Naga talks: RN Ravi quits as interlocutor

New Delhi, September 22

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Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi today sent his resignation as the Centre’s interlocutor for the Naga peace talks, which has been accepted with immediate effect, the MHA said.

Ravi had been holding peace negotiations with the Naga insurgent group NSCN-IM since 2014.

Ravi was appointed the Governor of Nagaland in July 2019, but he continued with his role as the interlocutor on behalf of the Centre. Of late, the NSCN-IM had refused to hold talks with him, accusing him of trying to sabotage the peace process. He has been made the Governor of Tamil Nadu recently.

The Centre has already engaged former special director of the Intelligence Bureau AK Mishra to hold peace parleys with Naga groups and he has resumed talks with them. Officials said, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Nagaland counterpart Neiphiu Rio also met NSCN-IM general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah in Dimapur on Tuesday.

Ravi had signed a framework agreement with Muivah on August 3, 2015, in the presence of PM Narendra Modi as a major step towards the final settlement. The framework agreement came after over 80 rounds of negotiations spanning 18 years with the first breakthrough in 1997, when the ceasefire agreement was sealed after decades of insurgency in Nagaland. — TNS