GUWAHATI: Union Minister of State for Home, Kiren Rijiju, on Saturday said a number of “serious” demands had been dropped from the agenda in the ongoing process of negotiations with the Isak-Muivah faction of major Naga insurgent group National Socialist Council of Nagalim or NSCN-IM.
The Minister disclosed just one demand, which is the sovereignty of the Nagas. It was for sovereignty that a section of the Nagas had taken up the gun seven decades ago.
“Many people do not understand the Framework Agreement we signed in 2015 (with NSCN-IM). The Naga peace talks are going on for a long time. We have said that we will go by a concrete timeline but before that we need to have some kind of an understanding or a framework on the basis of which the talks can progress… "
“When the Framework Agreement was signed, it had sovereignty and some more serious demands on the agenda which were later dropped. We said the talks will progress within the framework of the Constitution of India. Hence, it is the Framework Agreement. The talks are going on smoothly and progressing with absolute clarity,” Rijiju told reporters at a press conference in Guwahati.
He said during Assembly elections in Nagaland in February, he had told the Nagas that the Centre would come out with a tangible solution to the protracted Naga political problem vis-à-vis Naga insurgency issue.
Given the NSCN-IM’s demand for the creation of a unified Naga homeland, called “Greater Nagaland”, by slicing off the contiguous Naga-inhabited areas, there is a perceived fear among the neighbours that the settlement to the issue would hurt their territorial interests. However, quoting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rijiju emphatically said, “The Naga talks will not have any adverse repercussions on Assam, Arunachal Pradesh or Manipur”.
He said the Centre had made much headway in the peace parleys with various insurgent groups of Assam, particularly the United Liberation Front of Assam (Progressive).
“The demands of the ULFA (Progressive) are genuine. That’s why, in principle, I have given instructions to give the issue a final shape. There shouldn’t be any delay in signing the final agreement,” he said.
Asked about Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma’s proposal to the Ministry of External Affairs to issue work permits to Bangladeshi nationals, Rijiju said, “It is only a proposal. We won’t take any steps which will dilute national interests”.