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Naga cooks to make NSCN team homesick!
A team of chefs specialising in tribal cuisines were flown to New Delhi from Nagaland for NSCN leaders.
A posse of handpicked Naga guerrilla fighters and a team of chefs specialising in tribal cuisines were flown to New Delhi from Nagaland for the comfort of two visiting self-exiled tribal rebel leaders.
Isak Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah, leaders of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak Muivah (NSCN-IM), arrived in New Delhi on Sunday at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh'Nagas invitation to push forward the peace process.
"We had sent our people to New Delhi to provide security cover to our two leaders," NSCN-IM leader Kraibo Chawang said in Dimapur, Nagaland's commercial hub.
"The security of the two leaders is very important for all of us and it is our responsibility to take utmost care and precaution."
Swu and Muivah had arrived from Amsterdam to a rousing civic reception by thousands of Nagas at the Indira Gandhi International Airport. They have been operating out of Southeast Asian cities for the past 37 years.
During their weeklong stay in New Delhi, the two leaders would be treated to relishing meals of vegetables and chicken - all prepared by expert Naga cooks.
"We have sent cooks from here so that our two leaders can eat food they normally relish," Chawang said.
The two leaders are to meet Home Minister Shivraj Patil on Monday.
A meeting between the two rebel leaders and the prime minister could take place Tuesday, although it was not officially announced.
Swu and Muivah are also expected to meet ruling Congress party president Sonia Gandhi, opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani and India's peace negotiator K Padmanabhaiah.
The NSCN, the oldest and the most powerful of around 30 rebel armies in the region, wants the creation of a Greater Nagaland by slicing off parts of neighbouring states with sizeable Naga tribal populations. It agreed to a ceasefire with New Delhi in 1997 and the government and the NSCN-IM have been meeting in European and Asian cities since then.
