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| Grant of semi-sovereign status to Nagaland will further complicate matters in restive Kashmir | | | Hari Om | 6/30/2016 10:27:59 PM |
| Nagaland has been in the news for quite sometime now. Reports suggest that New Delhi may anytime implement the accord that was signed between the Government of India and National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) on August 3, 2015 in New Delhi at the official residence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The accord, if implemented, would at once mean grant of extraordinary powers to Nagaland. Nagaland would become semi-sovereign state on the territories of India. Speaking at the signing ceremony, Prime Minister Modi had said, "India would ensure peace, security and economic transformation development in the north east". In the same speech, he had went on to describe the "Act East Policy" as the "heart of his foreign policy", thus emphasizing the significance of the "Naga Peace Accord for India's wider foreign policy goals in South-East Asia". According to media reports, the Home Ministry (HM) and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) were "not privy to the discussions", which led to the behind-the-scene signing of the Indo-Naga accord . The "vital" role was reportedly played by National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and Joint Intelligence Committee chief RN Ravi.
One report suggests that the Government of Narendra Modi could empower Nagaland to share sovereignty with New Delhi in this part of Northeast, which is legitimately Indian. The report in this regard, inter-alia, read: "Why Nagas should not miss 'shared sovereignty' as a process to sovereign nation? And how the shared sovereignty can end the conflict between India and Nagalim; and what will be the legal and administrative relation under shared sovereignty? Mr RN Ravi (New Delhi's interlocutor) said both 'both sides have acknowledged the universal principle that in a democracy, sovereignty lies with the people. The Government of India has acknowledged the uniqueness of Nags. This uniqueness will be reflected in sharing of power" (The Sangai Express, March 01, 2016).
The same report further said: "Mr Isak Swu (chairman) said that the framework agreement is based on the uniqueness of Naga history; which means Nagas are a free people and they have never been a part pf the Union of India…Both parties (NSCN-Isak-Muivah and Government of India) agreed that the sovereignty of the Nagas lies with the Naga people and sovereignty of India lies with the Indian peopl. However, with a view to solving Indo-Naga political problem both the parties agreed to share sovereign power for enduring and peaceful existence of the two entities…"
Another report in this regard on June 20, 2016, among other things, said: "Following this principle of understanding, the Nagas would be allowed to have the liberty of having a separate passport and flag for peaceful co-existence between the two entities (read Nagas and Indians) soon after the settlement of Indo-Naga issue"(Eclectic North East, June 20, 2016). Earlier on January 30, 2016, a report in The Hindustan Times had also made a similar revelation. It had said: "Nagaland may be given a separate official flag under the final accord expected to be signed soon by the Union Government and the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah)".
A separate flag is one of 33 demands made by the NSCN-IM. Other demands include a separate constitution, dual citizenship and the creation of Nagalim by integrating all Naga-inhabited areas of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland. The rest are details, which at the moment could be ignored as the issues under scrutiny are shared sovereignty, separate flag and separate passport.
Significantly, P Chidambaram as Union Home Minister had on October 14, 2009 also described as unique Kashmir's problem, Kashmir's history and Kashmir's geography and suggested an approach the Government of India adopted for reaching an agreement with the NSCN-IM last year. He stated that the Kashmir problem was unique that required a unique solution. Besides, he overruled the possibility of treating Kashmir like other states of the Union and declared that the solutions which were applicable to other states of the Union could not be replicated in Kashmir.
"Voice of separatism in Kashmir is a reality…There is a political problem in Kashmir and it has to be solved. Centre would start a dialogue but it would be a quiet dialogue and quite diplomacy, away from the media glare, till a political solution to the problem is arrived at. The dialogue cannot take place in the glare of media. The dialogue will be held quietly - one-on-one, two people to two people. Once the contours (of a solution to the Kashmir issue) are arrived at, it will be made public. The solution (to Kashmir problem) must recognise the unique history and geography of Jammu and Kashmir. Solutions to other problems in India cannot be replicated here. We may find a unique solution, there is nothing wrong… But it must be acceptable to the vast majority of the people of Kashmir (read Kashmiri Muslims)," P Chidambaram said addressing All India Editors' Conference in Srinagar (Daily Excelsior & Greater Kashmir, Oct 15, 2009).
The point is that there is no fundamental difference between the Congress and the BJP when it comes to tackling issues like Kashmir and Nagaland. Both treat the Kashmiri Muslims and Nagas races apart and both vouch for a solution that undermines Indian sovereignty and the politics of separatism.
The question to be asked is: What will be the immediate impact of the implementation of the August 3, 2015 accord on Kashmir? It will further complicate the already rather complex situation in the restive Kashmir. It will also impact the political scene of Jammu and Ladakh and the refugee camps which house more than three lakh internally-displaced Kashmiri Hindus, Sikhs and Christians. The people of Jammu and Ladakh and internally-displaced Kashmiri Hindus and Sikhs occupy more than 88 per cent of the state's land area and constitute almost half of the state's population. It is too well-known that their battle-cry all along has been the state's complete integration into India and application of the Indian Constitution to the state in full, barring Article 370 under which the solitary State of Jammu and Kashmir enjoys the right to have a separate constitution and a separate flag as well as the right to exercise residuary powers, including the power of taxation. Suffice to say that the implementation of the Indo-Naga accord will, on the one hand, embolden Kashmiri separatists and the so-called mainstream Kashmir-based parties such as the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the main opposition National Conference (NC) to demand a similar regime as a first step towards the final goal (complete independence and another communal partition of India) and, on the other, would provoke political explosions of portentous dimensions in Jammu and Ladakh. To be more precise, the implementation of the Indo-Naga accord will not only set the State of Jammu and Kashmir on fire but also unleash forces of destabilisation in other parts of the country, including Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, to mention only a few.
The Government of India would be well advised to eschew the idea of implementing the Indo-Naga accord taking into consideration the overall security situation and inter-communal atmosphere in the country, which is not inspiring by any standard. Sovereignty cannot be and must not be shared and the moment the state starts sharing it, the ultimate result is its disintegration as it happened in the case of the erstwhile Soviet Union. The BJP got a massive mandate in 2014 to strengthen the institution of the Indian State and if it ignores the nature of the national mandate and implements the controversial accord, the nation will charged it with sitting on the ruins of the country. |
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