Naga talks: Buying peace through corruption

I once asked a former Home Secretary to the Government of India of why the government’s approach towards conflict resolution has either been force or money?

 

His response was that 'corruption is a buffer against threats to national security'. This comment pithily sums up India’s counter-insurgency approach.

 

Nobody knows what the 'Naga Talks' are all about. Today there is a ‘Framework Agreement’ but no clarity whatsoever of what this agreement says and who are the beneficiaries.

 

As far as the government goes, the armed group NSCN (IM), a signatory to the agreement, is just the representative of the 'Naga people' and the agreement is in fact with all Nagas. Now that is tricky!

 

For the uninitiated, this can be very confusing. For the sake of convenience let's give a context to the current dynamics. 'Naga' is not one tribe but has come to claim an identity formed by several tribes who have distinctly different languages.

 

So there are Nagas within the state of Nagaland, but many tribes who call themselves Nagas also reside in other countries like Manipur and even in the neighbouring country of Myanmar.

 

So when the government of India is talking to all the Nagas, it is unclear whom all they have consulted. But given NSCN (IM) is the strongest and largest militia, it made sense to talk to them. The other group NSCN (K) had left the talks last year, and they operate out of Myanmar so their exit made the government’s job easier.

 

Though NSCN (IM) is the strongest and has maintained a ceasefire for years, the man who calls the shots, Thuingaleng Muivah, is a Thangkul from Manipur, a tribe not entirely accepted in the core Naga fold.

 

 

Isak Chishi Swu, who belonged to the Sema tribe of Nagaland, thus provided IM legitimacy and Nagan-ess. His role did not go beyond that, and he spent his life with Bible studies. So his departure would create a situation that may help the government interlocutor, but will reduce IM’s influence inside Nagaland.

 

On the other hand, Muivah, who leads a group of predominantly Thangkuls, is finding it difficult to explain to his people that 'Greater Nagaland' or the demand for integration of Naga inhabited areas is not possible. Therefore both the government and Muivah prefer to keep quiet on the agreement. 

 

Lurking across the border is the rival splinter group NSCN (K), led by a Hemi Naga from Myanmar, who left the talks last year to resort to guerilla war. Given the present situation, I suspect the K faction will now try to regain some ground inside Nagaland.

 

Where does Nagaland go from here?

 

With or without Swu, Nagas are tired of war, of illegal taxation and harassment by both security forces as well as the militants and they have had enough of 'talks' and 'peace process'. While the ceasefire and peace process ensured that the guerrillas wouldn’t open fire on security forces, the ordinary person was intimidated and forced to pay up.

 

The process was delayed to tire out the militia and slowly buy off the leadership, a classical method of conflict resolution. Even during the Naga Peace Mission led by Jai Prakash Narayan, BP Chaliha and Rev Michael Scott in 1964, what was being distributed across villages were salt, wrist watches and currency notes.

 

The government agencies never had any plan in mind besides bullets and money. Both work at various levels but eventually it has to be money. No surprises then, when the Home Ministry’s seniormost officer says, corruption is the buffer that gives the government time and space to manage insurgencies.

 

In many states of the region sharing of political power has followed the 'peace' purchase. There has been a travesty of justice for the victims of this protracted insurgency, but negotiators will tell you that it is never an easy job to balance all aspects.

 

When Chairman Swu died, one news organisation had asked me to write his obituary (which I refused to). I then made a call to a Naga writer in Kohima, and when I told him whether he wants to write or not, his reply was, "What about the obituaries of the thousands of people they have killed?"

 

Kishalay Bhattacharjee is a senior journalist and author. His most recent book is Blood on my Hands: Confessions of Staged Encounters (Harper Collins 2015).  The views expressed here are his own.