Naga peace talks: At Camp Hebron, Centre’s interlocutor meets NSCN-IM’s Th Muivah

“We had an informal meeting with A K Mishra,” an NSCN-IM leader confirmed to . He added that it was the first time that peace talks were being held with a Government of India representative inside Camp Hebron.

Former special director of the Intelligence Bureau, Mishra, who replaced R N Ravi as the interlocutor last year, arrived in Nagaland on Monday to discuss the vexed Naga political issue. He is expected to meet the state government’s core committee as well as the Naga National Political Groups (NNPG) during his stay.

“A K Mishra is the first interlocutor to visit Hebron for talks, which is significant,” the NSCN-IM leader said and added that the discussions on Tuesday lasted for a little more than two hours.

The meeting comes a week after Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, Deputy CM Y Patton and former chief minister T R Zeliang met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi to discuss the status of peace talks, which seems to have hit a roadblock since 2019.

The Naga movement is considered India’s longest-running insurgency. In 1997, the Centre had signed a ceasefire agreement with the NSCN-IM. In 2015, renewed negotiations had begun between the NSCN-IM and the Modi government. Since then, seven other Naga armed outfits, under the banner of Naga National Political Groups, have joined the talks.

While formal talks have been over since October 2019, a final agreement remains elusive, with the NSCN-IM holding on to its demands for a separate Naga flag and Constitution.

The peace process started flailing after relations between the NSCN-IM and then Naga interlocutor R N Ravi soured in 2019-20, with both engaging in a war of words. In September 2020, Ravi resigned as Naga interlocutor and was transferred to Tamil Nadu, where he is currently the Governor.

Earlier this month, the NSCN-IM had once again blamed Ravi for his “confusing handling” of the “Indo-Naga talks.” In a press statement issued on April 10, NSCN-IM denied that the talks had been concluded on 31 October, 2019.

October 31, 2019 was “actually a day of ultimatum served to the NSCN to sign the agreement under the Indian constitution without the Naga flag and the Yehzabo (constitution),” the NSCN(IM) stated.

“Ravi threatened NSCN with dire consequences and declared that with or without NSCN, an agreement has to be signed on or before 31 October, 2019…” The outfit also accused Ravi of resorting to “psychological warfare”.