Volume 2, No. 9, September 2001

Imphal went up in flames during a 72 hour Manipur Bandh that started on June 15th. The protest was against Union Government-NSCN (I-M) agreement of June 14th seeking to extend the cease-fire to cover Naga inhabited areas in the states adjoining Nagaland. Naga tribes inhabit more than half the land of Manipur, mostly its hills. Their total population is about 4 lakhs. The rest of the population of Manipur lives in the Imphal Valley and its Meitei people constitute two thirds of the total population of Manipur, which stands at 24 lakhs according to the latest figures. The Kukis comprise over 4 lakhs of the population.

Four years ago, the NSCN (I-M) and the Union Government had reached a cease-fire agreement in 1997 which came into effect on August 1st of that year. The recent agreement was reached to extend the cease-fire for one more year with an added clause of "and other areas". This new clause became the immediate spark for the ready-to-explode powder keg, which Manipur had become due to the crass opportunism of the whole array of its corrupt leaders. These leaders were busy, for a month, in defections, counter defections, buying and selling of ministries, and with friends-turned-enemies and enemies-turned-friends trading charges against all and sundry. Every one of the leaders accused the other of concealed daggers to stab each other in the back. Opportunism had reached extreme levels, and the situation in the State resembled a real circus where politicians behaved like clowns.

The announcement of the agreement with the NSCN (I-M) coupled with the uncertainty of the political situation triggered the mass outpouring of protests in the streets. Nearly a hundred organisations got together under the banner of the All Manipur United Club (Cultural) Organisation (AMUCO). This, along with the All Manipur Students Union (AMSU) spearheaded the call for the three day Bandh. The response was unprecedented as if the whole of Manipur had stood up in a nationality bond. On the third day of the no-business-as-usual call, the State got engulfed in violence. The organisers of the movement had asked the MPs and Legislators to resign en-mass as the latter had pledged earlier, but later backtracked . The ‘people’s representatives’ fled Manipur for safer places (mostly Delhi, where they went at the ‘invitation’ of the central government to have "discussions" with the latter on the developing situation in Manipur). The people directed their ire at the symbols of corrupt state power in the form of burning down the State Assembly (which had been put in animated suspension due to the imposition of President’s rule which was clamped just a day before the agreement was reached), the CM’s Secretariat, the office and residence of the Speaker of the State Assembly, many buildings and vehicles belonging to the government, ransacking and burning of residences and properties of many MLAs and of various political parties. Four MLAs were injured. Thirty-eight other structures were also attacked. The whole scenario was like a festival of rebellions.

With ‘people’s representatives, having fled to Delhi or hiding in safe hilly places of the state the people became their own leaders. The outburst was mainly spontaneous which later got organised. For the first two days the police remained mere spectators, with no orders from the Governor on how to deal with the ‘disturbances’. The governor himself felt let down as the Center had nor consulted him before announcing the agreement with the NSCN(I-M). Some reports in the media suggested that the police, constituting mostly Meiteis, was supportive of the people’s sentiments and the "crowds" ran through the police guards without encountering any resistance. Only on the third day of the rebellion, did the order come from the Governor to restrain the people. The police, paramilitary forces and the army then became active. On June 18, 14 people lost their lives to police bullets and dozens were injured. An indefinite curfew was imposed in Imphal and all other cities and towns of the State.

When MPs and MLAs did not comply with the call to resign their seats, the AMUCO and AMSU pronounced a social boycott and demanded of them to quit Manipur. The AMUCO and AMSU gave an ultimatum to the central government to rescind the agreement with the NSCN before July 15. The legislators, on the contrary, gave the government time till July 30 to review the agreement. They hoped that till then their state of suspended animation would be revoked, their constitutional authority and "representative" status rehabilitated and the "popular" government again given a chance.

It is not Manipur alone. All the three adjoining States that have common boundaries with Nagaland have protested against the agreement with the NSCN (I-M). They fear that it will prepare the way to the formation of a Greater Nagaland and a further break-up of the boundaries of Assam, Arunachal and Manipur. All the Chief Ministers of these States have resented the decision to extend the cease-fire to their territories. Assam also observed a 48-hour general strike in protest. The adjoining States say that with the cease-fire extension to Naga "rebel" camps and strongholds in other States, the NSCN will get a legal status in these territories paving the way for the latter to claim these as "Naga areas". Such fears have been further fueled by Muivah’s statement that Greater Nagaland comprises 7 times the existing area of Nagaland. Prior to this, the central government had been reluctant to the NSCN (I-M) demand of extension of the cease-fire to "other areas".

