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North East : Naga talks

	March 14, 2005

Government-rebel leaders discuss Greater Nagaland’



Top rebel leaders and a high-level government team on March 9 resumed talks in New Delhi to resolve the Naga problem, with discussions centring round the demand for creating a “Greater Nagaland”.



A 10-member team of the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM) met the government team, including central ministers Oscar Fernandes, S. Reghupathy and Prithviraj Chauhan, for the talks that lasted nearly two hours.



Officials in the home ministry familiar with the talks said the NSCN-IM team led by Thuingaleng Muivah recalled the “tradition and history” of the Naga people and reiterated the group’s demand for creating a homeland incorporating all Naga-inhabited areas of the northeast.

Muivah emphasised the viability of creating such a homeland, while making a detailed presentation on a list of demands containing about 30 issues submitted earlier by the NSCN-IM to the government.

Former home secretary K. Padmanabhaiah, the government’s main interlocutor for the Naga talks, however, noted there were many areas in India where people from other regions had been living for decades while enjoying all their rights as citizens, the officials said.

“An effort was made to point out to the Naga leaders that there were enough safeguards for Nagas living all over the northeast without the need for a new homeland,” an official said.

A spokesman for the NSCN-IM said Muivah’s presentation was made in response to clarifications sought by the government team on the list of demands. He admitted that Wednesday’s talks ended “inconclusively” and the two sides would meet again on March 14.

Earlier in the day, the NSCN-IM team met Northeast Development Minister P.R. Kyndiah, a tribal leader of the Congress party from the northeast. The meeting lasted almost an hour and was described as a “courtesy call”.

Late on Wednesday evening, the Naga leaders met Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) leader and former Assam chief minister Prafulla Mahanta.

This meeting was part of efforts by the NSCN-IM to shore up support for its demand for “Greater Nagaland”, which envisages the creation of a new state comprising Naga-inhabited areas of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.



Peace talks may not be smooth, says Muivah

On the eve of the crucial round of substantive talks with the government, Naga rebel leader Thuingaleng Muivah on March 8 struck a note of caution, saying the road ahead would not “be smooth.”

Muivah said the talks had already begun on “substantive issues” relating to the demand for sovereignty and on the unification of Naga areas in the northeast for a “Greater Nagaland”.

“There simply cannot be any compromise on these core issues. If one does not address these issues, the talks will be meaningless and lead nowhere,” Muivah said.

“I have fears that the talks will not be smooth sailing. It will take some time.

But in the same breath he pointed out: “It is up to the Congress-led government to be bold and strong to help reach that meeting point.” Muivah made it very clear that the Naga rebel leadership would not accept “autonomy”.

The moot question, Muivah reiterated, was how far the government would go to find a solution to the 50-year Naga problem. He rounded off by saying: “Peace can never reign if there is no respect for each other’s position. That is the reality.”



NSCN-IM’s diplomatic initiative

The National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) yesterday made its dinner-diplomacy debut by hosting a gathering of eight parliamentarians from the northeastern states and Goa, all of whom extended support to the Naga peace process.

A source in the NSCN (I-M) said the MPs from Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Goa informally interacted with the outfit’s general secretary, Thuingaleng Muivah, and other leaders.

Former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno A. Sangma and Goa MP Eduardo Faleiro made short speeches on the Naga issue.

The outfit had invited nearly 20 Christian MPs from across the country to the meeting. ‘All of them were very positive about the ongoing peace process,‘ the NSCN (I-M) source said.

The parliamentarians, both from the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, were briefed on the ‘historical background of the Nagas‘.

The NSCN (I-M) is hoping these MPs will ‘spread the word‘, which, in turn, could influence Parliament’s decision on the issue

‘Faleiro is of the view that peace talks may be held within the purview of the Constitution till an agreement is arrived at. The relevant clauses can be amended later,‘ Nagaland’s lone Rajya Sabha member T.R.Zeliang said.