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The Centre on Thursday appointed former petroleum secretary and Nagaland chief secretary R S Pandey as the interlocutor for the Naga peace talks with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (IM). The former Nagaland cadre bureaucrat was handpicked by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram because of his understanding of the Naga issue.
The Government of India welcomes the decision of the NSCN (IM) leadership to visit India and to hold talks with the government. I am happy to announce the appointment of R S Pandey as the interlocutor and the representative of the Government of India to hold talks with the NSCN (IM), Chidambaram said in a statement.
The task before Pandey is a difficult one as he is expected to give a fillip to the Naga peace process that has experienced considerable fatigue in the 12 years of negotiations.
Former Union home secretary K Padmanabhaiah,who was interlocutor for over a decade from 1999,had held several rounds of talks in which a number of proposals were discussed with the NSCN (IM) leadership. The last was a Jammu and Kashmir-type formula in which Nagaland would have a separate constitution while owing allegiance to the Indian Union.
After the NSCN leadership complained that the talks were not leading anywhere and demanded elevating the discussions to the political level,the UPA government in 2004 even set up a three-member ministerial committee. But the committee achieved little besides revisiting the same issues of the last five years. Before Padmanabhaiah,former governor Swaraj Kaushal had a jab at mediation for a year after being appointed interlocutor by the then Vajpayee government.
The next round of talks with the NSCN (IM) leadership is to be held here in the first week of April.
When he took over as Home Minister,Chidambaram was believed to have taken a dim view of the interlocution as 12 years of mediation had not produced anything tangible. His view changed after the Home Ministry gave an opinion to the contrary. What added to the decision to have an interlocutor was the NSCN (IM)s insistence on having an official mediator. This,said sources,was due to political compulsions as dealing with officials of the Home Ministry would have been seen as downgrading of the talk process.
Pandey is now likely to travel to Amsterdam and Philippines,where Thuingaleng Muivah and Isak Chisi Swu are believed to be staying,for preparatory meetings before the April talks. However,one aspect that could pose problems for Pandey,according to sources,is his known proximity to former Nagaland chief minister S C Jamir,the present Governor of Goa. Most of Pandeys tenure in Nagaland was under Jamir,who is perceived to have his sympathies towards the Khaplang faction of the NSCN.
