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 ?desire? to have more frequent meetings and sought more time for each meeting ?so that detailed discussions could take place on all issues.?
Though the Centre?s emissary did not disclose details about the dialogue, he said the talks in Bangkok marked a ?movement? forward from previous talks in the Dutch capital of Amsterdam.
On integration, Naga civil bodies and the state government have reiterated that any effort to seek a solution to the Naga problem without integrating Naga-inhabited areas would hit a dead end.
After a meeting in New Delhi with deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio said the former shared the concern of Naga people on integration.
?He (Advani) has appreciated our concern and has said that nothing should be imposed on the Nagas and suggested that some groundwork should be done for a better understanding among various communities on the issue,? Rio said.
Supporting the NSCN (I-M)?s demand for integration of the Naga areas, Rio said, ?India is a vibrant democracy and governance is according to the wish of the people. How long can you deny the Naga people their wish to come under one banner??
In Nagaland, the civil bodies, too, endorsed the NSCN (I-M)?s stand on the integration of Naga-inhabited areas. Naga Hoho vice-president G. Gaingam said the Centre should understand that more than 90 per cent of the Naga people endorse the Naga integration. Agreeing with the Naga Hoho?s viewpoint, NPMHR convener Neingulo Krome said integration of all the Naga areas was crucial to any step towards a permanent solution to the Naga problem.
When asked to give his opinion on Muivah?s referendum threat, he said, ?I am not sure under what context he made the remark. But there is no two opinion on the right of all the Nagas to live under one political entity. So I don?t think there has to necessarily be a referendum on this matter when there is absolute unanimity?.
?Thus, any lasting political arrangement between Delhi and Nagas has to incorporate this legitimate common aspiration of all the Nagas,? he added.
Apart from Nagaland, the Nagas are scattered in Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh and also in Myanmar. Demand for integration of the Naga-inhabited areas also found mention in the 16-point statehood agreement of 1960. The Nagaland Assembly has also passed three resolutions voicing support for the merger of these areas.
The Opposition Congress has demanded a clarification from Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani and Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio over Padmanabhaiah?s reported statement about disarming the NSCN (I-M) before any final settlement with the outfit.
Leader of the Opposition in Nagaland Legislative Assembly I. Imkong said such attitude of New Delhi would naturally hurt the sentiments of the Naga people.
In the latest round of peace parleys with K. Padmanabhaiah in Bangkok, Muivah had conveyed that the question of integration of Naga areas was non-negotiable and if the Centre continued to dither on the issue, it would be forced to hold a referendum.