Nagas' talks with Centre on again

Guwahati: The Centre has resumed the peace talks with Naga bodies, the Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs) — comprising representatives of six influential Naga rebel groups — in New Delhi. The NNPGs suspended all negotiations with the Centre on June 3 after a raid by the Assam Rifles at the Jotsoma residence of Naga National Council general secretary V. Nagi, also co-convener of its working committee, in Kohima June 2.

Saying it was the Naga civil society which rescued the peace process from collapse after the Assam Rifles raid, security sources told this newspaper that the frequency of discussion had increased this time.

Noting that the Centre and the armed Naga groups had already finalised the substantive part of the peace accord, the security sources said the process of giving a final shape to the draft of the agreement had started.

Admitting that there were some contentious areas where consensus had to be created, the sources said the accord wasn’t going to change the boundary of the states but would propose autonomous Naga territorial councils in Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, besides a cultural body for Nagas across all states.

Asserting the Centre was helping to find an amicable solution to the problem, the security sources clarified that there will be only one accord that will go into the grievances of all the Naga factions.

Saying that the framework agreement signed between the Centre and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) in August 2015 had defined the structure of the proposed accord, the sources said the Centre has not fixed any timeframe for the signing of this accord. “We will inform the date of the final accord soon,” the sources added.

Admitting that Naga leaders have been insisting on the integration of Naga-inhabited areas across the Northeast, the sources said it was not possible as it involved different states. “The onus of persuading the states like Manipur and Arunachal to integrate their Naga inhabited areas into Nagaland was on the Naga leaders,” the sources said, adding that in the country’s present federal form, the Central government can’t alter the existing boundary of the states.

The sources claimed if a consensus was created on all other issues, the integration of Naga-inhabited areas may not prove a stumbling block for the signing of the peace accord.