An eye for an eye or mere co-incidences ? Politics of peace and its fall out
- Sangai Express Editorial :: July 16, 2013 -

Grieving family members from the murder of KLO/KLA home secretary in July 2013 :: Pix - TSE

An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Or simply a question of co-incidences, in which three people have been killed in a span of not less than 60 days ?

One a leader of the Kuki National Front, the commanding officer of Camp Ebenezer, a designated camp of the outfit set up under the SoO pact and the other the home secretary of the KLO/KLA.

The third is a minor, a child of less than three years old and daughter of the slain leader of the KLA/KLO.

Two leaders, who are in a peace pact with Delhi and Imphal under the common platform SoO but belonging to the two different umbrella organisations representing different Kuki armed groups, slain within a span of not less than 60 days and the uncomfortable thought that there just might be a pattern behind these killings cannot be wished away that easily.

No one knows the motive much less the identities of the persons who have carried out the murderous assaults on the two leaders, belonging to two different organisations, but which nonetheless have come under the common platform of SoO to engage with the Government of India and the Government of Manipur.

Disturbing, but then again this is not something new in the North East region, especially when peace pact is bandied about.

Nagaland or to be more specific the Naga armed outfits have already experienced the fall out of peace pacts, dating back to the Shillong Accord of 1975.

Fast forward to the present and in the period between 1997 and 2013, the two major Naga outfits, the NSCN (IM) and the NSCN (K) have seen splits from within, which have claimed lives, precious lives.

It was in the midst of the peace process with the Government of India that the NSCN (IM) witnessed an internal disturbance and the emergence of the Unification group, led by an influential leader.

The immediate fall out was armed confrontations between the IM cadres and cadres of the Unification group, claiming numerous lives on either side.

Cut to the Khaplang faction and a similar thread runs through.

Again it was in the midst of the cease fire pact that the outfit had inked with the Government of India that the NSCN (K) witnessed a split and the formation of a group led by the duo of Khole and Kitovi, followed by bloodshed and armed confrontations again.

This is just a brief recap of the major developments within the armed outfits which have signed peace pacts with the Government of India.

The disturbing question is whether this trend has also caught up with the groups which have come under the SoO pact.

A question which cannot be simply brushed aside in the face of two top ranking leaders being slain within a span of less than sixty days.

Top this off with the seeming difference in their demand, one which stands for the creation of a Kuki State and the other which stands for a Kuki homeland within the territorial boundary of Manipur as well as the different approaches to the SoO pact and there may be reasons to suspect that the recent killings could have been more due to internal differences rather than a third party coming into the picture.

Surely the politics of peace can extract a heavy price.

The Naga armed outfits have already undergone this and there is no reason not to believe that it would not happen to the other groups which have struck a deal with the Government of India.

Closer to Imphal, uncertainty has started clouding over the status of the KCP (MC) led by Lallumba, with the cadres openly coming out and accusing their leader, Lallumba of vanishing with Rs 1.92 crore from the rehabilitation funds released by the Government.

Dicey, the situation certainly is, especially when it comes to the question of coming under a peace deal with the Government.

To be fair, nothing is as yet certain, especially with regard to the killings of the two leaders, one from the KNF and the other from the KLO/KLA, and it is this uncertainty which is distinctly disturbing and worrying.