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Naga rebel group says it wrote to PM Modi offering to hold talks ‘abroad’

As per the reports, the group had also pressed for its demands of having separate Naga flag and constitution.

Naga rebel group says it wrote to PM Modi offering to hold talks ‘abroad’

(Photo: iStock)

The National Socialist Council of Nagaland (IM) revealed on Monday that it had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February and had offered to hold talks abroad if its “stay in India is no more welcome”.

As per the reports, the group had also pressed for its demands of having separate Naga flag and constitution. The outfit claims it hasn’t received a response from the Prime Minister’s Office.

“Seven (7) months back, Muivah (general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah) dispatched a letter to the Prime Minister of India. We deliberately withheld the letter from releasing to the media for public consumption as we waited with all confidence that the Prime Minister of India will respond positively. 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,” an NSCN(IM) statement read.

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“Today, we bring to your notice matters of serious concern regarding the activities of the ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and its agencies including NIA and Assam Rifles. 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,” Thuingaleng Muivah had written, reported NDTV.

“The latest episode of the MHA, which through a missive to the Nagaland government, questioned our presence in Dimapur. We are in Nagaland to meet our own people vis –a vis peace process…if our stay in India is no more welcome, all necessary arrangements must be made for us to leave India and the political talks be resumed in a third country,” he had added.

Last month, the Nagaland’s armed rebel group which is involved in the peace talks, said in a meeting that without a separate flag and constitution, the peace deal with the central government will not lead to an honourable solution.

A meeting was held at the central headquarters in Hebron near Dimapur in Nagaland deliberated on the historical and political rights of the Naga people and how the Indo-Naga political talks reached this far.

The hardened stand of the NSCN-IM comes at a time when the peace talks have been hit a deadlock because of differences between the group and the interlocutor RN Ravi, the governor of Nagaland

“The house had unanimously adopted the resolution to reiterate the stand of NSCN-IM that the ‘Naga national flag and Yehzabo (constitution) must form a part of the Indo-Naga political solution in order to qualify the Naga deal as honourable and acceptable,” NSCN-IM said in a press note.

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