Naga extremists offer Rs 500,000 to new recruits

With public sympathy sharply waning, internal dissent picking up and the army stepping up its operations against the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Miviah group), the extremist outfit is now offering Rs 500,000 each for new recruits.

Disclosing this, army sources on Sunday said the lure of such huge money was more likely to attract criminal elements than ideologically inspired workers to the outfit.

Giving an account of the army's success in recent months the sources said it killed 11 militants of the NSCN(M) in the past few days. In mid-February troops smashed an NSCN office in the Tamenlong jungles and recovered large quantities of arms, ammunition and explosives.

Further proof of the NSCN's eroding influence, the sources said, was the defiant attitude taken by Naga MLAs in Manipur, who ignored the NSCN's diktat asking them to resign from office on March 25.<

The sources said the internal security agencies gathered evidence to prove that even the Naga people have begun to lose interest in the movement by the militants.

"The people are now coming forth to provide information on militants's movements, hide-outs and also identify those who have been apprehended," the sources said.

The sources said there were several reasons for the NSCN's fall from grace -- the predominant ones being inter-factional and ethnic disharmony.

The sources pointed out that when the Shillong accord was signed in 1975, Muviah, Isak Swu and Kaphlong and a few other Naga leaders chose to resist the efforts of the Centre in resolving the Naga problem.

The NSCN, in its original form, consisted of several Naga tribes such as Semas (Isak Swu), Tangkhuls (Muviah), Konyaks (the bulk of personnel) and those of Myanmarese citizenship (Kaphlong).

Differences surfaced rather early, with the Konyaks unable to digest the Tanghul domination in the NSCN.

In 1989, the Konyaks massacred 84 Tangkhuls and in the same year the NSCN also split into the ''IM'' and ''K'' factions accompanied by another bloodbath which left 100 members dead on each side.

More recently, the success of the army's anti-terrorist operations in the North-Eastern state and Myanmar's hostile attitude towards the NSCN compelled the Isak-Muviah group to go on the run. This is the primary reason why the group approached the Central government for talks, the sources claimed.

The reign of terror unleashed by the NSCN cadres in the North-Eastern states, however, remains unabated and the highlights of their operation are killings, extortion and forcing people to follow their line.

The NSCN (IM) has been posing serious threat to the region's economy, through its road tax and goods tax collections at gun-point from truck operators and traders.

The sources said the NSCN (Khaphlong) group is now accusing the Isak-Muviah faction of betraying the Naga cause.

The NSCN(IM) has now become a 'headless serpent,' following the arrests of many of its top leaders, the sources said. The remaining ones, it appears, are likely to be arrested any moment, following issue of warrants by the Guwahati high court and the Union home ministry's request to Interpol for assistance.

Bangladesh, which had so far remained oblivious of the such terrorist outfits' training camps in its territory, has also decided to capture them and 40 arrests made by the Bangladesh Rifles include 10 NSCN cadres.

The sources said the common Naga people are distressed by the fact that while the NSCN leaders are jet-setting around the globe staying at exotic locations and living a life of luxury, the poor uneducated youth fall prey to bullets in the mistaken belief that they are soldiers for a cause.

UNI