BANGKOK, Dec 7? Picqued at Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee?s reported remark that integration of Naga areas in the North-east was not possible because of lack of consensus among all parties, NSCN (IM) has said peace talks with the Centre cannot be continued unless the government clarifies its stand on the issue, reports PTI. ?We took the remarks very seriously. Unless they are clarified the talks between the two sides can?t be carried on further. He has shut the door against us,? NSCN (IM) general secretary Thuinagaleng Muivah told PTI after two rounds of talks with Centre?s interlocutor K Padmanabhaiah here, on Saturday.
Muivah said the two sides had very ?lengthy? discussions but ?the only issue which came p was Vajpayee?s reported remarks in Kohima about integration of Naga areas.? He said Padmanabhaiah had told the NSCN (IM) delegation that ?nothing is ruled out, but I am not convinced.? Muivah said he had herd personally the remarks made by Vajpayee during a visit to Kohima in October. ?However, they say that it was not so,? he added.
Muivah said the talks remained ?inconclusive?. The two sides will meet again on Monday. Muivah has maintained that the insistence on consensus to determine the future of the Nagas was absolutely irrelevant. In an open letter to Padmanabhaiah last week, Muivah had said it was ?an attempt at shifting responsibility to switch the ongoing process off the track.? He had said that under the circumstances, the NSCN (IM) should not be expected to ?knock at the door that is closed against them.?
Representatives of NSCN (IM) and the Centre have held several rounds of talks after a ceasefire was declared a few years ago. In November, Muivah and NSCN (IM) chairman Isak Chishi Swu had met Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Gegong Apang. Padmanabhaiah had arrived in Bangkok on Friday for the latest round of talks.