Final solution before March 2017 ? Interesting time frame
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: November 04 2016 -

Perhaps this is the first time that the NSCN (IM) has gone ahead and announced that a final solution to the ongoing dialogue with the Government of India would have come to fruition long before March 2017 and the confident note in which this was said is refreshing.

Obviously it stands that the March 2017 time frame was given in the context of the claim made by the NSCN (U) that it is going ahead with a political dialogue with the Government of India by March next year.

Herein lies the interesting part.

In claiming that a final resolution would have been reached before March next year, the NSCN (IM) is also announcing that it is the representative of the Naga people and no other armed outfit should lay claim to this.

How far this will go with the people remains to be seen, for remember none can write off the presence of the other armed outfits, notably the Khaplang faction of the NSCN and the NSCN (U).

There is also the NNC and the NSCN (Reformation), though it is difficult to say how much sway they have over the people.

This has not been acknowledged openly, but it is important to keep in mind that there are other groups, which would also like to claim that they represent the people of Nagaland and this is something which the NSCN (IM) has been trying to neutralise all these years.

It also stands that the NSCN (IM) does not see itself solely as representing the people of Nagaland, but all the Nagas, particularly the Nagas of Manipur.

The important point is, if a settlement is brought about with the NSCN (IM) in the early part of next year, will this mean that the issues concerning the people of Nagaland or Naga people would have been settled for good ?

Will any sort of understanding reached with the IM group of the NSCN be acceptable with all the people of Nagaland and the Nagas ?

Will the other armed groups accept it ?

Given the past and intense rivalry, it is unlikely that the Khaplang faction of the outfit will fall in line and the important question at this point is, how far will this disturb the boat ?

These are all possibilities which have to be taken into account.

Not likely that the Nagas would have forgotten the fate of the Shillong Accord of 1975 which gave birth to the NSCN and then later the NSCN (IM) and the NSCN (K) in 1988.

Progress seems to have been made in the political dialogue between the NSCN (IM) and the Government of India and this is well illustrated by the Framework Agreement signed between the two entities last year.

Though no one seems to know the finer details of the Framework Agreement, the outfit seems more than keen on it and this is definitely a sign that things are moving in the right direction.

The interesting question however is whether this will result in a settlement which is to the satisfaction of all or not.