Dismissing the recent statement of its rival NSCN(K) on peace parleys as “unwarranted and misleading”, the NSCN(I-M) said it had been holding talks with the Government of India since 1997 as a single entity representing the entire Naga group.
Led by its general secretary Th Muivah, the NSCN(I-M) leaders who arrived in New Delhi on Saturday night, will resume the stalled peace talks this week to carry forward the process for finding a settlement to the prolonged political conflict.
In a statement issued in Kohima, the outfit said the NSCN (I-M) had already conducted four to five rounds of consultative meetings with representatives of various Naga tribes on the ongoing peace process.
During such a discussion at its headquarters ‘Camp Hebron’ in January 2005, the Naga people gave “unequivocal mandate” to the outfit to carry on the political dialogue with the Government of India more actively to clinch an honourable settlement for all the Nagas and the Nagalim at the earliest, the statement claimed.
“In spite of their misleading and confused write-ups, the Naga people undoubtedly know who is who and who holds the (Naga) issue,” the statement said.
Earlier, led by S S Khaplang, GPRN/NSCN had asserted that the proposed political dialogue between the NSCN(I-M) and the Centre in New Delhi cannot represent the voices of the entire Naga community. “It would merely be like talks between two parties on their own domestic matters. But it cannot be regarded as a political talk,” they claimed. Asserting that the Naga political problem should be solved by the Nagas themselves, the GPRN/NSCN said it would be possible only after achieving the goal of reconciliation and unity in Nagaland.
However, both groups of NSCN had expressed their commitments towards the ongoing peace and reconciliation process initiated by churches and NGOs under the banner of the Forum for Naga Re-conciliation (FNR) and had signed the ’Covenant of Reconciliation’ last year at Siang Mai in Thailand. The FNR has been holding series of meetings for the past one-and-a-half years with leaders of different underground groups and Naga tribes to make reconciliation and unity among badly divided Nagas a reality.
The reconciliation campaign was welcomed by the government as well as the people since factional killings among Naga groups came down drastically but kidnappings for ransom and extortions were on in Nagaland.
Union Home Secretary G K Pillai has said since the Naga problem was a complex one, it needed innovative and imaginative solutions. He hoped that the problem would be resolved in the next 12 to 24 months if all involved in the process could show sincerity. The reconciliation campaign was welcomed by the government as well as the people since factional killings among Naga groups came down drastically but kidnappings for ransom and extortions were on in Nagaland.