In what turned out to be a ghastly Sunday for Assam Rifle Jawans, eight of them were killed and six badly injured in a militant attack in Dimapur, Nagaland..  Suspected Naga rebels are considered to have triggered a powerful bomb close to the Myanmar border in Nagaland on the convoy of paramilitary forces.

Reports also indicate that nearly four of the jawans are missing after the deadly attack on Sunday afternoon. There were 20 jawans in the truck that blew up in the IED attack and the injured soldiers have been rushed to the nearest hospital in the area.

This attack further added to the list of the army personnel killed in the region ever since the Government called of the truce signed in 2001 with rebel Naga group, NSCN-K around March. Comprising mostly of Nagas of Myanmar , they have been responsible for the death of 10 personnel of the security forces including four killed in Manipur attacks last week.  The Home Affairs Ministry has also made it clear that they will not conduct any further round of talks with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang) or the NSCN-K in the Naga peace process.

With the Govt-NSCN-K stalemate continuing, the rising violence against security officers in the region remains a matter of great concern. On the other hand, the NSCN IM claims that the sovereignty and integration talks are still on their agenda. The group’s general secretary, TH Muivah had said in a statement last month that, “We have not endangered the Naga people’s aspirations on sovereignty and integration and neither will we in the days to come.” The fact that they acknowledged that no party wins 100% in a political negotiation is perhaps a positive takeaway in the whole process. However it needs to be seen how soon and how effectively this violence against security forces can be reined in around our border states.

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