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NSCN-I-M threatens to end ceasefire

Isak Chisi Swu, chairman of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim, Isak-Muivah faction, has reportedly written to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, threatening to back out of the ceasefire agreement if the government does not implement its 'commitment' of declaring a truce in all Naga-inhabited areas of the Northeast.

"Right from the beginning of the ceasefire, August 1, 1997, it was mutually agreed that the ceasefire would cover all the Naga-inhabited areas and from time to time the government through the prime minister's emissaries assured us and bought time to implement this. But they have failed to do so and the Nagas feel they have been betrayed and cheated," Swu told the Northeast Sun magazine in an exclusive interview in Bangkok, Thailand.

Accusing New Delhi of not being serious about resolving the Naga problem and wanting to restrict the ceasefire to Nagaland, Swu, without disclosing the date, said he had given the government a deadline to carry out its commitment, failing which the truce would break down.

According to the Sun, official sources have confirmed the letter and said the deadline set by the NSCN-I-M is September 15. The government is seized of the matter, they said.

NSCN-I-M general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah, who was interviewed in jail in Bangkok, told the Sun on August 26 that the government was "backtracking on the mutually agreed commitment".

He claimed that during the talks in Bangkok on July 29 and 30, the government side had clearly stated that the ceasefire between the two parties would cover all Naga areas and there would be no fighting between the armed forces and the NSCN in these areas.

Swu said it was important for the NSCN's chief negotiator Muivah to be released from jail so that he could take part in talks with the government.

He said the NSCN had made a commitment to the peace process, but the government was "backing out" of its commitments. "When we see them backing out from their own commitment, it shows that they are not serious to solve the problem. It is very difficult to proceed if one of the parties is not serious," he said.

Swu claimed that at the end of the two-day meeting in July, both sides had agreed to extend the ceasefire and prepared the text of the agreement, to be released simultaneously.

"On our part I signed it and released it as was mutually agreed, but they have not released the jointly agreed text," he said.

According to the NSCN chief, it was agreed from the beginning that the government and the NSCN would be the two parties to the accord and so the ceasefire would extend to all areas where the NSCN was operating and not just in Nagaland.

"It is not acceptable to us. It will be very serious and the peace process will be threatened," he added.

UNI

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