It is increasingly becoming clear that more than the negotiations with the Government of India, the biggest challenge that lies before the Naga people is the open hostility between the NSCN (IM) and NSCN (K).

Then there is also the NNC factor which cannot be written off.

It is the devil within which only the Naga people can exorcise and for this to happen, some sincere approach to the issue at hand is needed.

It just makes no sense to talk about finding a solution to the decades old Naga political problem, when factional guns continue to boom, claiming precious human lives.

Even as we comment on the widening rift between the NSCN (K) and the NSCN (IM), a news report that a large number of NSCN (K) cadres have laid siege at Camp Hebron has come in.

This is the place where the Chairman Isak Chisi Swu and General Secretary Thuingaleng Muivah are supposed to stay during their sojourn in Nagaland.

The announcement by the NSCN (K) that Th Muivah would be assassinated if he steps into Nagaland is a clear reflection of the deep underground political divide between the two rival groups.

It is not just a question of whether the K group will be able to carry out its threat or not. On the contrary what is worrying is that the threat is another step towards taking a non-reconciliatory stand.

What does the open hostility between the two rival factions mean to the Naga people ?
Does it serve their interest in any manner or is it a symptom of the two outfits taking the general public for granted ?

Remember the two groups claim to represent the interest of the Naga people, but judging by the rigid and inflexible stand they have taken against each other it is more than clear that this cannot be in the interest of the general public.

The two rival factions have a cease fire pact with the Government of India. While the IM group has been engaged in a political negotiation for nearly ten years now, the Khaplang group is yet to sit down and talk across the table.

It is hard to believe that Delhi will be able to ink agreements with the rival outfits and solve the Naga political issue, without antagonising one of the two outfits. In such a scenario a solution will still be a dream or a far fetched goal.

In other words the long years of negotiation will prove useless at the end. This is the point that should not be lost on the Naga civil society organisations.

Their role is now all that more important for the peace talks to fructify and for this to happen, they should not be seen as the stooge or mouth piece of any of the two rival groups.

They should be neutral and at the moment, it is hard to say how many Naga civil society will have the moral authority to say that they are neutral.

It is only when the civil society including the Church and student bodies portray themselves as being strictly neutral will their voice for reconciliation cut ice with the two rival outfits.

The devil is within the Naga society and to exorcise the devil is the responsibility of each and every Naga.

Or else the much awaited solution to the Naga political problem will remain a pipe dream.