NSCN (IM) “agrees” to resume peace talks

The decision follows a marathon meeting with the Core Committee on Naga Political Issue comprising MPs and MLAs

The extremist National Socialist Council of Nagalim or Isak-Muivah faction of the NSCN has “agreed” to resume peace talks with the Centre based on the Framework Agreement signed on August 3, 2015.

The decision follows a meeting between the 11 representatives of the NSCN (I-M) and the 22-member Core Committee on Naga Political Issue comprising MPs and MLAs of Nagaland at Chümoukedima near the State’s commercial hub Dimapur on Saturday.

“The NSCN has agreed to resume talks on the condition that they are based on the Framework Agreement and the formulation papers submitted to N.N. Ravi and A.K. Mishra,” T.R. Zeliang, the co-convenor of the core committee said.

Mr Mishra, a former special director of the Intelligence Bureau, succeeded Mr Ravi as the Centre’s interlocutor for the Naga peace process in September 2021. The latter is the Governor of Tamil Nadu.

Mr Zeliang said an NSCN (I-M) delegation would be leaving for New Delhi on September 19 to discuss some unresolved matters with Central government officials.

There are reports that a Central team has been working on a new set of “formulation papers” for packaging a set of offers, along with the old, to facilitate the final peace deal soon.

Mr Zeliang said the meeting was focussed on conveying what Home Minister Amit Shah had told the committee at a meeting in New Delhi on September 12. The NSCN (I-M) delegation, he said, was unhappy with Mr Mishra’s for omitting some important political points that Mr Ravi had included in his formulation papers earlier.