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08/06/2007: "NSCN-K prods Delhi for talks - Outfit terms govt’s dialogue with Isak-Muivah futile effort OUR CORRESPONDENT The Telegraph"

NSCN-K prods Delhi for talks - Outfit terms govt’s dialogue with Isak-Muivah futile effort OUR CORRESPONDENT The Telegraph

Kohima, Aug. 5: The Khaplang faction of the NSCN today prodded Delhi for a dialogue to resolve the issues that its rival, the Isak-Muivah group, has taken up but allegedly failed to untangle in 10 years of talks. Terming the last round of talks between the NSCN (I-M) and Delhi as an exercise in futility, the outfit said it was the only “legitimate” organisation of the Nagas that could fulfil the community’s aspiration to sovereignty.
Speaking from a new camp at Suruhoto town, about 200 km from here, NSCN (K) kilonser (minister) Kughalu Mulatonu said the July 31 ceasefire declaration by Delhi and the NSCN (I-M) was nothing but a reflection of “deadlock” in the talks. “Delhi must begin negotiations with us instead,” said Mulatonu, who is also the supervisor of the group’s ceasefire monitoring board.
He said the July 31 declaration, which stated that “indefinite” ceasefire was “subject to progress in the talks”, indicated a deadlock in the dialogue with the rival faction. He urged Delhi to invite NSCN (K) chairman S.S. Khaplang and general secretary Kitovi Zhimomi for a fresh peace process. The NSCN (K) has been pressing for talks since the “bilateral” ceasefire with Delhi took effect. From 1997 to 2001, only a unilateral truce was in force.
“Indefinite ceasefire is synonymous with deadlock,” Mulatonu said. “Ten years of talks with Swu and Muivah have failed to bring any solution to the Naga people and therefore, time should be given to Khaplang and Kitovi to resolve the Naga problem.”
“We know how to start the talks, which will be transparent,” Mulatonu said. While the NSCN (K) is against integration of Naga contiguous areas, its main demand is sovereignty. The outfit said talks should be held either in New Delhi or Nagaland to ensure transparency.
Mulatonu, who was in the capital to discuss the existing ceasefire groundrules, said there would be no amendments to the truce until talks were held. “We will not change any clause in the groundrules prior to the Naga political dialogue,” he said. The Khaplang leader stressed that their focus was not on modifying or rewriting ceasefire groundrules, but on finding a solution to the Naga problem. Reacting to the NSCN (I-M) demand for strengthening the monitoring mechanism of truce groundrules, he said, “That’s their lookout”.
He also warned the Nagaland government against recognising Tangkhul Wangrum colony at Purana Bazar as a Tangkhul village. He said the NSCN (K) would not allow “non-Nagas” to establish a colony or village in Nagaland. Clashes between two Naga communities in May, reduced Wangrum to ashes.
NISC hails cease-fire extension- Nagaland Post
With the haggling over the cease fire extensions formally over the Naga International Support Center hails the Government of India and the Naga representatives for the hallmark decision of making the peace talks indefinite in structure and congratulates both warring parties with the wisdom they displayed.
That this is the beginning of gradually defusing this long term conflict may be clear for in the past decade of peace talks based on this ceasefire impartial observers cannot but determine that nothing much has been accomplished. What is the essence of this conflict lasting practically 60 years already?
The Nagas when the British decolonized their Indian Empire implicitly handed the Naga areas over to the emerging Union of India; this despite the fact that the Nagas repeatedly stated to both Great Britain first and India later that they wanted to be left alone so they could determine their own future, an international accomplished right. India, headed by the first Prime Minister J. Nehru for reasons of his own could not agree with the Naga point of view and unleashed a war of occupation upon them. This war has lasted till today, cost approximately 250.000 people their life (Indians and Nagas though no reliable figures have ever been published) and only because of the ceasefire the torture, the burning of villages, the rape of women and the executing of people, has been suspended. So, to the people of Nagaland the cease fire is important for they live in relative peace. But is it what they fought for and the question now is: it is what they deserve; do the Nagas deserve to live under occupation, an occupation which has lasted for some 55 years?
