Understanding NAGA Peace Accord

The details of the Naga Framework Agreement or the Naga Peace Accord, which was signed on August 3, 2015, between the Government of India and the Naga armed groups headed by the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Issak-Muivah (NSCN-IM) is yet to be made public and much is to be known as what does this agreement actually holds. The talks about the agreement being made public on December 25, 2017, have also gained wings in the recent weeks. If the details published in the NSCN (IM) website is to be believed, then the Naga Framework Agreement which paves the way for the formation of a Greater Nagaland or Nagalim then there is a likelihood that the new ‘state’ will also includes those areas of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and parts of Myanmar that has a major Naga population and this has led to widespread protests in Assam, Manipur, and Arunachal Pradesh. However, nothing is final as of it and there is a lot more to be known about the agreement. Northeast Today digs in deeper and brings forth a detailed analysis about the history of the Naga movement and the possible impact the final signing of the Naga agreement might have on the political scenario of the Northeast.

- Partha Prawal

First Few Words

Despite assurances from the Centre that no land either from Arunachal Pradesh, Assam or Manipur will be ceded to Greater Nagaland (Nagalim) as the peace talks between the Government of India and NSCN (IM) have picked up space over the past few weeks, a sense of fear, however, has gripped the people of these states. The main reason for this fear is the NSCN (IM)’s demand to include all the Naga inhabited areas of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, and Manipur in the proposed Nagalim territory encompassing an area of nearly 1,20,000 sq km - more than seven times Nagaland’s 16,527 sq km area. The demand has been endorsed five times till date by Nagaland Assembly between 1964 and 2015.

Even though the government interlocutor RN Ravi has maintained that the settlement won’t alter the maps of any of these states, however, the NSC (IM) has insisted that territorial integration of Naga areas will be part of the settlement.

And in the middle of these conflicting statements, it is the common people from these three states who find themselves in a soup. Several civil society organisations, student bodies, and the political parties have made it clear that no matter what, they will not allow an inch of their land to be ceded into Nagalim. The confusion has surfaced mainly due because the details of the ‘framework agreement’ are still in the closet, far away from public view. It is speculated that the details of the framework might be made public on December 25, 2017, and the over six decade long Naga issue may finally reach to a conclusion. But, at this stage nothing can be said with a certainty.

Peeping into the Past