Morung Express News
Dimapur | January 10
GENERAL THENOSELIE, a former Army Chief of the FGN/NNC and regarded as a close confidante of NSCN (IM) General Secretary Th. Muivah has mooted the option of having a broad based ceasefire agreement with the Government of India by including all the factions in it. For this, he suggested that the present ceasefire be scrapped and renewed on the lines of the 1964 ceasefire under the Indian Foreign Ministry.
He also said that the Church would have to intervene in some form or the other to make this happen as it had done earlier when the Federal Government of Nagaland (FGN) signed the ceasefire agreement with the Government of India in 1964.
Speaking to The Morung Express Gen Thenoselie said it would be a worthwhile attempt on the part of the Naga people to deliberate on this option as the Government of India was using the disunity among the factions to further deepen the crisis and confuse the people.
Taking serious note of New Delhi’s intention to use the political division of the Nagas to its advantage, the General in no uncertain terms pointed out that if the Government of India was sincere in resolving the Naga issue it should ask the Nagas to come together as this was the only way to resolve the problem once and for all.
Significantly, Gen Thenoselie said he had shared with Muivah during their recent meeting in Bangkok, the contours of a few options including the possibility of a broad based ceasefire on the lines of the 1964 arrangement. “In politics we should find the best alternatives and for this some people will have to intervene”, Gen Thenoselie said.
In this regard General Thenoselie suggested the option of having an ULFA type selected People’s Consultative Group in which the best Naga minds can converge and prepare the ground for a lasting and permanent political settlement of the long conflict. “Let us reason together and decide our future on whether we want to be with or without India. And for this, let the people decide”, he said.
Mention may be made that the Collective Leadership of the NSCN (IM) had earlier invited General Thenoselie to join the organization in the rank of Vice-President. He has however not yet made up his mind.
On the present peace parleys between the NSCN (IM) and the Government of India and the stalemate, he clearly spelled out the need to having a ‘face saving formula’ on the lines of Sri-Lanka-LTTE standoff wherein Norwegian mediators have stepped in to save the situation from getting worse. “Somebody has to mediate. There is no other option”.
The General also underlined the responsibility of both the parties to extend the ceasefire for some more time. “People are very much confused and worried whether the ceasefire will be extended. If it is now terminated, both sides will lose out in the end”.
Gen Thenoselie’s comment comes in the backdrop of his own style of quiet diplomacy, spending time in the Thai Capital Bangkok in early December last year where he was a special guest of the Collective Leadership.
The General, it may be mentioned, was part of the group which made the first political and military expedition to China in 1966. The team to China numbering about 130 had been led by Gen Thenosolie with the young Muivah as spokesman.
The NSCN Chairman Isak Chishi Swu and Gen Thenoselie were also together as part of the FGN led peace talks held at Chedema and Khensa during 1964. Isak Swu was then the Naga Foreign Secretary.
