By Syed Zarir Hussain
Kohima(IANS) : A four-member team of church leaders from Britain are currently in the state on a mission to broker peace between the two warring factions of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN).
The church leaders, who belong to the The Religious Society of Friends, are commonly known as Quakers.
“The Quakers are here for reconciliation efforts, an attempt to unite and patch differences between the two NSCN groups. The team will be meeting leaders of both groups in a day or two,” Reverend Zhabu Theruza, general secretary of the Nagaland Baptist Church Council, told IANS.
The two NSCN groups, one led by guerrilla leaders Isak Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah (NSCN-IM), and the other headed by S.S. Khaplang (NSCN-K), have been engaged in a bitter turf war for territorial supremacy in Nagaland for decades with an estimated 500 cadres killed in the last few years in fratricidal clashes.
The two factions are in a ceasefire with New Delhi — the NSCN-IM is currently holding talks with the central government after entering into a truce in 1997.
The Khaplang faction of the NSCN is yet to begin formal peace talks although it entered into a truce in 2001.
“We welcome any move by any NGO or church bodies for peace in the world. But for reconciliation and unity, we have some preconditions,” Kughalo Mulatonu, a senior NSCN-K leader, told IANS.
“We want the NSCN-IM to declare that it will sever all links with terrorist groups like Al Qaeda and must tender an apology for the genocide against the Nagas for more than a decade in which some 10,000 people were killed,” the NSCN-K leader said.
Several attempts made by different church groups in Nagaland have failed to unite the two rival factions.
“Unless there is some understanding and points of acceptance, the future of peace dawning in the state is remote. We have been trying hard and still continuing with our efforts,” Reverend Theruza said.
People who were dissatisfied with the existing denominations and sects of Christianity founded the Quakers in Britain in the 17th century. The Society of Friends is counted among the historic peace churches.
A team from the American Baptist Church is also planning a visit to Nagaland for a similar mission to broker peace between the two NSCN groups.