To set the example for an amicable solution to this astoundingly long conflict The Naga International Support Center invites the Government of India to launch fresh ideas, ideas based on human rights and asks to consider: to abolish the Armed Forces Special Powers Acts and other demeaning laws, to begin the withdrawal of Armed Forces so the military grip on Nagaland is lessened and the Nagas feel free to talk about a mutual future, to assist the Nagas in rebuilding their by this war devastated lands.
Naga International Support Center, NISC, www.nagalim.nl
Build Kohima airport soon, Rio asks Centre The Morung Express
Kohima, August 5 (MExN): Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio has made an ‘earnest request’ to the Government of India for early implementation of Capital Airport at Chiethu, Kohima.
Rio said that Kohima is one of the Nation’s state capitals that has no air connectivity, resulting in many logistic problems, particularly for communication.
“However, the Techno- Feasibility Survey Report on the Capital Airport at Chiethu, Kohima, has been completed, and is awaiting the approval of the Government of India,” Rio told the recently concluded 7th NEC Sectoral Summit on IT &IT Enabled Services and Telecommunication here.
Rio also extended gratitude to the Government of India for giving clearance to re-introduce Helicopter Service in the state.
Tender is being invited from the service firms to introduce the service at the earliest possible time, the chief minister added.
100-hr Karbi bandh begins Correspondent Nagaland Post
Diphu, Aug 5: The Karbi Anglong district administration in Assam has put in place adequate security measures to thwart any incident of violence during the hundred-hour bandh in the district called by the Karbi Longri NC Hills Liberation Front (KLNLF) from 5 am of August 6 (Monday).
According to official sources, vehicles passing through national highways 37 and 39 will be escorted by police during the day to foil any untoward incident. The district administration has already deployed security personnel along both the highways for smooth movement of vehicular traffic.
Similarly, the rail track between Lumding and Dimapur will be manned by additional paramilitary forces to avoid subversive activities by the militants. The administration has urged the public and transporters to avoid journey during the night.
The KLNLF called the bandh seeking fulfillment of its ten-point charter of demands over the custodial killing of an “innocent civilian” by Karbi Anglong police.
Earlier in July, the Dokmoka police outpost led by inspector Jayanta Kalita had beaten to death one Longky Ingti in custody. Police picked up the victim suspecting him to be a member of the KLNLF. However, the outfit as also various student unions and NGOs claimed the victim was an innocent citizen. Sources said inspector Kalita had a record of killing more than twenty persons in custody. Meanwhile, the administration has tightened security in the entire district in view of the August 15 Independence Day celebration. It was learnt police personnel were deployed at all the venues where the I-Day will be celebrated. In Diphu, vehicular traffic was restricted within the periphery of the ground where the celebration will be held. Meanwhile, two persons were killed in two separate incidents in the district. In the first incident, suspected militants shot dead one Sikari Teron in Krangmelangso. The militants warned the villagers that they would face similar fate if they maintained link with the “Red Army”.
A grocer, Mahendra Pandey, was shot dead in Dengaon locality on Saturday for reportedly failing to meet extortion demand.
28 injured in triple blasts Nagarealm.com

