A file image of Nagaland Chief Minister, Neiphiu Rio. (AT Photo)
Guwahati, Jan 24: The Nagaland government remains hopeful of resolving the decades-old Naga political issue in 2025, stated a senior minister. Negotiations between the Centre and Naga groups have been ongoing.
“We are keeping our fingers crossed,” mentioned government spokesperson K G Kenye.
Additionally, he mentioned that the state government learnt through media reports that Naga groups recently travelled to Delhi for talks.
“We came to know through media reports that they (Naga groups) had gone to Delhi (for talks with the Centre). The last consultative meeting between the state government and the Naga civil society organisations was held in September. The Union government later invited them to Delhi for further discussions,” he said.
Kenye acknowledged that while some progress has been made, both sides have agreed not to disclose the details at this stage. He noted that the Centre’s interlocutor, A K Mishra, had recently visited NSCN-IM general secretary Th Muivah at his camp.
Mishra was also in Nagaland last week to hold discussions with the Eastern Nagaland Peoples’ Organisation (ENPO) regarding its demand for a separate Frontier Nagaland Territory (FNT) comprising six districts of the state.
When asked about the outcome of Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio's deliberations with Union Home Minister Amit Shah regarding NSCN-IM leader Th Muivah’s warning of returning to the jungles if talks fail to show positive progress, senior minister K G Kenye stated that the meeting aimed to brief Shah on the growing public restlessness over the issue and to review the status of the ongoing dialogues.
The NSCN-IM has been maintaining that the framework agreement signed by the outfit and the central government in 2015 is the “only acceptable basis” to find a solution to the Naga political issue.
With inputs from news agency
