Jul 28, 2006

NSCN-IM Says Troops Violating Truce Nagaland Post


The NSCN-IM said on 26 July it was running out of patience as government forces had killed dozens of its cadres in violation of the 1997 ceasefire agreement
The NSCN-IM on Wednesday said it was running out of patience as government forces had killed dozens of its cadres in violation of the 1997 ceasefire agreement. The comments by a top rebel leader came before peace talks with Indian government ministers in Bangkok later this week and the expiry of the ceasefire, due on July 31. The NSCN I-M has stepped up pressure in the run up to the talks, saying sovereignty was the key issue.

"They have killed around 116 of our boys in cold blood and arrested about 200 of them in the recent past," Phunthing Shimrang, a NSCN (IM) "brigadier" who heads the rebels' ceasefire monitoring cell, told Reuters. "Our patience is running out," he said, adding that this was in violation of the truce agreement not to kill each other or confiscate arms.

But there has been little progress on the central rebel demands -- unification of Naga-dominated areas in northeast India, which is fiercely opposed by other ethnic groups in the region, and ultimately independence. Security analysts say peace with the Nagas is crucial for a broader peace in the remote northeast, seven states connected to the rest of India by a thin strip of land and home to dozens of insurgent groups. Indian security officials said NSCN cadres moved around in battle fatigues and carried arms, making it difficult for troops to distinguish them from other militants in the region.

"They are acting as a law enforcing agency in the Naga areas, which is a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement," a security officer said. The NSCN (IM) runs a parallel government in the Naga inhabited areas. The rebels say hat between 1991 and 1996, they snatched more than 800 weapons from soldiers in attacks and ambushes.
"Now that we have agreed to stop fighting, they are trying to snatch the weapons back from us," the rebel leader said. "More than 100 weapons have been taken away from us."