Guwahati, AUG05 [UNI] : Ahead of the Independence Day, the outlawed ULFA struck thrice in separate places in the State since Sunday morning, injuring at least 28. At least 12 people were injured, six of them seriously, when a powerful bomb, planted on a cycle, exploded in the heart of the vegetable market in Agia, about 12 km from Goalpara town in Lower Asom.

Police said the explosion, suspected to be of an IED, occurred at around 5.40 p.m. At least 16 people were injured, when suspected ULFA militants triggered two explosions at separate places in Upper Asom's Sivasagar district. The first blast occurred in front of the petrol pump near Sonari police station at around 8.20 a.m., injuring at least eleven people, five of them critically.

Police said the bomb was kept on a cart containing potatoes. The cart puller, who was picked up by the police, said two youths hired the cart for shifting goods. The second explosion took place ten minutes later in front of a hotel in the heart of Sivasagar town. The bomb was kept on a cycle parked near the hotel. There were inputs of possible militant strikes on or ahead of the Independence Day even as security forces have tightened the security apparatus across the State. Following this, checks at airports, railway stations and bus stops have been heightened while intelligence wings have started surveying sensitive areas.

Is it www.kuknalim.com promoting tribalism & in favor of the non- Nagas? Nagalim.uk
Doubtless that Kuknalim.com was launched with a good intention to expose the Naga culture and customs and to interact with the people around the world. However, do they still have their good intention? The site administrator seems always supporting the view point of non-Nagas regardless of their ignorance about the Naga history, culture, custom, pain and feeling that exist in the heart of the Nagas. One of the important aspects is the promotion of tribalism in the site. When we go through the forum in the site, we find the criticism of one another tribe instead of trying to promote oneness or unity amongst the Nagas.

Firstly, one of the main members, nick name “Ratatattat” writes, “Gun toting extortionists....the only thing they've learnt is how to stay in power. What betterment has the outfit done for the people?.... apart from a anti-crime bureau?!! .....funny...i though extortion was a crime.”

Secondly, Kuknalim.com is one of the sites, which was hosted some years back and many Naga people visit the site and there are many young writers who write for the Nagas. But they seem so ignorant about the important of Naga issues. Today if we go and check it in their site, we’ll find that most of the articles posted in that site are not related to Naga issues and they do not accept the articles related to Naga issues. We don’t have any problem whether they have only one contributor or many contributors. However ignoring all the articles which are related to Naga issues and not posting any article related to Naga issues clearly show their true color.

Thirdly, one of the www.kuknalim.com members posted a picture in a thread under the title “Funny Pictures”. The picture carries the incident of 2005 in Mumbai where a Naga girl was killed instantly and another girl was wounded very badly with knife by an alleged lunatic. But the site administrator claimed that it is a gross picture; it should not be posted such kind of Naga picture. However there is not any problem if we post such kind of similar International or National pictures. Here the question arise with the members is that why we can’t post any Naga picture and related Naga issues picture when we can post similar national and international picture, which have nothing to related to Naga issues?

Fourthly, promoting tribalism through criticizing one another tribe is commonly found in the site. Outspoken one of the Naga intellectual persons from Delhi writes, as …. “u a s s tankhuls blodd thirsty fanatic, murderous, extortionist and land grabbers.. get out and forget integration before its too late and take muviah with u when u go out. and all the tankhuls i n nagalands.. sala the tankhuls ahve thier owncolony in dimapur,…they r becomeing richer(though thier means of livelihood-extortion) now they have reached kohima too…beware of the tricks of tankhuls..”

In reply to above post, another Guest writes as, “hey man, your write up is great.....i appreciate your truthfulness.the tankhuls are for no good to the nagas. they are bunch of thugs ,murderers, extortionist.....”

Another Guest writes on tangkhul and Maos as, “who said maos are nagas?...in kohima all the thieves are maos nad noone wants them…look at them thieves, and tangkhuls are no better too. thieves and murderers…tenymias did not include maos, but they forced themselves into the union. and we reluctanlty let them into the union.. and now they claim to be one of us. bull shits. they meities dont want the tangkhuls and maos and the nagas dont want them either... where will they go?”

A thread under the title “Why I hate Tangkhuls?” had started again by Tangkhul_basher and writes as, “Just who the hell do you think u r guys??? i cant stand u guys anymore... u rob us, kill us, extortioninst... creating trouble in our land... destroy our properties... rob our hard earned money....what is naga integration??? fck the integration issue... no chance in hell... get out of nagaland...murderers..rapist ...thief.....extortionist.... lets also take a poll ...how many nagas of nagaland want integration of nagalnd with tangkhul and maos???” These are only a few citing the example, however if we go to their site, we can find many things more posted by different persons.

Well, why such kind of hatred is promoting in this site? Is that promoting hatred or just a freedom of expression to criticize one another tribe? Do you think we need to discuss like, “Why I hate tangkhuls?” Tangkhuls! Oh no not again” etc

One of the latest burning topic discussions is “Is tangkhul belongs to Naga?” Do we need to discuss such kind of discussion in the forum? Yun Newbie writes, “Well, I am quite shocked to find many people out there who have an unhealthy attitude, living in total hatredness with their fellow-Nagas.. Its because there are crooked people among Nagas tribe that infect other brothers with their deadly viruses.. Its a childish things to talk about who are Nagas and who are not.”

