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In a move that can bring the Centre and three northeastern states in direct confrontation, the Union home ministry has decided to extend the jurisdiction of the nearly four-year-old ceasefire with Naga extremists to Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Manipur.
The truce, which had been limited to the geographical boundaries of Nagaland, was in place since July 1997.
The Centre's move follows demands by the Naga insurgent group, the National Socialist Council of Nagalim, headed by Thuingaleng Muivah and Issac Chisi Swu (NSCN-IM), to call off the ceasefire.
The NSCN-IM has been demanding extension of the ceasefire to the neighbouring states. But the state governments (Arunachal Pradesh and Assam are ruled by the Congress), opposed the idea, as they felt it would give a fillip to the insurgents' demand for a 'greater Nagaland', through the annexation of the Naga-inhabited areas of these states.
The states also feared that extension of the area of ceasefire would pave the way for the Naga outfits to openly indulge in extortion, collection of illegal taxes and kidnapping.
Meanwhile, the government's chief interlocutor, K Padmanabhaiah, will leave for Bangkok in a few days, with the government's response, as the 14-day deadline set by Muivah is about to expire.
It has been learnt that the government's proposal comes with a rider, that the NSCN-IM would drop the demand for a greater Nagaland once the ceasefire is extended to Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.
The condition has been put in place to allay apprehensions of the states over the NSCN-IM demand for a greater Nagaland. Besides, the government proposes to ask the outfit to identify its camps in the region, to facilitate shifting to designated areas in Nagaland.
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has, since last October, had four rounds of meetings with the chief ministers of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Meghalaya, but a consensus on extending the ceasefire eluded the government following opposition from the states. The chief ministers had suggested extending the area of ceasefire to the entire northeast. Though the issue has been hanging fire since last year, what provoked the NSCN-I-M to serve the ultimatum was the formalisation of the ceasefire agreement between the rival NSCN-Khaplang faction and the Centre.
The NSCN-I-M feels that this is a prelude to involving the rival faction in the Naga peace process.
Home ministry officials said that notwithstanding the tough postures adopted by the NSCN-I-M leadership, it is also equally under pressure from the people of Nagaland not to call off the ceasefire.
A delegation of the Naga Ho-ho, the apex tribal body representing all the 20-odd Naga tribes that called on the NSCN-I-M last month in Bangkok, reportedly conveyed this to the leadership, asking them to continue with the peace process.
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