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02/27/2010: "Naga rebel leader Muivah arriving in India Sunday by IANS"

Naga rebel leader Muivah arriving in India Sunday by IANS

Dimapur (Nagaland), Feb 27 : Thuingaleng Muivah, general secretary of the rebel group National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM), arrives in New Delhi Sunday to carry forward the stalled Naga peace talks, union home secretary Gopal Krishna Pillai said here Saturday.
"The NSCN-IM leaders have accepted the government invitation to resume the peace dialogue between New Delhi and the Naga organisation," Pillai told reporters in the Nagaland city Dimapur after attending a passing out parade of paramilitary Assam Rifles.
"The NSCN-IM leader would meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram next week."
It is not officially known where exactly Muivah is based outside India. He had last visited India in December 2006 with NSCN-IM chairman Isak Chisi Swu and held talks with the government.
"Efforts are also on to include other Naga groups, including the Khaplang faction of the NSCN, as demanded by the Naga people. Naga communities have felt that for a permanent solution to the vexed ethnic conflict, holding of talks with all Naga factions are essential," Pillai stated.
The centre earlier this month had appointed former petroleum secretary R.S. Pandey as its new interlocutor to facilitate dialogue with the major insurgent outfit, NSCN-IM, which had entered into a ceasefire with the Indian government in August 1997.
Replacing former chief negotiator K. Padmanabhaiah, Pandey has been chosen for the assignment as he has served as chief secretary in Nagaland and is said to have a good grasp of the issues that have led to the long spell of insurgency in the northeastern state.
The last round of inconclusive peace talks between the central government and the leading Naga separatist outfit was held in March 2009 in Zurich, Switzerland.
The NSCN faction led by guerrilla leader S.S. Khaplang entered into a ceasefire in 2001 but formal peace talks are yet to begin.
The NSCN-IM, one of the oldest and most powerful of about 30 rebel groups in India's northeast, was earlier fighting for an independent homeland for the Nagas, but has scaled it down to a Greater Nagaland, proposed to be formed by slicing off parts of adjoining states that have Naga tribal populations.
The governments of Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh have rejected the demand for unification of Naga-dominated areas. The union government too had earlier rejected demands for unification of all Naga-inhabited areas.
Copyright Indo Asian News
Any settlement without consent of Nagas is futile’ Ashiko Pfuzhe Morung

Envoy to the collective leadership of the “GPRN/NSCN” Kughalu Mulatonu addressing western Sumi frontal organizations at Kohuxu village, Friday, February 26.

Dimapur | February 26 : In the backdrop of the impending talks between the Government of India and the NSCN/GPRN scheduled in first week of March, the GPRN/NSCN today maintained that any settlement without the consent of the Nagas as a whole would be another futile exercise.
Addressing a meeting of the GPRN/NSCN with western Sumi NGOs at Kohuxu village near Niuland, GPRN/NSCN leaders including special envoy to the collective leadership of the group, Kughalu Mulatonu, kilo kilonser Hothrong Yimchungrü and ‘chaplee’ kilonser C Singson said that political solution to the Naga problem belongs to the “Naga people.”
Mulatonu said that the rival NSCN can talk about “integration” with India as long as they wanted that the issue of integration is simply a “domestic” problem of India that can be solved within the Constitution of India. He said the GPRN/NSCN has no objection to such talks. On the other hand, the envoy said that solution to the Naga political problem belongs to the “Naga people” and that it would be solved at an appropriate time “by” the Naga people. He also said that Naga history and the political struggle are two different things and one has to know the distinction between the two.
Dwelling on the contribution of Sumis to the Naga national cause since 1918-19, Mulatonu said that Sumis have been the pillars of the Naga movement.
Hothrong in his address also said that political solution should precede integration and claimed that the talks between the “NSCN (IM) and GoI” were deadlocked due to the integration issue. “Let political solution come first, after that integration will come about slowly in a phased manner,” he said. Stating that the main reason behind the rise in Naga political groups or factions was due to the Shillong Accord, the kilo kilonser said that Nagas have been shouting for unification since then. He however said that after the ‘Unification’ move began two years back, majority of the tribes remained silent except for the Sumis and ENPO, which backed the move.
Referring to the move for reconciliation and unity among Nagas, kilonser Singson said, “you (public) all are the best judge of yesterday’s politics and you all are the best witness of today’s situation.” He also said that Nagas cannot proceed for talks at the present juncture because Nagas are a divided house and that any group that goes for talks would return empty-handed. Expressing regret that the Naga political movement has degenerated into a “blame game”, Singson said, “If we say that Nagas are one, then we must also prove to the world that Nagas are one.”
On the “Naga reconciliation: A journey of common hope” undertaken by the Forum for Naga Reconciliation along with the joint working group of the Naga political groups, he said that reconciliation as a process had come a long way. “Today, I can call Hebron people my friends. Earlier, I treated them as my enemies,” he admitted. Both Hothrong and Singson also acknowledged the role played by Sumi frontal organizations in their effort to bring about reconciliation and unity among the Nagas. Later in the second session, the GPRN/NSCN members had an interactive session with leaders of various western Sumi frontal organizations.