Talks between the Centre's new interlocutor and NSCN-IM resumed on Monday in which the Naga outfit reiterated its stand that any solution without a seperate flag and Constitution for the Nagas was not acceptable.
The official talks to end the decades-long Naga conflict remained stalled since October 2019 mainly due to NSCN-IM's insistance on its core demands. The possibility of a compromise started thinning after former Nagaland Governor and the Centre's interlocutor R N Ravi said the demand for a seperate flag and Constitution was unacceptable to the government.
The NSCN-IM had even demanded that Ravi be removed as the interlocutor for the resumption of talks and for signing the final agreement. Ravi was recently appointed Tamil Nadu Governor and the Centre replaced him with former director of Intelligence Bureau, AK Mishra as interim interlocutor.
"The flag and the Constitution is our core demand and any agreement without the flag and the Constitution is not acceptable to the people and to the NSCN-IM," Rh Raising, a leader of NSCN-IM told a television channel after the two-hour-long meeting at Chumukedima in Dimapur.
NSCN-IM's chief negotiator Thuingaleng Muivah took part in the meeting with Mishra. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is also likely to meet the NSCN-IM leaders on Tuesday to break the deadlock for signing a "comprehensive" final agreement with all Naga groups.
Many Naga groups including NSCN-IM claims that Nagas were never part of India and had even declared "Independence" on August 14, 1947.
The NSCN-IM signed a "Framework Agreement" with the Narendra Modi-led government in August 2019. The Centre also signed another similar agreement with Naga National Political Group (NNPG), a forum of seven other Naga rebel groups and was hoping to sign the final agreement soon. But the NSCN-IM's repeated insistence for flag and Constitution stalled the process. Mishra is also likely to meet NNPG representatives.
The NSCN-IM had earlier refused to include the NNPGs in the talks but the outfit on Monday told Mishra that it was open to making the final agreement "inclusive".
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