Tezpur (Assam): In a significant development, the Indian government is slated to engage in emergency talks with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland, Isak Muivah faction (NSCN-IM), a Naga insurgent group, on August 21. The venue for this crucial meeting, however, remains undisclosed at this point.
The announcement was made by NSCN-IM's General Secretary, TH Muivah, during Naga Independence Day celebrations on August 14. Notably, the Naga Framework Agreement was signed in 2015 between the union government of India and the Naga rebel outfit, aiming to incorporate all Naga-inhabited areas into Nagaland and solve the several decades-long Naga political issue.
In 2020, Isak Muivah expressed his preference for conducting further discussions on the Naga Accord, outside of India, a proposal endorsed by the then central government interlocutor, R N Ravi. Subsequently, R N Ravi was appointed as the Governor of Nagaland. The recent release of the Naga Accord Declaration seeks to integrate Naga-inhabited regions of Assam into Nagaland.
However, the issue has remained standstill since 2018, as there has been a conundrum over the peace talks as the NSCN (I-M) has been demanding a separate Naga flag and Yehzabo (Naga constitution).
In a bid to escalate the peace process, the government of India appointed A K Mishra as the interlocutor to the Naga peace process following RN Ravi's departure in 2021. Since AK Mishra has taken the role, he has made many attempts to speed up the process by holding several rounds of meetings with the IM leadership since 2022. However, all those talks have not yielded any fruit till now.
During this year's Independence Day celebration, TH Muivah lauded past leaders for their decision to declare the Nagas an independent nation on the eve of British India's departure on August 14, 1947. He emphasized that this historic move shaped the Naga national identity and secured their future. After 18 years of political deliberations, the NSCN-IM inked the groundbreaking Naga Framework Agreement with the Central Government on August 3, 2015, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
While sources suggest that the NSCN-IM refrains from commenting on the forthcoming meeting, the pivotal question of whether any border state segments will be incorporated into Nagaland based on the Naga Accord remains paramount. As the meeting date approaches, anticipation heightens over the potential outcomes of this significant dialogue.
Also read: Naga flag, constitution inseparable from sovereignty of people: NSCN-IM
