Express News Service
NEW DELHI: The Union government’s former interlocutor R S Pandey, a former Nagaland chief secretary, has said that the Naga peace talks are stuck in the final stage over the issue of autonomy in the Naga-inhabited areas of Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.
He said that the issues of NSCN(IM)’s Yehzabo or constitution and flag are also not fully resolved, but there has been a movement forward on this front. The government and Naga interlocutors have, reportedly, found some middle ground on the issue of flag and the constitution.
Pandey told TNIE “the continued wrangling over the three contentious issues is the result of the inclusion of a sweeping expression — “dialogue between the Government of India and the NSCN has successfully concluded” — in the August 2015 mutually agreed upon Framework Agreement,
The former government interlocutor for the Naga peace process, who held talks with the NSCN(IM) between 2011 and 2013, said “we made the NSCN(M) leadership, including General Secretary Thuingaleng Muivah and President Isak Chishi Swu, understand our difficulties in changing state boundaries.
While the twin issues of the constitution and the flag was almost settled, we were worried whether a regional council for the Naga-inhabited areas in Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh or district councils would be acceptable,”
The government was prepared to “give safeguards to the district councils and to suitably empower them”, Pandey recalled, adding that a “stalemate on this point” occurred when the then Manipur CM Ibobi Singh put his foot down.
“We had even proposed an autonomous body or a development zone for the Naga-inhabited areas in the two states,” he said.The issue of amending the Constitution to incorporate the ‘Naga Yehzabo’ in a “separate chapter or schedule” was disalso cussed, he added.
NEW DELHI: The Union government’s former interlocutor R S Pandey, a former Nagaland chief secretary, has said that the Naga peace talks are stuck in the final stage over the issue of autonomy in the Naga-inhabited areas of Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.
He said that the issues of NSCN(IM)’s Yehzabo or constitution and flag are also not fully resolved, but there has been a movement forward on this front. The government and Naga interlocutors have, reportedly, found some middle ground on the issue of flag and the constitution.
Pandey told TNIE “the continued wrangling over the three contentious issues is the result of the inclusion of a sweeping expression — “dialogue between the Government of India and the NSCN has successfully concluded” — in the August 2015 mutually agreed upon Framework Agreement,
The former government interlocutor for the Naga peace process, who held talks with the NSCN(IM) between 2011 and 2013, said “we made the NSCN(M) leadership, including General Secretary Thuingaleng Muivah and President Isak Chishi Swu, understand our difficulties in changing state boundaries.
While the twin issues of the constitution and the flag was almost settled, we were worried whether a regional council for the Naga-inhabited areas in Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh or district councils would be acceptable,”
The government was prepared to “give safeguards to the district councils and to suitably empower them”, Pandey recalled, adding that a “stalemate on this point” occurred when the then Manipur CM Ibobi Singh put his foot down.
“We had even proposed an autonomous body or a development zone for the Naga-inhabited areas in the two states,” he said.The issue of amending the Constitution to incorporate the ‘Naga Yehzabo’ in a “separate chapter or schedule” was disalso cussed, he added.
