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Naga Hoho optimistic about talks
"The expectations are indeed very high,? President of apex Naga council said over NSCN-Government talks.
The mood is subdued but there is optimism in Nagaland, with the state's two top self-exiled guerrilla leaders set to fly to New Delhi to take forward their dragging peace talks.
National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) leaders Isak Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah are visiting India on Sunday at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's invitation to push forward the peace process.
The two leaders of NSCN, the oldest separatist group in India, have been operating out of southeast Asian cities for the past 37 years.
Nagaland, where more than 25,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency since Independence, is a Christian-majority state with two million people.
The upcoming talks follow discussions in Bangkok in October when the two sides said they were committed "to finding an early and mutually satisfactory solution to the Naga issue".
"The expectations are indeed very high and we all are eagerly waiting to hear from the two leaders as to what progress is made in the peace talks with New Delhi," M Vero, President Naga Hoho, the apex tribal council in Nagaland, said from Kohima.
Swu and Muivah are expected to meet the prime minister, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, opposition leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani as well as India's peace negotiator K Padmanabhaiah.
"After a few days in New Delhi, the two leaders will arrive to a rousing public reception in Dimapur," the state's commercial hub, NSCN leader Kraibo Chawang said.
