The National Socialist Council of Nagaland-IM (NSCN-IM) on Monday said that it had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February and asked for the Naga peace talks to be shifted to “a third country”.
According to a report by NDTV, NSCN(IM) in statement said that seven months back NSCN-IM chief Thuingaleng Muivah had written a letter to PM Modi and they waited to release the letter to media as they belived India will respond positively. "Seven months back, Muivah (general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah) dispatched a letter to the Prime Minister of India. Today, NSCN(IM) being accountable to the Naga people hereby released the letter to inform of the delay and the lack of response from the office of the Indian Prime Minister to our people," NSCN(IM) said in a statement.
NSCN-IM chief Thuingaleng Muivah in the letter had demanded that the talks be conducted directly “at a Prime Ministerial level” and without any preconditions.
The NSCN-IM has also alleged that that there had been efforts to downgrade the talks from the highest level of political dialogue. The NSCN-general secretary added, “As you are well aware, 22 years of political negotiation had started at the highest, i.e Prime minister level, talks without precondition and talks outside India in third countries. We had come to India on the invitation of the Government of India. We are totally shocked and surprised that even after more than two decades of political negotiation, the MHA and its agencies have become obnoxious.”
Alleging that the interlocutor has left our main stakeholders in the consultation process, Muviah said that he is hobnobbing with Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs) for agreement.
On August 14, NSCN-IM general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah had said the government of India through the Framework Agreement recognises the "sovereignty" of the Nagas.
The framework agreement, which was signed in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, came after over 80 rounds of negotiations spanning 18 years, with the first breakthrough made in 1997 when the ceasefire agreement was sealed after decades of insurgency in Nagaland which started soon after India's Independence in 1947.
