It was a ‘framework pact’ with NSCN (IM)

Security and police forces have controlled insurgency in the North-East: Rajnath

Rajnath Singh says security and police forces have controlled the insurgencysituation in the North-East. File photo

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in August that a peace accord has been signed with the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) to end the decades-old Naga insurgency, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday referred the accord as a “framework agreement” and said it would help in resolving the Naga problem.

This is the first time that the government has used the term “framework agreement” for the peace accord. Mr. Singh, who is attending the three-day DGPs’ conference in Rann of Kutch, Gujarat, mentioned this during the opening session speech he delivered in the presence of Mr. Modi and around 250 top policemen of the country.

Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) chief R.N Ravi, who is also the interlocutor for Naga peace talks, had signed the agreement on behalf of the Government of India with the NSCN (IM) on August 3 in a much-publicised ceremony where Mr. Modi and the Home Minister were present. The Home Ministry, which is the nodal department on the North-East issues, was kept out of the entire process and Chief Ministers of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur accused the government of keeping them out of the loop of the entire process.

When contacted, Mr. Ravi told The Hindu , “We never said it was a peace accord, some people loosely refer to it as an accord. It is a framework agreement and the minor details are still being worked out. We have agreed on the basic fundamental ground on which the accord would be signed.” The Twitter handle of Mr. Singh posted, “HM expressed hope that the Framework agreement between NSCN-IM and the Centre would help in resolving the Naga problem.”

Mr. Singh said security and police forces had controlled the insurgency situation in the North-East. There had been the least terrorism problem in Assam this year, he said. The security forces arrested 231 armed terrorists and more than 300 conspirators, he added.

Mr. Singh said the threat from the Islamic State was being monitored and the country was confident of overcoming this situation. He called upon the security forces to remain on guard to prevent sudden serious situation and urged for better coordination between the Central and State agencies. He said there had been the lowest number of communal incidents in the country this year. On Punjab, the Home Minister termed Sarbat Khalsa incident of last month as a matter of concern.