Guwahati: The Centre’s interlocutor in the Naga peace talks, A.K. Mishra, has conveyed to the NSCN (I-M) that there will be no change in the government’s stand on the group’s demand for a separate flag and constitution for Nagaland, ThePrint has learnt.
According to sources, Mishra during a nearly weeklong visit to Nagaland’s Dimapur starting 19 April, held five rounds of informal and formal talks with Thuingaleng Muivah, the general secretary of the rebel outfit.
“There has been no change in the government’s stand on the flag or the constitution. The groups were conveyed that they can have a separate flag for cultural activities, but not otherwise,” a source in the home affairs ministry told ThePrint.
The NSCN (I-M) kilo kilonser (home minister), M. Daniel Lotha, told ThePrint meanwhile, that “During the talks on 23 April, he (A.K. Mishra) reassured the final solution would be as per the Framework Agreement.”
The Framework Agreement between the Centre and the NSCN (I-M) was signed in 2015 to end the decades-old insurgency in Nagaland, centered on the demand for a greater Nagaland or ‘Nagalim’ — a sovereign ethnic homeland, comprising the state and Naga-inhabited areas of Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Myanmar.
“Both sides have understood each other’s respective positions and are cognizant of the universal principle that in a democracy sovereignty lies with the people… It is a matter of great satisfaction that dialogue between the Government of India and the NSCN has successfully concluded and we are confident, it will provide for an enduring inclusive new relationship of peaceful co-existence of the two entities,” the Agreement stated.
However, the NSCN-IM later said the peace process wouldn’t progress until the Modi government accepted the Naga people’s demand for a separate constitution and flag, and peace talks are still on.
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Flag and constitution — a sticking point
Talking on the issue of the group’s stand on the flag and constitution, Lotha told ThePrint Monday that “the Framework Agreement will be used to decide the point”.
Another NSCN leader who didn’t wish to be named also said that before A.K. Mishra left for Delhi, Muivah had repeatedly said: “Without taking into account our historical and political rights there cannot be any solution”.
Four years after the signing of the framework agreement, R.N. Ravi had been appointed as the interlocutor to take the talks to their conclusion.
However, differences cropped up between the rebel group and Ravi, after he wrote to Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio in 2020, over the “precarious law and order situation” in the state. The talks were later carried out without Ravi, as he remained at loggerheads with the group.
Then in September last year, following Ravi’s resignation, the Centre appointed Intelligence Bureau Special Director, A.K. Mishra, as its interlocutor for the talks.
With inputs from Ananya Bhardwaj.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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