Naga Peace Talks: Centre, NSCN-IM agreed to seek a solution based on the Framework Agreement

• Image Credit: Google

• Apr 13, 2023 | Dhupali Das

The Centre and the NSCN-IM have decided to work together to resolve the decades-old Naga Political Issue...

Digital Desk: The Centre and the NSCN-IM have decided to work together to resolve the decades-old Naga Political Issue,  an NSCN-IM leader said on Thursday.

A closed-door meeting was held between the Centre's liaison for Naga peace talks, A K Mishra, and a high-level NSCN(IM) team.

"The outcome is favourable, and we have agreed to seek solutions on the basis of the Framework Agreement," NSCN(IM) leader Rh Raising Tangkhul said to reporters following the two-hour meeting, which took place at the Police Complex at Chumoukedima in Dimapur.

The Centre and the NSCN-IM signed the Framework Agreement in August 2015 to put an end to the long-running dispute. Since 1997, the two have been in talks on the matter.

Mishra was joined by Intelligence Bureau Joint Director Mandeep Singh Tulli and Nagaland Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau Director Don Jose. Th Muivah, secretary general of the NSCN-IM, led the team of 20 members.

Mishra and Tulli arrived in Nagaland on Wednesday and will depart for Delhi on Friday, officials said.

They plan to hold an additional meeting on the peace issue in the evening with the working group of the Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs), which is made up of at least seven different groups.

The Centre has been in talks with the NNPGs since 2017, and the two signed the Agreed Position in November of that year.

Although the NNPGs have agreed to accept a settlement and carry on the conversation, the NSCN-IM has been firm in its demand for a separate flag and constitution for the Nagas. This stance is postponing a final resolution to the decades-long negotiations.