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North East: Naga peace process : NSCN (IM) leaders hold talks with Centre

	February 07, 2005

Talks between the Centre and the Naga militant outfit, NSCN (IM), began in New Delhi last week on February 3 with both sides asserting their willingness to work for a mutually acceptable and honourable solution to the five-decade old Naga problem.



Emerging from an hour-long meeting with Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil and top Government officials, NSCN(IM) general secretary T. Muivah, said that he looked forward to an “intensification of the negotiations in coming weeks and months.” During the meeting, he reiterated the organisation’s demand for the unification of all Naga-dominated areas in the North East - a touchy and controversial issue that triggered a violent agitation in Manipur two years ago.

Voicing satisfaction that peace has been prevailing in Nagaland, Patil told the 11-member Naga delegation that the government wanted the “atmosphere of understanding to continue.”



Both sides said they looked forward to an honourable understanding on the vexed Naga issue with the leaders of the insurgent outfit stating that the level of talks will continue, as before, at the level of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Patil led the central team at the “preliminary” parleys and was assisted by Union Ministers Oscar Fernandes, Prithviraj Chavan and S Regupathy, government`s emissary for the Naga peace process K Padmanabhaiah, Home Secretary Dhirendra Singh and Intelligence Bureau Chief E S L Narasimhan.

The Naga delegation was headed by Muivah and included the emissary of the outfit‘s collective leadership V S Atem and other leaders Q C Svu, A Shimrah and Rh. Raising. The outfit‘s chairman Isaac Chisi Swu was not present at the talks.

A remark rejecting the unification demand attributed to Home Minister Shivraj Patil earlier during the week had upset the Naga delegation, forcing the government to hurriedly clarify that Patil’s comments were wrongly reported.

The appeased Naga leaders later met the Home Minister and Patil is learnt to have assured them that he did not envisage any hurdles in their meeting with the Prime Minister.

After the meeting with Patil, Muivah said the unification of Naga-inhabited areas was integral to the resolution of the Naga issue.

The NSCN (I-M) general secretary said it was not unnatural for the Nagas to demand to live together, just like the Gujaratis do in Gujarat and Rajasthanis in Rajasthan. “We are not demanding the land that does not belong to us...The Naga people have been living separately and we want to live together,” he said

The two sides will meet again, tentatively on Tuesday (Feb. 8) , if the Naga leaders are able to meet the Prime Minister the previous day. “The meetings can then be held on a daily basis or on alternate days,” the source said.

The Prime Minister, at the meeting with the Naga Leaders in December, had pledged to walk an extra mile to arrive at a settlement and heard the outfit’s top guns speak of their commitment to reach a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

The NSCN (I-M) leaders have reportedly informed the government of their intention of meeting Singh again, possibly to set a positive tone for the series of meetings lined up for next week with the group of ministers nominated by the Prime Minister.

The outfit’s general secretary, Thuingaleng Muivah, had earlier stressed that the Prime Minister should chair the first round of talks “because we have the highest confidence in him and do not doubt his sincerity to resolve the Indo-Naga issue.”



Kuki group seeks clarity in dialogue

The Kuki Students’ Organisation (KSO) in Manipur has urged the Centre to be “transparent” in dealing with the problems of various communities of the Northeast.

“There must be transparency, equity and justification in the government’s dealings with all communities (in the region),” a statement signed by KSO president Kamkhohao Khongsai and secretary general Lunkhosei Touthang said.

The statement under the caption “Statement of facts in the context of NSCN (I-M) and Indian government talks” was issued even as Naga leaders resumed their peace talks with the Centre.

Last week, a one-day convention attended by influential Kuki organisations, including a human rights group and women associations, called for safeguarding the territorial integrity of Manipur.

Reacting to the NSCN (I-M) demand for integration of all Naga-inhabited areas under one administrative unit, the KSO cited historical facts claiming that Kukis were controlling the hills of Manipur.

The KSO leaders said the Kukis fought the British and even joined the Indian National Army. But the sudden “aggression” by the NSCN (I-M) had shaken the Kukis’ faith in India’s democratic polity.