Even as the chief negotiator of the NSCN (I-M) and general secretary Th. Muivah and Government of India’s Interlocutor to the Naga talks R.N. Ravi recently issued a joint communiqué that sought to convey the message that solution was well within reach and soon, the NSCN (I-M) has virtually threatened to walk out of the process for solution unless its demand for integration of Naga contiguous areas were accepted as part of the deal.
According to reliable sources, NSCN (I-M) leaders led by Th. Muivah have made it clear to government of India’s Interlocutor R.N. Ravi that they were ready to walk out of ongoing peace talks if the government of India did not consider integration of Nagas’ land.
Sources further disclosed that both the entities were now talking seriously about integration of Nagas land in the face of an adamant stand adopted by the NSCN (I-M) which has coined another slogan “No integration, No solution.”
The issue of integration had been insisted upon by the NSCN (I-M) and in the face of opposition from neighbouring states some of who have even threatened to react, the government of India had placed it in the back burner.
Then Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee during his Kohima visit on 2003 had ruled out integration. The resurrection of the demand for integration has placed the entire process in a situation which could but only delay solution, according to sources.
NSCN (I-M) leaders led by Muivah have been holding series of meeting with R.N. Ravi for at least two to three times a week. Both the parties will be holding a meeting on August 19, sources informed.
Earlier, during the ‘70th Naga Independence Day’ celebration, NSCN (I-M) kilo kilonser, Rh. Raising asserted that integration of all Naga territories, under one political umbrella was “the legitimate right of the Nagas, which no power can stop.”
Raising said “integration of all Naga territories is a natural necessity and not a choice.” Maintaining that all the nation-states today were built on the concept of “pluralism of sovereignty”, Raising said “shared sovereignty is a matter of mutual agreement founded on the objective reality of national necessity of the two people.” On issues that have cropped up in the ongoing talks with the Government of India (GoI) with regard to sovereignty and integration of Naga territories, Raising said “Nagas were not asking for sovereignty from India as sovereignty of Nagas belonged to the people”.
On August 12, NSCN (I-M) general secretary Th. Muivah and government of India’s Interlocutor for talks, R.N. Ravi in a joint communiqué, setting at rest speculations regarding status of talks, especially after the demise of NSCN (I-M) chairman Isak Chishi Swu, assured that talks were progressing in the right direction and that both sides were closer than ever before to the final settlement and expressed the hope that it would be sooner than later.
Both Th. Muivah and R.N. Ravi reiterated that the political initiative of the government of India and the NSCN (I-M) to resolve the Naga political issue had received a new urgency and impetus during the last two years.
During the period, the two said talks had become more purposeful, less ritualistic and more forthright and far more frequent than in all previous years adding this helped build unprecedented mutual understanding and trust.
It may be mentioned that the historic ‘framework agreement’ was signed by R.N. Ravi representing the government of India and Th. Muivah of the NSCN (I-M) in the presence of the Prime Minister, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and NSCN (I-M) functionaries at Modi’s 7 Race Course Residence in New Delhi.
The signing of the agreement came after over 80 rounds of negotiations that spanned 18 years with first breakthrough in 1997 when the ceasefire agreement was sealed.