India: Threat from Nagaland

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In the most recent major clash, near Kohima, the Nagas killed 24 Indian regulars. Further fighting is expected once the rest of the rebels return. Last week a small band of rebels, armed with automatic weapons, overran a village near the Burma frontier, captured rifles and ammunition from the local volunteer defense force before withdrawing. India, with a division of troops already tied down in Nagaland, does not want to be encumbered by a cease-fire in dealing with the rebels if the trouble increases. More troops may well be needed, for some Nagas have reportedly been taken all the way to Viet Nam for on-the-spot observations of how guerrillas there bedevil U.S. forces.

India estimates the strength of the underground rebel army at from 6,000 to 8,000, scattered through the hills and thick forests of Nagaland. Nominal leader of the Naga rebellion is a school teacher named A. Z. Phizo, who organized an independence movement back in 1947 and left for London in 1961. He now carries on his battle from Britain, representing the self-styled "Naga Federal Government" that claims to speak for the 16 Naga tribes in. the 6,236-sq.-mi. state.

New Delhi will not consider independence for the Nagas, even though it has held desultory discussions with the rebels. "Nagaland has more autonomy than any other state," says an Indian official. "They have so much freedom that they don't know what to do with it." Government policy has been to keep extending the cease-fire in hopes that the rebel movement will slowly atrophy. But Peking's encouragement of the rebels makes that prospect less and less likely—and that of a renewal of bloodshed all the more probable.