Separate flag, constitution key to solution, NSCN-IM to PM

An honourable solution to the Naga issue is possible only when the issues like a separate flag and constitution are agreed upon, the NSCN-IM leadership has told Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a statement said.

The National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah, who had been negotiating peace with the government since 1997, in a media statement, also said that the framework agreement signed between the Central government and NSCN-IM is yet to come to fruition despite three years having passed.

"Three years is a long period but the Framework Agreement is yet to have its fruition as the Government of India is going slow in taking its stand on core issues. This changing situation and other developments compels NSCN Chairman Q. Tuccu and General Secretary Th. Muivah to write a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the doubt and confusion raised by Naga people if an honourable political solution can be arrived at between the two parties.

"This is in reference to the core issues like Naga flag and constitution which are yet to be agreed upon between the two parties. Without these two core issues solved, any solution would be far from honourable because Nagas' pride and identity is deeply entrenched here," it said in the statement.

"As we look back the long journey of Indo-Naga political talks spanning over twenty two years, the Government of India has done a great job to assure the Nagas that they deserve a solution that is nothing less than honourable and acceptable. Giving official recognition to the unique history and situation of the Nagas is taken as the correct step towards this direction," it added.

The NSCN leadership also urged the Central government to ensure restraint by the Assam Rifles and said that the scenario at present resembles like the pre-ceasefire period with the force showing an aggressive postures, harassing villagers and frisking commuters.

"The villagers were harassed with uncomfortable questions giving them much mental unrest. As days passed, AR have become more unruly and going towards the direction to sow seeds of another bloody conflicts with the Nagas," they said adding that such manner of intensified operation by the force "makes the whole scenario unbecoming of search for the earliest solution to the Naga problem". IANS