Manipur CM willing to talk to Nagaland counterpart
NISHIT DHOLABHAI
New Delhi, Jun 8 :
The ice seems to be melting between the hills and vales of Nagaland and
Manipur, where Nagas and Meiteis have experienced a widening rift of
late, especially on the issue of integration.
Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh today said he was willing to talk to Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio.
Earlier this week,
Rio had conceded to The Telegraph that there could not be a solution to
the Naga problem without talking to Manipur. He had added that there
was no space for a dialogue as Ibobi was shy of even visiting Nagaland
for official programmes.
“The next time he
invites me, I am ready to go there,” Ibobi Singh told this correspondent
today after a meeting with Union home minister P. Chidambaram. He had
called on Chidambaram to discuss early operationalisation of the
integrated checkpost at Moreh.
Ibobi said he had
wanted to attend the Hornbill festival but could not do so for want of
time. The weeklong festival is celebrated at the tourist village of
Kisama in Nagaland every year from December 1, the day Nagaland was
formed in 1963.
While disputes
over boundary and sharing of river water are common among neighbours, be
it Maharashtra and Karnataka or Tamil Nadu and Kerala, in the Northeast
the problem assumes ethnic dimensions and solutions depend on how
leaders address it.
The political
roots of Ibobi and Rio are apparently catching up in what could be seen
as a beginning of reconciliation. While Ibobi is a Congressman, Rio is a
former Congressman.
With hopes of a
dialogue between Imphal and Kohima, reconciliation here may not just be
between the political leadership but also between communities. Even Naga
rebels feel dialogue between communities is a must, although they have
not come out as openly as the “overgrounds” on the issue.
“We should be talking to each other. After all we are all Indians,” said Ibobi.
The Manipur
strongman may have touched a raw nerve here as Rio’s regional party, the
Naga People’s Front (NPF), caters to Naga sub-nationalist sentiment.
Rio was unable to
talk till now as his party also toes the integration line on getting
Nagas in all states under a single administrative unit.
There is, however,
a shift. Rio said this week that whether integration — earlier the
principal demand of the NSCN (I-M) — takes place or not, the interest of
Nagas should be protected in Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. The
Naga population is concentrated in Nagaland, but it is spread over other
northeastern states and Myanmar.
The leaders’
willingness to talk — they have not seen eye-to-eye in the past — also
suggests that a solution to the NSCN (I-M)’s negotiation may be in
sight. Sources said the talks were in an “advanced stage” and a
resolution may be achieved before winter this year. The NSCN (I-M) is in
talks with the Centre for 15 years since it signed a ceasefire
agreement.
Relations soured
between the Nagas and valley-based NGOs in 2010 when Ibobi refused to
allow NSCN (Isak-Muivah) general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah to visit
his native village Somdal in Ukhrul district. The Naga NGOs imposed an
economic blockade, which stretched for over three months.
Rio is hurt that
the Ibobi government tried its best to prevent him and his party leader
T.R. Zeliang, a former MP, from visiting Manipur’s Naga-majority
districts during Manipur Assembly elections, which the NPF contested
this year.
Rio said it would
suffice to say that the two states were living as neighbours and would
continue to do so. However, Ibobi’s statement may change the dynamics in
the region.
Insurgency in
Manipur is attributed, to some extent, to the formation of the state of
Nagaland. Later, the NSCN (I-M)’s demand for integration of
Naga-dominated areas caused much heartburn to the majority Meitei
community in the valley, insecure as it was about Manipur’s territorial
integrity.
