NSCN-IM 'agrees' to resume talks on Naga issue

Dimapur, September 18

Nagaland’s United Democratic Alliance chairman TR Zeliang claimed that the National Socialist Council of Nagalim-Isak Muivah (NSCN-IM) has agreed to resume peace talks with the Centre.

Centre holding parleys since ’97

• The Centre has been holding two separate parleys with the NSCN-IM since 1997 and the Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs) comprising seven organisations since 2017
• It signed a framework agreement with the NSCN-IM on August 3, 2015, and also entered into an agreed position with NNPGs in Dec 2017

Zeliang, who is also the co-chairman of the state government’s core committee on the Naga political issue, said an NSCN-IM delegation was likely to leave for Delhi on Monday.

Negotiations between the Centre and the NSCN-IM have been stalled since May.

A two-hour long meeting among members of the core committee and representatives of the NSCN-IM was held on Saturday in Chumukeidma.

The meeting was convened after the Centre asked the core panel headed by CM Neiphiu Rio to convince the outfit to come forward to resume peace talks and ink a final solution.

On NSCN-IM discontinuing negotiations since May, Zeliang said: “They are not happy with interlocutor AK Mishra over the omission of some of the politically important points, which were included in the formulation paper submitted by former interlocutor NN Ravi.”

The NSCN-IM said it would resume talks if “it is based on the framework agreement and on the formulation papers submitted by Ravi and the Centre’s current interlocutor AK Mishra”, the UDA chief said.