Another person Xyls-Ajax, writes, nom, we are Nagas to decide whether or not the Tangkhuls are Nagas*! *I believe Tangkhuls are NOT nagas“

In conclusion,
I write this as I feel that there is too much promotion of tribalism. However it is up to our respected Naga leaders whether they should take if there is any necessary action to be taken on site administrators. Or we should continue to encourage such kind of unhealthy discussion in the forum. I don’t have any personal problem with the site moderator and I am writing this for the good of the future Nagas.

R.B. Thohe Pou thohepou@rediffmail.com Source: www.nagalim.co.uk

The Indian Army is currently facing a huge internal psychological disorder, fragging, a disorder that threatens to destabilise India if it is not addressed properly namely. Nagarealm.com

The term came into prominence during the latter day period of the Vietnam war when the American army there found to its utter dismay that incidents of soldiers shooting their own seniors – this is what fragging means – was on the rise and was becoming uncontrollable. The Pentagon’s military Behavioural Science experts quickly went into this crisis and found one fundamental reason that was instrumental in fragging – the soldier had no “cause” to give his life in a far away land ostensibly to prevent the spread of a nebulous political colour called communism. Research also showed that no such crisis was noticeable during the two world wars because the soldier had a justifiable cause to pay the supreme sacrifice without any backlash. Wisely, Washington took the momentous decision to call off its ill-fated operations in Vietnam and brought its soldiers home. However, presently another version of fragging is being witnessed in Iraq in the form of American troops murdering innocent civilians and undertaking human rights abuses on Iraqi prisoners in infamous quarantines like Abu Ghraib. Here too Washington’s strategic mistake of invading Iraq has begun to backfire badly. The reason for such inhuman behaviour by one of the world’s most disciplined military is the same as analysed in Vietnam, the American soldier has no cause to get himself killed or critically wounded in Iraq. Sheer frustration drives him to do things that he would never do under normal battle conditions.

Apparently India has not learnt any lesson from Vietnam or Iraq apropos the deployment of our jawans in J&K and North-east India. The former region has startled the nation with the rising incidents of fragging, while the latter is somewhat dormant at the moment but has every chance of getting out of hand as the unsavoury incident in Manipur last year depicted. The reason is the same - the jawan has no cause to fight. No fragging problem was faced by us when our soldiers participated in the two world wars and subsequently in three regular wars with Pakistan. Our jawans sacrificed all that they had without batting an eyelid because they had a cause for which they did their duty without any fear or favour. This is not the case in J&K and the N-E. The jawan has been inducted to endlessly fight a vague creature called “militant.” This farce has been going on for over twenty years in J&K and forty-five years in the N-E. No solution is in sight in either case. After every fragging incident, specious excuse is floated by the government about jawans not getting leave in time to settle their home problems and rubbish like that. These are nefarious attempts to hide the truth. The Indian soldier today is fully aware that the government has no intention whatsoever of solving the true problems of J&K and the N-E. These problems are basically socio-economic and socio-political in nature; they are definitely not military issues and hence can never be solved by the Army.

The unpalatable fact is, the government is not at all keen to tackle these problems and invariably opt to take the easy way out by declaring these to be security-related matters, to be faced by the Army and the paramilitary forces. There is genuine consternation among our military that it would next be ordered to combat the Maoists whose influence is spreading like wildfire. The jawan has realised that he is being made the scapegoat every time, a thing of joy for the media to go to town with human rights abuses perpetrated by him. He has become an object of hatred and animus for the citizens of J&K and the N-E, citizens who unfortunately lack the gumption to see through the government’s double shuffle. Kashmir provides an interesting study in Behavioural Science. Our Prime Minister periodically mumbles claptrap like, “We want a just and honourable solution for Kashmir,” without being at all specific as to what precise solution are we seeking. Do we mean the 1994 Lok Sabha resolution on this issue, or do we mean that Pakistan will on its own return Pakistan Occupied Kashmir to us, or do we mean that Kashmir will be given its pre-independence status by both India and Pakistan, or what? There is no answer. Year after year various PMs keep meeting with equally various and motley political factions from Kashmir - not to mention occasional parleys with Islamabad - without achieving anything at all. Incidentally, our atlases have been showing that the whole of J&K belongs to us whereas in actual fact this state is shared by three countries, namely, India, Pakistan and China. The jawan fails to comprehend our government’s policy and rightly concludes that such a confusing state of affairs has been deliberately created by us because we would prefer to maintain Niccolo Machiavelli’s maxim that it is much more profitable for a politician to keep a problem alive than solve it! The bottomline as far as the jawan is concerned is, he is to be the cannon fodder for the militants.