It is true that the Naga tribes inhabit a very large part of the land other than the present boundaries of Nagaland. They live in Assam, Arunachal, Manipur and Myanmar (Burma). Also, some Naga people live in far off Tripura which is not contiguous to Nagaland. The Naga people have been demanding a sovereign Naga homeland for years. At the time of the transfer of power, a section of the leadership of Naga people decided to remain in India on the condition, which was one of the many points arrived at with the British Government and accepted by Nehru in June 1947, that after ten years a new agreement will be negotiated with the government of India (GoI). The negotiations of the "forces for integration" with the Indian Union ultimately led to the formation of Nagaland in 1963. But in this "integration" many of the predominantly Naga areas were not included in Nagaland (which came into existence out of the Naga Hill Districts of the erstwhile Assam). Thus, the "integration" itself was a denial of a proper Nagaland in the Indian Union. Meanwhile in 1950, ZA Phizo had launched a war of liberation against the Indian forces. And the Naga opposition to the "integration" with India continued in one form or the other. The total neglect of the Northeast, further resulted in arousing passions for a sovereign Nagaland.

Thuingaleng Muivah (from a Naga tribe from Manipur) and Khaplang (from neighbouring Burma) formed the National Socialist Council of Nagaland in 1978 as the 1975 Shillong Accord between the GoI and the Naga National Council fell far short of the genuine aspirations of the Naga people. However, differences between Muivah and Khaplang made them part company and both formed their separate NSCNs. While the Khaplang faction stopped fighting against the GoI and became their stooge,the Muivah and Isak Chishi Swu led NSCN continued their battle. In 1997 the NSCN (I-M) also struck a deal with the government and since then have been trying to sort out a formula to share state power in Nagaland. They have ceased their operations within Nagaland while carrying out some armed activities in Assam, Arunachal and Manipur. Then, the NSCN (I-M) demanded that the cease-fire be extended to other Naga inhabited areas also. The June 14 agreement was reached to this effect. The Khaplang faction had already accepted the Indian truce offer in April this year.

The NSCN (I-M) has dropped the Naga inhabited areas of Myanmar from its map of Nagalim (Greater Nagaland) apparently to suggest that it no longer stands for a sovereign Nagaland comprising all the Naga people. But, within India it continued to voice its demand for a greater Nagaland, presumably, within India. Though the NSCN (I-M) has denied that the present extension of the cease-fire has anything to do with the demand of a greater Nagaland yet it has not dropped this demand in order to keep their base and bargaining power intact. Muivah, who rejected Indian citizenship for decades, has finally accepted an Indian passport.

The Nagaland Assembly had also raised the demand for a Greater Nagaland in 1993 and since then the Assembly has passed three resolutions to this effect. On the other hand, the Manipur Assembly too has passed four resolutions asserting their faith in the territorial integrity of Manipur. In this way both the States are voicing their "determination" to stick to their positions and it is unlikely that Manipur will ever concede to a referendum of areas inhabited by Naga people who mostly live in the hill districts of Manipur. As yet there is no such demand either by the NSCN (I-M) or the Naga organisations of Manipur. But, in future, with the NSCN (I-M) coming closer to a comprehensive deal as the next step to the cease-fire agreement, mounting of tensions between both the States and between the Nagas and Meiteis in Manipur cannot be ruled out. In that case, the people of both the States stand to lose and will become fodder for the interests of the reactionary ruling classes of India and the reactionaries in their own midst.

Reactionary forces in Manipur fan narrow nationalism as well as national chauvinism by taking cues from history and exhort the people to look to the ancient kingdom of the Meitei king Nongda Lairen Pakhangba, whose rule extended from the present boundaries of Manipur to the Kabbauu Valley in Myanmar. At the same time they warn against further "dismemberment" of the State by denying the Nagas the right to unite their land and join their brethren in Nagaland.

At the same time,a section of the NSCN (I-M) leadership is banking upon the narrow nationalism of the Naga people, especially its abandonment of the path of liberation and seeking ‘peace’ with the reactionary Indian State. They have not relied on the unity of the oppressed people of the Northeast to close ranks and unitedly fight against the Indian ruling classes and have instead, chosen the path of playing off one nationalism against the other. When they drop the demand to incorporate the Naga inhabited areas of Myanmar and instead, concentrate on regions lying only within Indian boundaries, its own nationalism gets blurred . They are getting closer to the power game, rather than taking into consideration genuine Naga nationalism. This has led to not seeking friendship with the neighbouring peoples and their movements but to striking deals with the enemy.

