Naga political impasse: Centre's envoy holds separate meetings in Dimapur

Kohima/Dimapur, April 14 Days after four influential Naga organisations urged the Central government to "honour its word" in the Ceasefire Agreement (1997) and Framework Agreement (2015) and "resolve the Naga political impasse accordingly", Central government envoy on the Naga political issue A.K. Mishra has held separate meetings with the NSCN-IM and other Naga bodies.

Sources in the know of things said on Friday that Mishra, a retired Intelligence Bureau officer, held separate meetings with a high-level 20-member delegation of the NSCN-IM led by its Secretary General Thuingaleng Muivah and the Naga National Political Groups (NNPG) on Thursday at the Chumoukedima police complex in Dimapur.

NSCN-IM leader Rh Raising Thangkul said that they have reiterated to solve the Naga political issue on the basis of the Framework Agreement, signed in August 2015.

Like previous occasions, Mishra and other leaders of the NSCN-IM and the NNPG did not disclose any details of the closed-door meeting.

In the meetings, Mishra was accompanied by Intelligence Bureau joint director Mandeep Singh Tulli and Nagaland's intelligence officer Don Jose.

However, an NNPG leader on the condition of anonymity said that they expressed their displeasure on the delay of the decades-old unresolved Naga political issue.

The Centre has been in talks with the NNPGs since 2017.

Four influential Naga organisations, including the powerful Naga Hoho, last week urged the Central government to honour its word in the Ceasefire Agreement (1997) and Framework Agreement (2015) and "resolve the Naga political impasse accordingly".

The four Naga bodies the Naga Hoho, the Naga Mothers' Association, the Naga Students' Federation, and the Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights, in a joint statement had said that the government must "stop its militarisation and military operations".

"The Naga political conflict cannot be solved militarily and must be solved politically, as admitted by no less than three Indian Army Generals and others," the statement noted.

The Centre has been holding separate negotiations with the dominant Naga outfit NSCN-IM since 1997 and the NNPG, comprising at least seven groups, since 2017.

A Framework Agreement was signed with NSCN-IM in 2015 and Agreed Position with NNPGs in 2017.

The stalemate continued as the NSCN-IM remained firm on its demand for a separate flag and constitution for the Nagas.

sc/pgh