NEW DELHI: A rebel group in India’s northeast said it was willing to renew a seven-year ceasefire with the government, but only if New Delhi reined in its security forces, whom the rebels accuse of behaving like “mad dogs”.

The 50-year Naga revolt, India’s oldest insurgency, is centred in the Christian-dominated mountainous state of Nagaland. Nagas make up barely three million of India’s billion plus, mainly Hindu population.

“We say ceasefire, but in the jungles Indian armed forces attack us most of the time,” General Secretary Thuingaleng Muivah of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN I-M) told Reuters in an interview late on Monday.

The group, which has been fighting for an independent homeland for Naga tribals for decades, signed a ceasefire with the government in 1997. The truce is due for renewal on July 31.

“If the Indian government ... lets loose Indian armed forces (who) behave like mad dogs, firing here, killing there, we have to retaliate,” Muivah said.

“We want it, no doubt, but the extension of the ceasefire must serve its purpose.”

Muivah had previously threatened to end the ceasefire after lengthy peace talks failed to find a solution satisfactory to both sides. But his latest comments appeared to reflect a softening in the rebel stand.

The group has held more than a dozen rounds of talks with the government since December, but the two sides remain deadlocked over the rebels’ demand for all Naga-dominated areas to be united in a “Greater Nagaland”.

The revolt killed more than 20,000 people before the truce, which has largely held despite frequent skirmishes between the rebels and security forces. Both sides blame each other for the clashes.

Muivah said talks with India’s Congress-led coalition government — which came to power last year — ran into rough weather as the government was hesitant to recognise the “uniqueness of Naga history”.

Naga tribals complain that their areas were unfairly divided by British colonial rulers and subsequently India, which included Naga-dominated areas in the neighbouring states of Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

Of the estimated 3 million Nagas, 2 million live in Nagaland and the rest are scattered over the three states.

While NSCN (I-M) insists that these areas be returned to the Nagas, other ethnic rebels and tribal groups in the three states have strongly opposed any plan to redraw boundaries.

“If this uniqueness of Naga history is respected by this government, naturally there is a possibility of coming to a possible meeting point,” Muivah said.

“But you have to know that we have had enough patience. So our patience should not be interpreted as a sign of weakness.”

Analysts say the Congress government is concerned that recognising Naga “uniqueness” could stoke separatist sentiments in other parts of the country. — Reuters