KOHIMA, 12 Sep: The Centre has asked the all-party Nagaland government to convince the NSCN (IM) to ink the final solution to the protracted Naga political issue (NPI), the state’s Parliamentary Affairs Minister Neiba Kronu said on Monday.
The message was conveyed by union Home Minister Amit Shah to a 11-member delegation of Nagaland government’s Core Committee on NPI, led by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and Deputy Chief Minister Y Patton, during a meeting in Delhi on Monday, Kronu, who was among the delegates, told PTI over phone.
Shah was entrusted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to meet the core committee, which has been camping in Delhi since Wednesday, he said.
Kronu said the team submitted the 16 July resolution of the core committee and asked Shah to revisit the contentious issues and bring a solution to the issue.
It also reminded Shah of the BJP’s ‘Election for Solution’ slogan in the 2018 state election and urged him to work for a conclusion to the Naga issue ahead of the next edition of the polls due early next year.
The delegation, he said, stressed on a provision in the resolution which laid emphasis on the negotiating parties arriving at a “mutually acceptable definition of competencies” to resolve the contentious issue at the earliest and bring about an “honourable, acceptable and inclusive” final solution.
As the talks had been officially concluded on 31 October, 2019, Modi and Shah were urged upon by the core committee to invite the NSCN (IM) leaders for an early conclusion, he said.
The delegation included United Democratic Alliance (UDA) chairman TR Zeliang, its co-chairman Kuzholuzo Nienu, cabinet ministers G Kaito Aye, S Pangnyu Phom, Neiba Kronu and Tongpang Ozukum, advisers H Khehovi Yeptho and Phukhayi and MLA Khriehu Liezietsu, he said.
Asked if the meeting discussed the demand by the NSCN (IM) for a separate flag and constitution for the Nagas, without the fulfilment of which the group is unwilling to accept a solution, Kronu, without divulging details, said that the Centre has asked the Nagaland government to convince the NSCN (IM) to ink the final solution.
The team will meet NSCN (IM) leaders on its return and try to convince them to accept the solution, he said.
The delegates had reportedly met the Centre’s interlocutor of the Naga peace talks, AK Mishra on Thursday but details of it is not known as yet.
The Centre has been holding parallel peace parleys with the NSCN (IM) and the Working Committee of Naga National Political Groups (WCNNPG), which comprises at least seven Naga groups.
The talks with the NSCN (IM) started in 1997, following the signing of a ceasefire agreement, and the framework agreement was signed on 3 August, 2015. But the NSCN (IM)’s persistent demand for a separate flag and constitution has made the final solution elusive.
The WCNNPG, which started separate negotiations in 2017 and signed the agreed position in November the same year, has on the other hand expressed its willingness to go ahead with a solution with whatever is possible now and continue discussing the remaining issues after it. (PTI)
