Guwahati: The Centre has offered to create a pan-Naga ‘supra-state body’ to the NSCN (Isak-Muivah faction) for a final settlement of the Naga problem, a Guwahati-based daily revealed on Sunday.
In a report based on a government document, the ”supra-state body will oversee the cultural, traditional and other aspects of Naga life inside Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.
The body will also ensure that nobody interferes with the lifestyle and dignity of the Naga people. But the body will not have the power to oversee the security aspect of the Naga inhabited areas .”
The daily carried a full page verbatim reproduction of the latest ”status report” that had been submitted to the Centre by Naga peace interlocutor R S Pandey.
The NSCN had been demanding ”Nagalim” — integration of the Naga-inhabited areas of Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh with Nagaland.
The Centre had made it clear that it would not redraw the existing boundaries of the Northeastern states — so it was offering the NSCN ” the second best option”.
The report said the Centre had already refused to allow Nagaland a separate parliament, currency or its own army — but agreed not to deploy the Indian army without any request from the Nagaland Government.
The Centre had also rejected the NSCN demand for introducing dual citizenship in Nagaland saying, ”it is neither desirable nor possible”.
The NSCN had demanded that only citizens of Nagaland — and only Naga political parties could contest elections.
The Centre had said Nagas have every right to form political parties — but other Indian parties can also contest the polls.
The status report says, ”Since integration of contiguous Naga areas is not possible, their formulation may not be in the interest of Nagas outside Nagaland.”
So, the Centre advocated a status quo — that all Indian and Naga parties could contest polls.
The NSCN had demanded Nagaland should have its own civil service — but it had finally agreed to the Centre’s position that deployment of all-India service officers in the state would be decided in consultation with Nagaland government.
The NSCN had urged for restrictions on entry of non-Nagas into the state.
The Centre had agreed to strictly enforce the Inner Line Regulations, but both sides had agreed that Indian Government officials would not need Inner-line permits.
The Nagaland Government, both sides agreed, would have the freedom to use local nomenclature for executive positions — like ministers would be called kilonsers and the governor would be called Yaruiwo.
The ”supra-state body” , if accepted, would necessitate a constitutional amendment to be implemented.
However, how much of these provisions will be acceptable to bordering states of Nagaland and whether these special provisions for one state would lead to demand for similar arrangements from other states will be known only after the government makes these provisions official. (UNI)