KOHIMA, March 4: The National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM) on Wednesday said that the Naga political talk teams are back on the table and the discussion is in progress, even as the outfit has criticised Nagaland Governor and R.N. Ravi, Centre’s interlocutor for the talks, for “creating unnecessary confusion”.
The NSCN (IM), in a statement issued by its Ministry of Information and Publicity, said that the historic “Framework Agreement (FA)” signed on the August 3, 2015 is being brought back to live in order to remove any misinterpretation and thereby hasten the signing of Naga solution agreement.
It alleged that recently, unnecessary confusion was thrown into the air because of the reckless statement made by R.N Ravi that the political talks had concluded.
“It is needless to say that in many points of his statements and conclusions reflected his role as Nagaland Governor and not as Interlocutor. It is a matter of regret that his role as interlocutor is nothing less than disparaging and dismal. The status of the Naga political talks that came up in the last Parliamentary Session was confirmed by the Union Government that it is in advance stage. No doubt, this is the ground reality of the Indo-Naga political talk and NSCN talk team is leaving no stone unturned to safeguard the political identity of the Naga people,” the statement said.
The NSCN-IM alleged that it is very unfortunate that Ravi has made such a misleading statement before the whole nation by blatantly contradicting the government of India and the Indian Parliament besides the 136 crore Indians and the world community in the matter of such sensitive political negotiations going on for more than two decades.
The statement said that the political talk is being handled by both the parties to take the Naga people and the central government to the point that is honourable and acceptable.
“This is the official understanding and the only way to conclude the talk. NSCN, therefore, under no circumstances will fail the Naga people and will never sign any agreement that is short of the mutual standard as agreed upon,” it said.
Ravi recently said in Kohima that the Centre’s several political initiatives to resolve the Naga issue could not be fructified in the last 24 years due to the unrealistic intransigence of some people who are unwilling to forsake the politics by gun.
The dominant group of the Naga outfit – Isak-Muivah faction or NSCN-IM – had entered into a ceasefire agreement with the central government in August 1997 and since then engaged in peace talks.
The outfit has held around 80 rounds of negotiations with the central government in Delhi and even outside India after signing a ceasefire pact 23 years ago.
The Centre headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had signed a “framework agreement” with the NSCN-IM in 2015.
The NSCN-IM and the intelligence sources said that while many of the 31 demands of the Nagas have been almost resolved during the talks with the Centre, differences remain over a separate flag and a separate constitution.
Nagalim, a long-pending demand of the NSCN-IM for a separate Naga state, encompasses the Naga-inhabited areas of Myanmar as well as parts of the northeastern states bordering Nagaland.
Nagaland Governor and the central government’s interlocutor for the Naga peace talks R.N. Ravi has recently rejected the demand for a separate flag and constitution for the state as demanded by the NSCN (IM).
IANS