DIMAPUR, Oct 15 NNN: Amid the reports doing the round in New Delhi today that the government of India has secured a written commitment from the Isak-Muivah group of the NSCN that the latter outfit will accept the Indian Constitution, and also that the Naga group has also recognised the impracticality of redrawing state boundaries in the interest of peace in the Northeast, Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio and 19 other Nagaland legislators have told Union Home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde this morning that they don’t want ‘election but solution’.
A well placed source from New Delhi informed this evening that the visiting 20-member delegation of the Nagaland MLAs under the banner of Joint Legislature Forum (JLF) had met the Union Home minister this morning and pressed to expedite the Naga peace talk. “We don’t want election but the settlement of Naga political issue,” the JLF team was quoted by the source as saying.
The 20-member delegation of Nagaland Joint Legislature Forum (JLF) is likely to meet BJP leader Sushma Swaraj tomorrow. However, it is still uncertain whether the Neiphiu Rio led team will be meeting the Prime Minister. Sources said since this is going to be the last leg of the JLF to New Delhi the former will seek appointment to meet Dr Manmohan Singh in the next few days time.
Meanwhile, a well placed source in New Delhi disclosed that the issue of Naga integration is no more in the picture in the much hyped would-be ‘Naga settlement’.
When queried on the report of The Indian Express in today’s edition that “the Centre has secured a written commitment from the separatist NSCN (IM) that it will accept the Indian Constitution. According to sources, the Naga group has also recognised the impracticality of redrawing state boundaries in the interest of peace in the Northeast”, NSCN-IM top leader V.S Atem who is the emissary to NSCN-IM general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah and the outfit’s chairman Isak Chisi Swu, stated that he would not comment anything at this juncture. “This is not the right time to give comments. I will dwell on the matter another day, please don’t mind, please, please,” was what V.S Atem had to say.
It can be noted here that the Naga Hoho delegation had camped in New Delhi from September 21 to 29 meeting several Central leaders and had come back to Nagaland saying, “We are optimistic of the early settlement.”
Some three months ago, the Joint Legislature Forum had visited the national capital and had told the Central leaders including the Prime Minister that they were ready to quit their posts and positions (resign enmasse) in order to pave way for the settlement of the vexed Naga political issue.
The JLF was floated few months ago by the 60 MLAs of the Nagaland legislative assembly cutting across party lines.
On October 9, chief minister of Nagaland Neiphiu Rio had said that it was hopeful that the government of India and the Naga outfits would take advantage of this opportunity to find an amicable settlement. “If this opportunity is missed, I don’t know whether such opportunity will come back to our people during our lifetime,” Neiphiu Rio was quoted as saying by a Dimapur based newspaper.
At the backdrop of this picture, Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde had commented that the settlement pertaining to Naga political issue would be brought about by March next year, the time before the next assembly election of Nagaland.
Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/nscnim-agrees-to-accept-constitution-status-quo-of-state-boundaries/
