Insurgency / Nagaland

NEW DELHI, June 8 ? In keeping with the policy of rewarding insurgency affected States that have opted for peace, Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee today extended a ?peace bonus? to Nagaland announcing conversion of Rs 365 crore ?ways and means? loan to a one-time grant. The sop announced through a written statement on Sunday may also be aimed at boosting the prospect of BJP in the two northeastern States of Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh, which are going to polls. Nagaland incidentally is the second north-eastern State after Mizoram to be rewarded with a ?peace bonus.?

?Recognising the...

GUWAHATI, June 4 ? Though peace talks between the Government of India and the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah faction) are going on since 1997, it would take some more time before any agreement can be arrived at highly placed security sources said. Sources said that the public opinion in favour of peace in Nagaland is the biggest gain of the peace talks as different Naga social organisations and people in general are in favour of peace. The NSCN (I-M) has submitted a list of demands before the Government of India and discussions are now on those issues. But an acceptable...

June 2: In a significant departure from the annual and biennial talks between the Centre and the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN-IM) the parleys will now be held ?almost monthly?. The next round of parleys is scheduled for Bangkok in the last week of June.

Confirming that the talks will be held more often from now on, deputy kilonser V. Horam said the issue of integration of contiguous Naga areas will figure prominently in the next rounds of talks.

On his return to New Delhi, the Centre?s interlocutor K. Padmanabhaiah also said the Naga leaders in Bangkok had expressed their...

DIMAPUR, May 29 ? The NSCN(IM) has threatened to go in for a referendum on its demand for the integration of Naga-inhabited areas of the North East if the Centre continues to be ?indecisive on the issue. The 2-daylong parley between the Government of India and the NSCN-IM at the Thai capital, Bangkok might not have yielded results much to the expectations of the outfit, but it has once again raised the issues of integration of Naga-inhabited areas of the Northeast. According to NSCN-IM sources, ?the talks have been informal?, but it is learnt that both sides took up certain issues, although...

NEW DELHI, May 28 ? Naga problem is a ?complex issue? but progress is being made in the right direction, Centre?s interlocutor K Padmanabhaiah said today, reports PTI. After briefing Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani here on his recent ?informal? parleys with NSCN (I-M) leadership in Bangkok late last week, Padmanabhaiah told reporters that the talks, aimed at furthering the peace process in Nagaland, would continue.

?It is a complex issue and we are inching forward,? he said adding more rounds of parleys were necessary for the peace process to take a final shape. Asked to comment on a recent...

May 26: The NSCN (I-M)?s threat to go in for a referendum on the integration of Naga-inhabited areas of the Northeast has opened an old wound.

A day after the Naga outfit?s general secretary Th. Muivah was quoted as saying that the issue of integration was ?not negotiable?, Assam and Manipur said they wanted peace in Nagaland but not at the cost of their territorial integrity.

Rejecting the NSCN (I-M)?s roadmap to peace as one that conflicted with the interests of their states, Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi and his Manipur counterpart Okram Ibobi Singh said there was no question of...

Guwahati, May 25: The NSCN (I-M) today threatened to go in for a referendum on its demand for the integration of Naga-inhabited areas of the Northeast if the Centre continued to be indecisive on the issue.

The organisation announced its stand after the talks between its leadership and the Centre?s chief interlocutor, K. Padmanabhaiah, again ended in a deadlock. The meeting was held in Bangkok.

NSCN (I-M) chairman Isak Chisi Swu and general secretary Th. Muivah were unavailable for comment, but a source in the Thai capital confirmed that the duo held firm on the issue of integrating Naga...

BANGKOK, May 25 ? Unification of the Naga territories is standing in the way of a final solution to the peace process, NSCN (IM) chief Thuingaleng Muivah said here emphasising ?the Nagas will never lay down arms, freedom or territories.? ?At the moment the crux of the issue is unification. If the government can understand our issue, we don?t need to hurt them. If they refuse to understand us, the question of referendum will come,? Muivah, told PTI in an interview here.

?Eighty per cent of the Nagas supported the peace process today,? he claimed. Muivah and K Padmanabhaiah, special envoy of...

Guwahati, May 23: After much cajoling over the past two days, NSCN (I-M) leaders Isak Chisi Swu and Th. Muivah today met the Centre?s chief interlocutor, K. Padmanabhaiah, in Bangkok but indicated that this was the last time they were holding talks with a bureaucrat.

There was speculation that the latest round of talks ? originally slated for Wednesday ? would be no more than a stock-taking exercise by Padmanabhaiah and middle-ranking leaders of the NSCN (I-M). The top leadership of the outfit, however, consented to meet the former Union home secretary following meetings between him and other...

KOHIMA, May 19? The NSCN(I-M) has claimed it does not have any relation with Nagaland Transport Minister Yeangpong Konyak and clarified that the arrested activist of the outfit had forcibly used the State government?s vehicle to carry explosives for his personal interest. Assam police had earlier arrested Arun Wangchuk, personal secretary of the Transport Minister and three others, including an NSCN(I-M) activist, on the inter-State border check post in Karbi Anglong district on May 6 and seized a huge cache of explosives.

An NSCN(I-M) release issued here Saturday said the organisation...