It is believed in some circles that New Delhi?s 1964 ceasefire with the Nagas might have been influenced by Sir Bertrand?s letter that was handed over to Nehru by Rev. Michael Scott. Rev. Scott later went to Nagaland as part of a peace mission along with Jayaprakash Narayan and then Assam chief minister Bimala Prasad Chaliha.

Yongkong, vice-president of NNC who took refuge in Britain in 1962, said over phone from London that the philosopher was ?deeply touched? by the ?atrocities? on the Nagas.

?I never met Russell but Uncle Phizo would often tell me how concerned he was at the state of affairs in Nagaland. It appears that he understood the wider implications of the movement and was worried over the existing deadlock at that time,? the former guerrilla leader, now aged 79, recalled even as he gave a vivid account of their differences with New Delhi.

Though the 16-point agreement was signed and Nagaland carved out of Assam in 1963, it failed to satisfy the aspirations of the hardliners who would not settle for anything less than sovereignty.

Sir Bertrand was keen that Phizo return to India so that talks could resume with the Indian government. He argued that, ?Phizo is entirely willing, if the Government of India consents, to go to India and, if possible, to put before you methods of conciliation of which the need from a humanitarian point of view is very great.?

Nehru subsequently asked Phizo to get in touch with the Indian High Commission in London and even sent S.C. Jamir, then a deputy minister at the Centre, to meet him with an offer of safe passage if he accepted the constitutional framework and agreed to work with the Nagaland government to restore peace.

Phizo, however, refused the offer to return to India. Perhaps he was suspicious of New Delhi?s intentions. The Naga leader breathed his last in London in 1990.