The N-E presents another side of the sordid story. The origin of the problem in this region is the willful deprivation and negative handouts that have become the hallmark of the government’s dealings with the N-E. Hordes of illegal immigrants were encouraged to sneak into India since 1947, much against the will of the local population. The Naga issue was handled in a wholly cavalier manner and never taken seriously. Years of neglect have convinced N-E residents that India does not really want them. In a desperate move to take cover from our political sins we sent in the Army to do a task that is entirely not its charter. The disgraceful AFSP Act has been our shameless fig leaf. Fragging is the first and extremely dangerous sign that the jawan has become fully aware of our politicians playing a cat-and-mouse game with his life: he has therefore revolted against this chicanery. The danger for the country is, should fragging begin to gather momentum across the Army, it will become impossible to rein it in. There is an element of the 1857 activities in the manner in which fragging is brewing. Only the Almighty can save India if reason gets violated as happened one hundred and fifty years ago. What should be done in order to preempt this catastrophe? Our intelligentsia, especially the academic community, needs to force the government’s hand in resolving the Kashmir and N-E problems on a war footing. Where there is a will, there will always be a way: this is what must be followed through with determination.

Tailpiece. This writer has proudly served the Indian Army for over two decades including participating in two wars with Pakistan. His observation is to affirm what Philip Mason writes in his excellent book on the Indian Army - it is one of the finest fighting machines of the world if handled properly and the backbone to this fighting machine is the jawan. At the same time, one of America’s reputed military behavioural scientists Brigadier General SLA Marshall has time and again warned in his lectures and writings that the soldier must never be taken for granted because the consequences of pushing him beyond “the thin red line of reason” would be disastrous. Regrettably, India has begun to disregard this warning. We already have pushed the jawan beyond his sensibilities in Operations Blue Star and Pawan. Surely we need to mend our ways now before it is too late [The author is Lt. Col. (retd.), Indian Army, SOURCE : SNS]

NESO seeks permit sieve Nagarealm.com
Guwahati, AUG05 [TI] : The North East Students’ Organisation (Neso) has made a case for extending the innerline permit system to every state of the region to keep out illegal migrants from Bangladesh. The innerline permit system has been an effective sieve to filter out migrants trying to settle in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram.

“In order to minimise the constant flow of illegal migrants from Bangladesh, Neso wants the introduction of the inner-line permit in all seven states of the region. We are all aware how illegal settlements of Bangladeshis in the Northeast have changed the demographic contours of the region. After Tripura’s indigenous population has become a minority in its own state, the people of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh are on the verge of becoming minorities in their own homeland. The Northeast is not a dumping ground for illegal migrants,” Samujjal Bhattacharyya, who was yesterday re-elected chairman of Neso at its general meeting in Shillong, said at a press conference here today. A bona fide Indian citizen must possess an inner-line permit to enter states where the system is in force.

“We are amazed at the way the Assam government declared all the Bangladeshis sent away from Arunachal Pradesh as genuine Assamese people. It was ridiculous, as those who came to Assam left Arunachal Pradesh after they were served quit notices by the All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union,” said Gumjum Haider, the new secretary general of Neso and a member of the students’ union. “We are not against any genuine Indian citizen. Any Indian, irrespective of caste, creed, language and religion can stay and work in Arunachal Pradesh. If the Centre and state governments don’t take serious note of the influx issue, we plan to launch an aggressive agitation programme across the region,” Haider warned.

