Politics / Nagaland

Imphal, Jan. 1: The Centre’s eagerness to make the NSCN (I-M) leadership feel at home on their return to India has been counterbalanced by the belligerence of Manipur, which today declared that it would not hesitate to arrest the outfit’s general secretary, Thuingaleng Muivah, if he visited the state. Both Nagaland and Assam have withdrawn the arrest warrants against Muivah and NSCN (I-M) chairman Isak Chisi Swu to facilitate their return to the country for the next round of peace talks with the Centre.

Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh has, however, refused to make any such concession...

New Delhi, Dec. 26: Angry at being left out of the ongoing peace process, the NSCN (Khaplang) has questioned the importance of its rival, the NSCN (Isak-Muivah), and the Naga Hoho in the context of the Naga movement.

“Let the world and the Naga Hoho know that it was not Isak Chisi Swu (alone) who formed the National Socialist Council of Nagaland. It was formed by Swu and S.S. Khaplang. What Th. Muivah formed was an organisation called Nagalim, to which the Nagas never accorded recognition,” states a booklet published by the “Government of the People’s Republic of Nagaland”, which is the...

NEW DELHI, Dec 24 – The visit of leaders of major Naga insurgent group NSCN (IM), who were expected here this weekend for crucial peace talks with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, has been postponed by about ten days because of ‘logistical reasons’, official sources said today, reports PTI. NSCN (IM) chairman Isak Chisi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah “are expected towards the end of the first week of January,” official sources told PTI. Asked as what were the logistical reasons, the sources said that among them were availability of the top Indian leaders for the talks besides Swu and Muivah...

GUWAHATI, Dec 23 — The Dilip Nunisa-led faction of the Dima Halam Daoga (DHD) has demanded the exclusion of Dimapur from Nagaland, claiming that the commercial town was ceded to the hill state for only 25 years from the time of its creation. According to a leaflect circulated by the militants outfit, which is fighting for ‘Dimaraji’, or self-rule for the Dimasa people within the India state, Dimapur, the commercial hub of Nagaland, was only ‘temporarily’ included in the then Naga Hills district under the Sixth Schedule. DHD says that in 1949, during the framing of the Sixth Schedule, Kuladhar...

NEW DELHI, Dec 22 — Indian passports have been issued to leaders of Naga insurgent group NSCN-IM who are expected to arrive here on December 27 and meet Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee the next day, official sources said here today, reports PTI. While the NSCN (I-M) general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah, who already possesses an Indian passport, will arrive from The Hague, the outfit’s chairman Isak Chishi Swu and three others have been issued passports by the Indian mission in Oslo and will arrive here from the Norwegian capital, sources told PTI.

The Naga delegation will be lodged by the...

Kohima, Dec. 21: In a veiled attack on the ruling Congress for defying its directive in the last Assembly elections, the apex tribal body of Nagaland ? the Naga Hoho ? has asked the electorate not to vote for those who would be ?a stumbling block? in the ongoing peace process between New Delhi and Naga militants.

?Typically examine those who had defied the will of the Naga people in 1998 and elect responsible people who will support the peace process and not be a stumbling block,? was the message of the Naga Hoho to the electorate in Nagaland, which goes to the hustings in February.

At its...

NEW DELHI, Dec 19— For the first time in 30 years, major Naga insurgent group leaders, Isak Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah, will come to India next week and are likely to hold talks with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and his Deputy L K Advani on December 28, highly-placed sources said today, reports PTI. The issue of furthering the peace process with NSCN(I-M) and arrangements for the visit of Swu and Muivah are understood to have been discussed by Centre’s interlocutor K Padmanabhaiah with Advani this evening. The decision to allow the two Naga leaders to come to India follows...

AIZAWL, Dec 19 — Mizo National Front (MNF) Wednesday confirmed support to party president and Chief Minister Zoramthanga who is involved in the ongoing peace talks between the Centre and NCSN (I-M), reports PTI. The party also resolved to extend for another term Zoramthanga’s presidentship. A resolution adopted at the 37th general assembly of the party said MNF was proud that Zoramthanga was appointed by the Centre to broker the Naga peace deal and called him a leader who ‘glorified the Mizos.” The party would “solidly stand behind” Zoramthanga in his efforts to bring peace in the trouble-torn...

Kohima, Dec. 17: Major political parties in Nagaland have accepted the Church?s proposal ruling out house-to-house campaigning during the coming polls. However, they have little hope that such a directive would be implemented.

The Nagaland Christian Forum (NCF) today addressed an all-party meeting here to deliberate on several points discussed at a similar conference on November 28. However, the ruling Congress was absent at the earlier meet. Today?s meeting was attended by the Congress, the Nagaland People?s Front, the Nationalist Congress Party and the BJP.

According to the two major...

NEW DELHI, Dec 16 — The Election Commission will not be able to set up new polling booths in the disputed Assam-Nagaland border during the forthcoming Nagaland Assembly polls, as the Supreme Court today ordered status quo following protest by Assam Government. The EC has now to confine polling to the 36 booths in the disputed Assam-Nagaland border as its plea for setting additional booths were rejected by the apex Court. The Commission had filed an application before the Court seeking directions to Assam to allow it to set up new booths in the area.

A two-member Bench comprising Chief Justice...