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 statement by NSCN (I-M) General Secretary Thuingaleng Muivah that the issue of unification of Naga territories was ?standing in the way of the final solution?, he said ?Nagas are spread over various areas and anything we decide would affect everything else. That is why it is a complex issue?.
Padmanabhaiah, who held a series of meetings with Muivah and NSCN(I-M) Chairman Isak Chisi Swu late last week, said the next round would be held next month but no dates have been finalised yet. In a related development, Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio also met Advani at his North Block office after Padmanabhaiah. But no details about the meeting was immediately available.
After the three-day peace talks in Bangkok which ended on May 24, Muivah had told PTI that the issue of unification of Naga areas was ?standing in the way of a final solution? to the peace process. ?As far as the final solution is concerned, it will certainly take time but with the Indian side now on the right track, it is both positive and praiseworthy. There is better understanding between us,? Muivah said.
Meanwhile, in a bid to give a push to the reconciliation process among various Naga groups, Nagaland government has set up a Peace Committee with Chief Minister Rio as its chairman. Prominent religious body Nagaland Christian Forum and the apex tribal council, Naga Hoho, have also constituted the ?Naga Re-conciliation Commission? to achieve the same end and act complimentary to the official Peace Committee.