Putting Naga peace talks on fast forward mode, the government on Thursday appointed the former Secretary in the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry R.S. Pandey as the new interlocutor for holding dialogue with the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah).
“I am happy to announce the appointment of R.S. Pandey as the interlocutor and the representative of the Government of India to hold talks with NSCN-IM,” Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said in a statement here.
A Nagaland cadre IAS officer of 1972 batch, Mr. Pandey had served as Chief Secretary in Nagaland. He is a recipient of Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Service in 2007 besides the U.N. Public Service Award in 2008.
Mr. Pandey was appointed in place of the former Home Secretary K. Padmanabhaiah, who had acted as the interlocutor with the NSCN-IM for the past decade. He was relieved of his responsibility last September.
Mr. Chidambaram also welcomed the decision of the NSCN-IM leadership to visit India and hold talks with the government. The talks are scheduled for the first week of April.
The Naga militant group’s chairman Isak Chishi Swu and general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah, who are currently based abroad, are most likely to represent their group in the dialogue. NSCN-IM and the Centre agreed upon a ceasefire arrangement in August 1997 and since then about 50 rounds of negotiations have been held but have remained inconclusive.
