Naga rebel leader Muivah arriving in India Sunday

DIMAPUR - Thuingaleng Muivah, general secretary of the rebel group National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM), arrives in New Delhi Sunday to carry forward the stalled Naga peace talks, union home secretary Gopal Krishna Pillai said here Saturday.

“The NSCN-IM leaders have accepted the government invitation to resume the peace dialogue between New Delhi and the Naga organisation,” Pillai told reporters in the Nagaland city Dimapur after attending a passing out parade of paramilitary Assam Rifles.

“The NSCN-IM leader would meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram next week.”

It is not officially known where exactly Muivah is based outside India. He had last visited India in December 2006 with NSCN-IM chairman Isak Chisi Swu and held talks with the government.

“Efforts are also on to include other Naga groups, including the Khaplang faction of the NSCN, as demanded by the Naga people. Naga communities have felt that for a permanent solution to the vexed ethnic conflict, holding of talks with all Naga factions are essential,” Pillai stated.

The centre earlier this month had appointed former petroleum secretary R.S. Pandey as its new interlocutor to facilitate dialogue with the major insurgent outfit, NSCN-IM, which had entered into a ceasefire with the Indian government in August 1997.

Replacing former chief negotiator K. Padmanabhaiah, Pandey has been chosen for the assignment as he has served as chief secretary in Nagaland and is said to have a good grasp of the issues that have led to the long spell of insurgency in the northeastern state.

The last round of inconclusive peace talks between the central government and the leading Naga separatist outfit was held in March 2009 in Zurich, Switzerland.

The NSCN faction led by guerrilla leader S.S. Khaplang entered into a ceasefire in 2001 but formal peace talks are yet to begin.

The NSCN-IM, one of the oldest and most powerful of about 30 rebel groups in India’s northeast, was earlier fighting for an independent homeland for the Nagas, but has scaled it down to a Greater Nagaland, proposed to be formed by slicing off parts of adjoining states that have Naga tribal populations.

The governments of Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh have rejected the demand for unification of Naga-dominated areas. The union government too had earlier rejected demands for unification of all Naga-inhabited areas.

Share

Blogger Widgets

Union Home Secretary in Manipur

Imphal, Feb 27 (ANI): Union Home Secretary, G.K. Pillai, has ruled out talks with any insurgent group in the northeastern states on issues of sovereignty, but expressed willingness to initiate peace talks to resolve the issue.

Addressing the media here on Friday, Pillai said: "If the groups are willing to abjure violence, I think there is great potential for talks. Because only through dialogue we can resolve the issue, violence will not solve the issue."


G K Pillai who is on a two-day visit to the State, accepted the emergence of several insurgent groups in the northeastern region in recent years but said the government was capable of handling them.

"We are quite prepared to handle all these groups. I think everybody realises that extortion is the biggest cottage industry in the northeast. And every group, which comes up, is really doing it for money," he said.

" It's very clear. Any four people can take up gun, and call themselves by any name they want, the situation being such that they are able to extort some money and get away with it. And that's what encouraged more and more groups to come," Pillai added.

Pillai's visit is aimed at reviewing the law and order situation in the state and also to take stock of the developmental projects being undertaken in the region, which are frequently being rocked by insurgent attacks and face other security problems.

He said the Central Government had suggested to the Manipur Government to pull out the policemen from VIP security and put them into police stations to ensure better safety of the citizens.

"One of the issues which we are suggesting to the state government is that please take out people who are guarding the VIPs and put them into the police stations so that they can guard the people." Pillai said.

Commenting upon the peace talks with the powerful rebel group- National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) - Issac-Muivah faction, Pillai said, the government will resume talks with the group in March this year and is likely to place a proposal to the outfit during the talks.

But Pillai ruled out the demand of integration of the areas inhabited by the Naga tribe.

"I won't be able to share the points of the proposal but I think it is very clear that issues like sovereignty or the integration are not feasible today, but we are open to discussion on all the ssues that have been raised." he said. (ANI)

Share

Blogger Widgets