Myanmarese government has extended an invitation to the NSCN (K) to join the third round of National Peace Talks at Naypyidaw, scheduled to be held in January 2018.
NSCN (K), who did not attend either the first or second session of the Union Peace Conference, met Thursday in Yangon with the government-backed Peace Commission headed by Dr. Tin Myo Win.
The invitation was offered to the NSCN (K) by Dr. Tin Myo Win, chairman of the Peace Commission (PC) after the meeting at the National Reconciliation and Peace Centre (NRPC) in Yangon, Mizzima reports stated.
At the meeting, the two sides discussed stability and development in the hilly areas of the Nagas and about participating in the upcoming third meeting of the Union Peace Conference-21st Century Panglong, which is scheduled to be held next month.
Following that meeting, Myanmar’s Ministry of Information announced that it was sending an official invitation to the NSCN (K) to join January’s summit, known unofficially as the 21st Century Panglong Conference. Although the NSCN (K) signed a state-level ceasefire accord with the government in April 2012, it was not a signatory to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement signed between the then Thein Sein administration and eight ethnic armed groups in October 2015.
According to DB reports, representatives of the NSCN (K) held a preparatory meeting with the government in July 2016 aimed at paving the way for the group to join the peace process. However, December 28 talks marked the first occasion the group had sat for a meeting with government negotiators since July last year.
Considered as a terrorist organisation in India, the NSCN (K) is among a half dozen closely related Naga groups operating in the remote Himalayan foothills along the Indo-Burmese border. Formed in 1980 in armed resistance to both governments, the various NSCN groups say they are fighting for an autonomous Naga territory. The Sagaing-based NSCN-K is estimated to have no more than 500-600 armed fighters.
It may be mentioned that the NSCN (K) has not clashed on the battlefield with Myanmarese government forces since 2000.