Recruiting armed cadres now not good idea: Ceasefire body chairman

Kohima: Ceasefire Monitoring Group/ Ceasefire Supervisory Board (CFMG/CFSB) chairman Lt Gen (Retd) Shokin Chauhan on Monday appealed to the Nagas that as the peace talks is nearing a solution (as announced by interlocutor for peace talks and Nagaland governor RN Ravi on several occasions), joining the NSCN groups as armed cadres “is not a good idea”.

Addressing the media at the CFMG/CFSB office in Kohima, Chauhan said: “If the solution is close, then we must have a system by which we must be able to realise that adding additional cadres is not a good idea.”

Talking about the post-solution process, Chauhan highlighted that a ‘Demobilisation, Disarmament and Rehabilitation’ (DDR) process, a laid down standard process, will be applied. Although the rehabilitation of armed cadres (after a solution is attained) will depend on the final agreement, he emphasised that the cadres’ list will undergo verification for the process.

Expressing concern over the civilians joining the armed cadres on the pretext of being lured with jobs post the final solution, Chauhan appealed the Naga parents not to send their children for recruitment as the verification of cadres will be monitored. He explained that all cadres cannot claim the “same rights”, and will further be identified on the basis of their skills, experience, duration of service and so on.

He, however added that the role of the CFMG/CFSB Office is only concerned as long as the ceasefire agreement exists. Following the final solution, the CFMG/CFSB is likely to be replaced by a separate (peace) committee to oversee and take over the transitional period.

Meanwhile, Chauhan also appealed the groups “not to recruit anymore for the simple reason that, the same children you are recruiting today will turn against you because the government will not be able to give them jobs”.

“There has to be a difference between the people who have been in this movement for 15-20 years, five years, 10 years and so on,” he added.

While the NSCN-IM slammed the recent recruitment bid by the Indian Army at Mon terming the incident as “double standard” nature of the government, Chauhan confirmed that the act of the security forces was not a ceasefire violation, as the movement of the cadres outside the designated camps (which needs to be reported to the CFMG/CFSB office) was not provided by the group.

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In regard to a notification issued by the CFMG/CSFB Office ordering the closing down of unauthorised Offices of the NSCN groups across the state, Chauhan said that the CFGR does not allow the prevalence of such offices. However, on the written representation of the NSCN groups, Chauhan said that more time has been granted for the cadres to vacate the undesignated offices, although a definite time frame (deadline) was not made.

In regard to designated camps, Chauhan said that NSCN-IM has nine camps; NSCN KN(U) has three; NSCN K (Khango) and NSCN(R) have a designated camp each.

The CFMG/CFSB is an advisory body that oversees the ceasefire ground rules signed between the government of India with the NSCN-IM, NSCN KN(U), NSCN K(Khango) and NSCN(R), with the aim to maintain peaceful co-existence in society.