Crucial MHA panel, ENPO meet on Mar 22

A three-member committee formed by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to oversee ENPO demand is scheduled to hold a meeting with office bearers and representatives of ENPO at Kohima on March 22.
Highly placed sources informed Nagaland Post that the Home ministry committee headed by MHA adviser (North East) AK Mishra is expected to arrive Nagaland on March 22 after which they are scheduled to hold a review meeting with the ENPO leaders the same day.
Besides Mishra, the other members include joint director of Intelligence Bureau, Dr Mandeep Singh Tuli and MHA director (NE division) AK Dhayani.
After meeting with the MHA officials, ENPO will be holding a joint consultative meeting with other members and apprise them of the outcome of the meeting with the MHA team.
It may be mentioned that the demand for a separate Frontier Nagaland state was discussed during several high level meetings between ENPO and the government of India.
Union home minister Amit Shah had also met ENPO leaders on the issue. Eventually after these meetings, the MHA agreed to consider ENPO by offering ‘Frontier Naga Territory’ for Eastern Nagaland areas.
The two sides have reportedly signed an agreement after the MHA committee had ruled out creation of a separate ‘Frontier Nagaland’ state or Union Territory.
Both sides then mutually agreed on ‘Frontier Naga Territory’, which was to be implemented after completion of the State Assembly election. As reported earlier, the new arrangement is expected to have financial autonomy, separate funding etc, for an initial period of 10 years.
It may also be noted that ENPO and all its frontal organizations, had vociferously stood its ground to abstain from taking part in the Assembly elections as per the August 26, 2022 resolution but decided to relax its August 26,2022 resolution.
ENPO said that the decision to relax the August 26 resolution was done after due consultation with the constituent tribal bodies and frontal organizations and based on the assurance made by union home minister Amit Shah to ENPO leaders on February 2, 2023.
According to ENPO, the assurance was that “a solution as mutually agreed will be reached after following the due process and will be implemented after completion of the election process.”