FOR Nagaland chief minister S.C. Jamir, these are crucial days. Elections to the assembly are due in early February but there is no sign of a permanent peace in this trouble-ridden state despite a four-month truce between the Centre and a faction of the banned underground outfit, the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN), headed by Issac Chisi Swu and Th. Muivah, more popularly known as the I-M group.
The other equally powerful faction led by S.S. Khaplang, and known therefore as the NSCN(K), has refused to accept New Delhi’s ceasefire offer and has instead put forward some of its own conditions. Jamir himself faces a CBI probe into his alleged financial support to this faction. Although both Jamir and an NSCN(K)spokesman deny it, intelligence sources say they have definite proof of the nexus.