Thuingaleng Muivah, general secretary of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah), will hold talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram in New Delhi next week, Union Home Secretary G.K. Pillai said on Saturday.
Mr. Pillai told journalists on the sidelines of a special attestation parade held at the Assam rifles Training Centre and School here that Mr. Muivah was on his way to New Delhi for the next round of peace talks. He was coming at the invitation of the government.
He said there would be a sustained dialogue with the NSCN (IM) and the government would be as flexible as possible to solve the problem with peace and honour.
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Hopes high
Mr. Pillai said he was hopeful of a positive outcome, though he refused to divulge the agenda. Since the government initiated the talks, it would continue the process and try to bring it to a conclusion. He, however, said a final solution had to be worked out with all underground groups.
Representatives of Western Sumi Hoho urged Mr. Pillai to convey to the Centre that all underground groups should be taken on board before a solution is arrived at. They told him that it was the people who suffered, as they had to pay taxes to the elected government as well as the parallel governments run by the underground groups.
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Women groups said women and children were the worst sufferers of the prolonged conflict.
Reception planned
Sandeep Dikshit reports from New Delhi:
Naga leaders will also hold talks with R.S. Pandey, a former Petroleum Secretary and former Chief Secretary of Nagaland, who has recently been appointed as interlocutor, official sources said.
The Naga leaders arriving from Amsterdam will be given a home-coming reception late at night, mainly by students living in the capital. Nagas from Myanmar will join their brethren from Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur to organise a felicitation to press for unity among the NSCN factions and continuation of the peace agreement.
“The political maturity exhibited by the two entities is highly appreciated. The Nagas hope both will demonstrate the political will and come up with an honourable solution to the protracted conflict. To demonstrate our support to both the entities, the Nagas in Delhi are organising a reception for all the NSCN,” said Abu of the Naga People’s Movement for Human Rights.
The NSCN and the Indian government opened a political dialogue in 1997 and have held 67 rounds of talks so far. The last round, held in March 2009 in Zurich, remained inconclusive. Mr. Muivah is also expected to travel to Nagaland to take stock of the situation arising out of the clashes between his larger NSCN faction and another led by S.S. Khaplang.