Neso has asked the authorities to set up detention camps for suspected illegal Bangladeshis. It has also decided to press for an overhaul of the education policy to tackle the problem of unemployment across the region. “We want more technical institutes to be set up here so that we can provide the best of infrastructural facilities to prevent the exodus of students from the region,” said Bhattacharyya. The organisation has demanded that a “special education commission” be constituted for the region.
NESO discusses burning NE problems Assam Tribune
SHILLONG, Aug 5 – A wide range of issues, including the problem of illegal foreign nationals, education, flood, border fencing and scrapping of ‘draconian laws’ was discussed by the North East Students’ Organisation (NESO).

Addressing newsmen at the end of a two-day general council meeting here last night, NESO chairman Samujjal Bhattacharya said the Centre should adopt a comprehensive policy to tackle the problem of illegal foreign nationals which was a threat to the indigenous population of the north-eastern region. The presence of illegal foreign nationals and illegal migrants in the Northeast would soon change its democraphic pattern he said, adding that presence of ISI was a big threat to the national security.

A large number of students belonging to affluent families had gone out of the region to study in different parts of the country, he asked what about those brilliant students belonging to poor families who could not afford to study outside the region?

Bhattacharya said NESO would demand of the Centre to see to it that the universities and colleges introduce various subjects so that the students belonging to economically weaker section of the society were not deprived of their rights. In this regard, he said the Centre should adopt an educational policy that would provide employment besides establishing more engineering colleges.

Bhattacharya said the Centre had declared flood as a national calamity but very little was being done in this regard and the flood-affected people, particularly in Assam, were the worst sufferers. The Centre, he said, should solve the flood and erosion problem of the region.

On fencing the international border to prevent influx, the NESO leader said his organisation in principle had agreed to border fencing but local adjustment should be made, as not to affect the Indian citizens living in the borders.

To another point, Bhattacharya said the Centre should scrap all the ‘draconian

laws’, including the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).

On uranium mining in Meghalaya, Bhattacharya said NESO was giving full support to the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) which was opposing the proposed mining by Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL) in West Khasi Hills of Meghalaya. – PTI
State govt takes steps to restrict media on UG matters
The Imphal Free Press

IMPHAL, Aug 5: The state government has imposed stringent restrictions on the publication of items relating to underground organisations and subversive groups in the local media.

The state home department issued an order in this connection under section 95 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 on August 2 last.

It is understood that the measure has been taken under the government`s `action plan` to contain violence in the state, under which it had decided to strictly monitor publication of news by the media and activities of non-governmental organizations.

The home department order states that any printed material, including newspapers, books, and any document whether printed or in electronic form containing certain categories of material relating to underground or subversive groups would be forfeited to the state government.

The categories of material prohibited cover all items `directly attributed to unlawful organisations, organised gangs, organisations, terrorists and terrorists related organisations considered to be subversive and a threat to the integrity of the state and the country`.

The order also prohibits the publication of threats of any sort by such organisations, `or by a person or group of persons to any person or class of persons`, publication of any code of behaviour, dress code or social practice decreed by these organisations, as well as any justification for killings, causing injury, assault, kidnapping, imposition of fines or warnings made by any organisation, and notices for payment to such organisations in cash or kind.

The publication of items in the form of invitation to such organisations and groups to settle or solve disputes, and obituary notices for shradha, asti sanchi, cremation or burial ceremonies `showing that the dead person is a martyr in the struggle for an independent and sovereign state, and which may contain the names of known terrorists and terrorists related organisations or unlawful organisations or organised gangs as the sponsors of the advertisement`, is also prohibited.

It may be mentioned, under section 95 of the CrPC, the government is authorised to order by notification the forfeiture of any publication containing matter the publishing of which is punishable under sections 124A, 153A, 153B, 292, 293, or 295A of the Indian Penal Code.

Once the notification is issued, any police officer can seize any copy of the publication in question, and under warrant issued by a magistrate may enter upon and search any premise for the same.

The All Manipur Working Journalists Union, AMWJU has in the meantime strongly condemned the government order, contending that it is nothing butan attempt to muzzle the media, and asked it to withdraw the same.