Agency
Guwahati: The parleys between the Centre and the Naga insurgent group in ceasefire, NSCN (IM), seems to be still stuck on the outfit’s demand for recognition of a separate flag and Constitution for the Nagas.
Days after the Centre’s interlocutor A K Mishra met NSCN (IM) leaders at Dimapur in Nagaland to break the deadlock over the negotiations, the outfit on Saturday said the Centre must implement the Framework Agreement signed in 2015 and recognize the Naga National flag and the Constitution.
“The August 3, 2015 Framework Agreement between the Government of India and the NSCN recognizes the Indo-Naga conflict as political. It also acknowledges the unique history and position of the Nagas and the Framework Agreement is signed on the cornerstone of sovereignty. There is no ambiguity in the Framework agreement, therefore, in the Indo-Naga political agreement the GoI must honor and implement in letter and spirit the Framework Agreement and recognize the Naga National flag and constitution,” the NSCN (IM) said in a statement emailed to DH on Saturday evening.
The statement was issued in response to an “interpretation” of the significance of the Naga flag and the Constitution by Naga American Council, an US-based Naga group. But sources in Nagaland said the statement also suggested that there was not much progress in the meeting between Mishra and the NSCN (IM) leaders as the outfit is still firm on its demand for the flag and the Constitution for the Nagas.
The Centre in 2019 had announced that the negotiation with the NSCN (IM) to end the seven-decades old Naga conflict concluded but the outfit refused to sign the final agreement without fulfillment of its core demand for recognition of the Naga flag and Constitution. But the Centre rejected the demand several times.
Many Naga groups including the NSCN (IM) claim that Nagas were never part of India and Nagaland had declared “Independence” on August 14, 1947. This resulted in the problem of insurgency for a long time but the NSCN (IM) signed the ceasefire with the Centre in 1997.
The Centre, in August 2015, had signed the Framework Agreement with the NSCN (IM) in New Delhi. The agreement was to be the basis for the signing of a final agreement. The Centre had signed another preliminary agreement with Naga National Political Groups (NNPG), a forum of another six Naga insurgent groups. The NNPG is not insisting on the demand for a separate flag and Constitution for the Nagas. The NSCN (IM), however, refused to sign the final agreement without recognition of the Naga flag and the Constitution. (Courtesy: Deccan Herald)
