New Delhi: The National Socialist Council of Nagalim or NSCN (I-M), has said that the agreement it entered with New Delhi in 2015 should not be equated with a peace deal signed with a conglomerate of rival groups to resolve the protracted Naga peace process.
The NSCN (I-M), also known as the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland, had signed the Framework Agreement with the Centre in August 2015 and the Agreed Position with the working committee of the Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs) in November 2017, reported The Hindu.
The group urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to uphold the Framework Agreement, which it claimed accommodated the demand for a separate flag and constitution for the Naga domain.
The NSCN ((-M) said in a statement on Wednesday (February 12) that the Agreed Position was nothing but a “colouration” of Article 371A of the Constitution of India “craftily handled by the Indian agencies”.
The group also said the negotiations between the Centre and the NNPGs were concluded in October 2019, which made it difficult to align the Framework Agreement with the Agreed Position.
The NSCN (I-M) lauded 21 MPs for writing to Home Minister Amit Shah a week ago, seeking an update on the Naga peace process in Parliament.
The MPs had said the peace process should not be “relegated to bureaucratic manoeuvring devoid of democratic oversight”. They had also highlighted the fact that there has not been a full-time interlocutor for the negotiations since 2021.
The NSCN (I-M) also questioned the sincerity of the Indian government in honouring its commitment to the peace process.
