Officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and top leaders of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM) met in Dimapur on Friday and agreed to initiate fresh formal talks between the government of India and the dominant Naga group soon, news agency IANS reported, citing officials.
A Nagaland government official stated that MHA’s advisor for the Northeast, AK Mishra, held discussions with NSCN-IM’s General Secretary and chief negotiator Thuingaleng Muivah, addressing various aspects of the Naga political issue.
“Two other senior leaders of the NSCN-IM attended the meeting. Both sides decided to hold formal talks at the earliest to take forward the long-pending Naga political issue,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
Mishra, who arrived in Nagaland on Thursday, also met with the Working Committee of the Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs) in Dimapur the previous day.
The NNPGs, an alliance of seven Naga groups, have been engaged in talks with the Centre and signed an “Agreed Position” in 2017.
The last formal meeting between the government and the NSCN-IM took place in October last year. According to the report, the NSCN-IM recently stated that if Indians respect the history of the Nagas, the Nagas would respect India’s history ten times over.
During the 46th Raising Day celebration of the NSCN-IM at its headquarters, ‘Hebron,’ Vice Chairman Tongmeth Wangnao recalled that the Indian government had officially recognized the rights of the Nagas on two historic occasions. He stated that the first recognition of the uniqueness of Naga history occurred on July 11, 2002, during a meeting in Amsterdam, followed by the Framework Agreement signed on August 3, 2015, in New Delhi, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi playing a key role in the agreement.
At the signing of the Framework Agreement, PM Modi was accompanied by top-level ministers, including then Home Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, the Chief of Army Staff, and other high-ranking officials.
The Union government has been engaged in political negotiations with the NSCN-IM since the signing of the ceasefire agreement in 1997, culminating in the 2015 Framework Agreement. Parallel negotiations with the NNPGs began in 2017, leading to the signing of the Agreed Position in November that year. Despite ongoing discussions, the NSCN-IM remains firm on its demand for a separate flag and constitution for the Nagas, as well as the integration of Naga-inhabited areas. The Naga areas are spread across the northeastern Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, and Nagaland, and western Myanmar.
(With inputs from IANS)