The three-member MHA committee formed by the Centre to study the demand of the Eastern Nagaland People’s Organization (ENPO) for a separate ‘Frontier Nagaland’ state will arrive in eastern Nagaland on December 16.
The three-member committee includes MHA adviser for the northeast, AK Mishra; Dr. Mandeep Singh, joint director of the Intelligence Bureau; and AK Dhyani, director of the MHA’s Northeast division.
“Those are the names they have mentioned so far, however, we are not sure whether they will change the names later or not,” ENPO president, Tsapikyu Sangtam told Mokokchung Times.
The committee led by Mishra will be in eastern Nagaland until December 18.
“We will have the talk with the committee on December 16 and 17. The committee will leave Nagaland on December 18,” Sangtam added.
The committee is set to meet ENPO and its talk team, signatories to the memorandum submitted to the Centre, state government officials, seven tribal bodies, the Eastern Nagaland Women’s Organization, the Eastern Nagaland Students Federation, village chiefs, and senior citizens.
The committee will also pay a visit to the International Trade Centre, Dan, Pangsha, in the Noklak district of eastern Nagaland, which borders Myanmar on December 18.
The ENPO has also called an emergency meeting of its central executive committee on December 19 following the MHA committee’s visit.
It may be recalled that on December 6, an 11-member ENPO talk team, along with Rajya Sabha member Phangnon Konyak from eastern Nagaland, met with Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi to discuss the statehood demand. During the meeting, Shah assured the ENPO that a three-member committee would be formed to study the demand.
According to the statement, Shah also emphasized “a clear roadmap for an amicable, legislative, and sustainable solution for eastern Nagaland, which will include consultation with the people of eastern Nagaland and the Nagaland state government.”
The Union Home Minister also stated that he will personally visit eastern Nagaland by January 2023.
Meanwhile, following their return from Delhi, ENPO is yet to make any official statement on its earlier decision to abstain from participating in any election.
