (IM) in the coming days and not without reason.

The State Government has already made it clear that their investigation is being hampered as some of the prime suspects are in the custody of the NSCN (IM) while the demand raised by the Core Committee to the IM group to hand over the suspects to them is more than indicative that the outfit may know more about the case than the State Government or the police.

This is where the interesting or rather intriguing point arises.

It was unofficial, but from the moment news of the kidnapping of the two kids began to spread, attention was drawn towards what course of action the IM group would adopt.

This was based on the premises and the details given by the Core Committee and the pressure mounted by the Committee on the NSCN (IM) to hand over the suspects over to them only proved the points that were felt for long but never spelt out openly.

Now that the NSCN (IM) has promised that the findings would be made public within seven days time, the initial apprehensions and fear that the case may remain unsolved and go the Lungnila Elizabeth way may have lessened to a certain extent, but the IM group still has to prove if it will live by its words or not.

Another interesting question that we would like to raise now is, the skeletal remains of the two boys were found more than 100 days after they were kidnapped and in the interregnum of more than three months, nothing was heard from the IM group, though the suspects were already in their custody.

If nothing could be established during the 100 days what are the factors that have prompted the NSCN (IM) to confidently say that they will make public their findings within seven days, counting from April 2 ?

This question can only be answered by the NSCN (IM) and if we may add, it is up to the leadership of the Naga rebel group to decide whether they want the confidence of the people in them restored or further eroded.