With the government reluctant to concede the NSCN-IM's key demand for unifying all Naga-inhabitated areas in the Northeast, the rebel group is expected to focus on "greater autonomy" for Nagaland during crucial talks with the Centre's negotiators at the Hague on June 22-24, sources said.
Autonomy is part of the 30-point "charter of demands" submitted by the NSCN-IM, and this includes a greater say in the utilisation of natural resources, a separate constitution, a separate flag and control in areas like finance, defence and policing, they said.
In the talks, the Naga side is likely to put pressure to get "some kind of concession" from New Delhi on its charter of demands to "please the domestic constituencies" that have become desperate due to the "delay" in the peace process, the sources said.
The NSCN-IM, which began talks with the government in 1997 after the two sides agreed to a ceasefire, is also likely to submit a fresh proposal on the kind of autonomy it wants for evaluation by the Centre, they said.
The Naga outfit has made a case for a "federal relationship" with the Indian Union. It has argued that the nature of this relationship should be incorporated in the country's Constitution as well as the separate one for Nagaland, if it is granted, since this alone can ensure a lasting settlement to the nation's oldest insurgency problem, the sources said.
{{/usCountry}}The Naga outfit has made a case for a "federal relationship" with the Indian Union. It has argued that the nature of this relationship should be incorporated in the country's Constitution as well as the separate one for Nagaland, if it is granted, since this alone can ensure a lasting settlement to the nation's oldest insurgency problem, the sources said.
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