Source: The Sangai Express
New Delhi, February 09:
As part of the efforts to take forward the peace process in Nagaland, a delegation of the major insurgent group NSCN (I-M) headed by its General Secretary Th Muivah today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for an hour.
"It was a courtesy call," PMO sources said after the half-an-hour meeting.
This is the Naga leaders� first meeting with the Prime Minister since substantive talks began between the Centre and the NSCN (IM) on February 3.There was no official word after the meeting, but sources say the NSCN (IM) is not flexible on the issue of Greater Nagaland.
The Centre has said it will try and find a solution to this contentious issue through consensus.
Since February 3, the NSCN (IM) leaders have been holding talks with the Centre�s interlocutor Oscar Fernandes.
The State Governments from Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur have been completely opposed to the creation of Greater Nagaland, which would include parts of their States.
In 2001, when the then BJP led NDA Government issued the Bangkok Declaration on June 14 which said that the cease fire between NSCN (IM) and the Government of India was without territorial limits, violence erupted in Manipur, as many in the State felt that it was a design to compromise with the territory of Manipur.
Eighteen people were killed in police firing in the people's uprising on June 18, 2001.