Christmas to herald new era of peace and hope in Nagaland

Kohima, Nov. 6, 2004 – This Christmas may herald a new era of peace in the northeastern state of Nagaland torn apart by insurgency for over decades with two top separatist leaders likely to join the celebrations there.

Isak Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah, guerrilla leaders of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) currently living in self–exile outside India, have accepted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's invitation asking the duo to come to the country for further peace talks.

Former home secretary K. Padmanabhaiah, played the role of the mediator and delivered Dr. Singh's letter to the NSCN leaders over the weekend during talks in Bangkok aimed at ending more than five decades of insurgency in Nagaland.

The two rebel leaders, currently operating out of South Asian cities, were expected to arrive in New Delhi sometime in November end and then travel home to celebrate Christmas in Nagaland, a state of two million people, of whom nearly 88 percent are Christians.

"This will be an extraordinary Christmas if our two top leaders arrive here during the festivities according to plans," said Kraibo Chawang, spokesman of the Isak–Muivah faction of the NSCN.

Chawang exclaimed that the tribal Nagas would "welcome with open arms" the two leaders when they come home, with church bells ringing louder than ever before during the celebrations.

"I am sure there will be a lot of meat and cakes during this Christmas as part of the celebrations to welcome the two leaders," another rebel leader shared.

If things go according to schedule, this will be Swu and Muivah's first Christmas in Nagaland in 38 years.
"The two leaders will get a chance to study domestic problems from close quarters and to interact with the people if they come and stay in Nagaland for sometime," said A. Angami, a local businessman.
"Everybody here is craving for peace and an end to long years of bloodshed and we hope a permanent solution is reached soon," he said, hopefully.

The two NSCN leaders had set foot on Indian soil after 37 years in self–exile in January last year and met the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in New Delhi.

The NSCN entered a ceasefire with New Delhi in 1997 and the two sides have since held several rounds of talks in Switzerland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Thailand, Japan and Malaysia.

The NSCN is the oldest and the most powerful of the nearly 30–odd rebel armies operating in the northeast.

It wants the creation of a "Greater Nagaland" by carving slices off the neighbouring states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Manipur – all of which have sizeable Naga populations.

The demand is, however, not acceptable to the other states in the northeast.

"The two leaders are expected to hold wide ranging talks with not only the Naga people but also with community leaders of the neighbouring states, including Assam and Manipur, for a broad consensus on the integration issue," Muivah was quoted as saying by an NSCN leader.

More than 25,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency in Nagaland since 1947.

"Let us all pray from now on so that this Christmas ushers in a new era of hope and long lasting peace to this troubled land," expressed Benden Ao, a church leader.