Centre has made Naga peace talks an absurdity : NSCN-IM

Dimapur: The NSCN-IM, the Naga insurgent group which is in ceasefire agreement with the Centre, has charged the Centre of not being serious about taking forward the Framework Agreement which has made the ongoing Naga peace process an "absurdity". The Centre-NSCN(IM) talks has been "bluff and bluster all the way with no seriousness", the group president Q Tuccu said during a programme at its headquarters at Hebron on Tuesday.

This has led the group to apprehend that the GoI is planning clandestinely to strike the Nagas with all its state machinery. "There is thus trust deficit on the part of NSCN(IM), he said.

“The absurdity of the situation regarding Indo-Naga political talks is entirely the making of the Government of India as its commitment to the Framework Agreement has turned unsavoury with each passing day,” Tuccu said.

NSCN-IM is the principal negotiator for Naga peace talks with the Centre since 1997 and has inked the Framework Agreement on August 3, 2015. The final solution is yet to be arrived at.

He said that notwithstanding the Centre's handling of the peace talks, the NSCN-IM have carried the talks forward with total commitment and conviction. "No sacrifice is too great when it comes to defending the historical and political rights of the Nagas".

"It is for the GoI to put its act together and get back the lost ground ... The fate of the Framework Agreement hangs in balance as its commitment to it fluctuates wildly every now and then,” the NSCN(IM) leader said.

The Centre has not accepted NSCN-IM’s persistent demand for a separate flag and constitution of the Nagas, which is standing in the way of the final solution to one of the longest insurgency problems in the North East.