NEW DELHI, April 4 — The honeymoon between NSCN (IM) leadership and Government of India’s chief interlocutor, K Padmanabhaiah appears to be over, with the Naga leadership warning that peace talks would be hit by if Government insisted on arms surrender. Even as the Government of India and NSCN (IM) are preparing the ground for the next round of talks somewhere in Europe, the Naga outfit fired another salvo at Padmanabhaiah by regretting ‘the irresponsible’ utterances from representatives of Government of India.
The NSCN (IM) is apparently put off by a statement about the possibility of the Nagas surrendering arms and the Government’s bid to involve the rival NSCN (K) faction in the peace process. Significantly, Padmanabhaiah has clarified that he had talked of the possibility of the Nagas surrendering their weapons after the signing of the peace accord but to his misfortune NSCN (IM) has not taken note of it.
The war of words has landed the Government of India in a tight spot given sensitivity of the issue. One round of talks schedule for last week of March had to be postponed because of the fresh complications. The next round slated for later this month also seems to have landed into uncertainty.
Meanwhile, the NSCN (IM) in a statement from Oking last night asserted that imposition in any manner from either side will not work. Government of India should know that it is not the time anymore to hang around, talking about the Indo-Naga issue out of turn. It is time for bold decision, they said.
The Government of India is also reminded of their solemn commitment that they would not talk with any group except with the NSCN. “Failure to honour the commitment may therefore be disastrous – it may bring the end of everything, teh NSCN (IM) warned.
“Therefore, the those who are deliberately talking out of bounds and about arms surrender and Constitution of India, our answer in plain and simple: Nagas will never lay down three things from their hands; arms, their freedom and territory.”
“We will accept only negotiated settlement. It is our philosophy, our politics and our democracy,” they said. The war of words, meanwhile, prompted Nagaland Chief Minister, N Rio fly down to Delhi and meet Deputy Prime Minister, LK Advani here yesterday. The newly elected Nagaland Government in which BJP is a partner is banking on the peace process and its derailment would hit the Government hard.