GUWAHATI, Aug 8 - The Government of Nagaland is planning to send a team of emissaries to Myanmar to meet SS Khaplang, the chairman of the NSCN (K), to persuade him to rejoin the peace process. Though the date on which the team will be sent is yet to be finalised, the Nagaland Government has already informed the Centre about its plan.
Highly placed sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) told The Assam Tribune today that the Nagaland Government is planning to persuade Khaplang to rejoin the peace process and members of the civil society would be sent to Myanmar. The Nagaland Government will try to impress upon the militant leader that the people of the state want restoration of permanent peace and he should rejoin the peace process to honour the sentiments of the people.
The NSCN (K), which had signed a ceasefire agreement with the Government of India in 2000, withdrew from the agreement in April this year and formed a common platform of four militant groups of the North East. MHA sources said that it is up to Khaplang to decide whether he would come back to rejoin the peace process, and that the doors of the Government are still open.
Meanwhile, commenting on the allegation that the Chief Ministers of the states sharing boundaries with Nagaland were not taken into confidence while finalising the peace accord with the NSCN (I-M), the MHA sources said that as the other states would not be affected by the accord, it was not found necessary to hold talks with all the states of the region.
However, sources said that Manipur Chief Minister Ibobi Singh was taken into confidence and �he was always kept in the loop�. Sources said that the Central Government�s interlocutor for Naga talks, RN Ravi himself met the Manipur Chief Minister on several occasions to have detailed discussions with him on the progress of the peace talks with the NSCN (I-M). Under the circumstances, the Manipur Chief Minister should not have alleged yesterday in Delhi that he was not kept informed about the progress of the talks, the sources added.
It may be mentioned here that the Chief Ministers of Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh yesterday alleged that they were not informed about the progress of the peace talks.
