Source: The Sangai Express / PTI
New Delhi, October 09:
Aiming to give fresh impetus to the ongoing Naga peace process, the Government will hold talks with top leadership of the NSCN(IM) in Amsterdam for three days begining October 17, amid indication that the rebels may toughten their stand on unification of Naga-inhabited areas.
A Group of Ministers, headed by Union Minister Oscar Fernandes, will hold talks with the NSCN (IM) representatives led by chairman Isaac Chisi Swu and general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah and is expected to discuss all "substantive" issues for a lasting solution to the country's oldest insurgency problem, sources said.
The meeting will review the progress made ever since the rebels submitted a 20-point "Charter of Demands" to the Government.
In its "charter of demands", the NSCN-IM has sought unification of all Naga-inhabited areas of the northeast, separate representation at the UN, and greater rights over natural resources, finance, defence and policing.
The Naga side is expected to insist on commitment from the Centre to its key demand of unification of Naga-inhabited areas to please its constituencies in Nagaland, sources said.
However, the rebel group's key demand or "Greater Nagalim" has been strongly opposed by Nagaland's neighbouring states Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.
In the last round of talks held in Bangkok, both sides are understood to have discussed the limits of flexibility within the Constitution and whether a "sub-national constitution" could be accommodated within it.