Source: The Sangai Express
New Delhi, June 21:
The Manmohan Singh Government would for the first time open talks with the leadership of major Naga insurgent group NSCN (I-M) from Wednesday in the Netherlands to find a solution to the insurgency problem in Nagaland.
The Centre�s special representative K Padmanabhaiah and Intelligence Bureau Director KP Singh will leave here tomorrow for Amsterdam to hold parleys with NSCN (I-M) chairman Isak Chisi Swu and general secretary T Muivah, informed sources here said.
The talks would last three days beginning June 23, they said.
The Centre had on Saturday declared that it was committed to continuing the Naga peace process, including the dialogue with NSCN (I-M) with which it has been having a ceasefire since 1997.This decision was taken at a high-level meeting, chaired by Home Minister Shivraj Patil.
The meeting had also discussed the charter of demands submitted by the Naga group and decided that the negotiations should be continued further.
At the meeting chaired by Patil, the NSCN (I-M) demand for a �Greater Nagaland� to incorporate Naga dominated areas of the neighboring States in the North-East, including Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Manipur, was also discussed.
The UPA Government has stated in its Common Minimum Programme that it was committed for maintaining territorial sovereignty of the States especially in the North-East.
The demand for Greater Nagaland had sparked-off angry protests in Manipur after which the previous NDA Government withdrew an order extending ceasefire in Nagaland beyond the State�s borders.
The peace process had got a symbolic boost last year when NSCN leaders Swu and Muivah visited India for the first time in 36 years and met the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, his deputy L K Advani and other leaders.
The Centre and the NSCN (I-M) had entered into a ceasefire agreement in 1997 and the two sides have since held several rounds of talks in Switzerland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Thailand, Japan and Malaysia.
The two NSCN (I-M) leaders were scheduled to arrive in New Delhi in mid-February for talks with the Centre but the meeting was cancelled due to general elections.
The rival NSCN group led by guerrilla leader S.S.




