Naga interlocutor R.N Ravi kept the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-IM (NSCN-IM) leadership waiting as he did not turn up for the scheduled informal talks in New Delhi on Thursday.
The meeting was arranged a day after the NSCN-IM released the details of the 2015 framework agreement and accused Mr. Ravi of deleting a key word from the original document. The NSCN instead had a meeting with Intelligence Bureau officials.
The framework agreement released by the NSCN-IM stated that the Centre had agreed on “sharing the sovereign power” and provide for an “enduring inclusive new relationship of peaceful co-existence of the two entities”. The Centre has not issued any statement denying the contents of the framework agreement that were released for the first time by the NSCN-IM.
The details of Thursday’s meeting were not known. Mr. Ravi did not respond to requests for a comment. Mr. Ravi, who is also Nagaland’s Governor, was rushed to Delhi from Kohima for the meeting.
NSCN-IM chief Thuingaleng Muivah (86) had refused to speak to Mr. Ravi, following which a meeting with two IB officials was arranged in Delhi on Monday. Mr. Muivah has been camping in Delhi for the past fortnight.
The Naga talks were on the verge of a collapse as NSCN-IM demanded that Mr. Ravi be removed from the position.
The Isaak Muivah faction of the NSCN-IM, one of the largest Naga groups, signed the agreement in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 3, 2015 to end the decades-old Naga issue.
NSCN-IM had earlier said that Mr. Ravi had insulted the NSCN negotiating team by using unparliamentary language when he had said that “this can be understood even by Class VII students that it means acceptance of the Indian Constitution”.
In November 2017, Mr. Ravi brought more Naga groups within the fold of the talks and signed a preamble with the Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs).
The NNPGs support Mr. Ravi and have demanded that the final peace pact be signed soon.
NSCN-IM has been fighting for ‘Greater Nagaland’ or Nagalim — it wants to extend Nagaland’s borders by including Naga-dominated areas in neighbouring Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, to unite 1.2 million Nagas.