The peoples and liberation struggles of the Northeast need fraternal cooperation and not narrow nationalism, and need to eradicate the later from amongst them. The urgent need is for the armed struggles of the region to settle disputes through consultation with each other, acceding majority areas to the particular nationality, and with each nationality vouchsafing the full political, economic and cultural rights of all minority nationalities, while fighting unitedly against Indian terror.The majorities could be determined by plebicites at the local level, or any other method that is practicable. As Arbinda Rajkhowa, head of the political wing of ULFA said: "If a referendum is needed to decide on the issue of sovereignty, so be it ". Rajkhowa called upon the NSCN(I-M) to remove the eight Assam districts from its map. He said a "fellow organisation" did not think it necessary to consult the ULFA or the people of Assam on the issue before making such a claim.

Manipur too, of course, has some legitimate demands and there are at least four organisations leading armed struggle for independence from India. Particularly, the PLA (the People’s Liberation Army) has been active in recent times. The Meiteis claim a 2000-year-old history as an independent geographical and cultural entity. It was the last Indian territory to be annexed by the British (as late as 1891). Manipur did not accede to India in August 1947. It did this in 1949 under coercion. In 1953 the territory then defined was again altered through the Nehru-U Nu accord, which conceded a lot of territory to Burma. Since then, the total neglect of Manipur resulted in the intensification of armed struggle from despotic Indian rule. In the present conflict the masses rightly targeted their own corrupt Manipuri rulers and not the Naga masses.

No doubt, the predominantly Naga inhabited areas having contiguity in the adjoining States have a genuine right to join the Naga speaking heartland to make a complete Naga nation. At the same time if it leads to breaking the unity of the peoples of the Northeast it should not be pressed upon and a conducive atmosphere should be consciously built over a considerable period of time so that various peoples may interact with each other freely and frankly to learn to respect the rights of the others. The present time calls for all forces to join hands to fight the enemy who has been trying hard to drown their struggles for liberation in blood and pit one people against the other.

India has been the oppressor of all the nationalities of the Northeast since 1947. Many a time it has run ruthless military campaigns against them. Indian armed forces have indulged in widespread burning, looting and killing sprees. It has acted as an enemy of the whole of the Northeast denying freedom and has tried to integrate the region through force and bribe. At the same time it is equally true that one after the other, the people of the region have taken up arms to defy Indian occupation and have inflicted heavy casualties on the Indian armed forces. The region has never been ‘peaceful’. No accord has been able to rout their struggle for justice completely. Forces of revolt and rebellion have risen up time and again pointing to the fact that the agreements have not been successful in dealing with the real problems of the Northeast. All Naga accords point to this stark fact. Today, roughly fifty armed groups exist in the NE. The writ of the GoI hardly goes beyond the main urban centers.

In the NE, the home ministry feels that the NSCN is the key, and if this key is taken possession of the other movements will come crashing down. That is why the rulers in Delhi found it difficult to revoke the agreement with Muivah. In the face of the high tide of the movement after July 15 the Indian government rushed its emissary, Padmanabaiah, to Amsterdam to convince Muivah that peace with the NSCN would be maintained, though the controversial clause should be dropped to allay fears of the other States. The government withdrew the agreement of cease-fire extension "to other areas" on July 27 and Manipur went into celebrations. How NSCN (I-M)’s top leadership reacts to it publicly, remains to be seen.

The NSCN (I-M) has had close relationships with many NorthEastern militant movements. Ever since the 1997 cease-fire these relationships have faced problems as a section of the NSCN (I-M) leadership began moving away from the struggle for liberation. Infact in this year’s call by 12 organisations to boycott the Aug.15th celebrations, the NSCN(IM) did not participate.If the NSCN (I-M)’s transition to the position of a "within India" solution traverses the path to its logical conclusion it will bode ill for the Naga people as well as other people of the region.

The correct course for the people of the NE States remains their unity and a close relationship between the fighting organisations based on fraternity to complete the main task of defeating the Indian forces to gain independence.

On a larger canvas, the so-called territorial integrity of India not only goes against the liberation of Kashmir and the peoples of the Northeastern region it also goes against the interests of the people of India as a whole. It makes the people of India cannon fodder for the chauvinistic schemes of the Indian rulers and forces them to pay the price for the ruler’s wrongdoings.

The crux of the India-NSCN (I-M) accord is to thwart the Northeastern struggles for liberation. It is high time to understand the conspiracies of the Indian rulers to pit the seven sisters against one another. The situation demands that the peoples of the Northeast stop falling into the trap of the Indian rulers, forge unity on the basis of sisterhood of all these states, shed narrow nationalism and respect each other’s national rights and turn their guns against the real enemy to achieve independence, unity and fraternity between all the sister states.

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