NSCN-IM team in Delhi to resume Naga peace talks with Centre on Tuesday
AK Mishra, the Centre’s representative for the Naga peace talks, may also attend the meeting. The NSCN-IM team flew to Delhi from Nagaland’s Dimapur on Monday
A seven-member delegation from the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN-IM), led by the group’s collective leadership members, are expected to meet Union home ministry officials in New Delhi on Tuesday to try and resolve roadblocks in the Naga peace talks, people familiar with the matter said on Monday.
AK Mishra, the Centre’s representative for the Naga peace talks, may also attend the meeting. The NSCN-IM team flew to Delhi from Nagaland’s Dimapur on Monday.
“After listening to the Naga peoples’ wishes and extensive deliberations, we decided during a meeting on September 13 at Hebron (the NSCN-IM’s designated headquarters) to resume talks with the government of India,” a source from the group told HT.
The Centre signed the Naga Peace Accord (also referred to as the Framework Agreement) in 2015 to resolve the protracted Naga political issue.
Also Read:Naga groups sign accord to overcome differences over peace process
Negotiations between the Centre and the NSCN-IM had been stalled since May. However, the Union government has been holding two separate conversations with the NSCN-IM) since 1997 and the Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs) comprising seven organisations since 2017.
The Centre signed the framework agreement with the NSCN-IM) on August 3, 2015, and also entered into an agreed position with NNPGs in December 2017.
However, a settlement was delayed due to lack of consensus on some core issues. The next few meetings in the national capital are expected to iron out those differences.
Nagaland’s United Democratic Alliance chairman TR Zeliang, who is also the co-chairman of the state government’s core committee on the Naga political issue, 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 has told the core committee that the outfit will resume peace talks if it is based on the framework agreement and on the formulation papers submitted by Ravi and Mishra,” he added, according to PTI.
