Newmai News Network
DIMAPUR, September 20
A 10-member team of the NSCN-IM today has left Dimapur for New Delhi on the invitation of the government of India. NSCN-IM chairman Isak Chisi Swu and general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah led the team.
According to sources, the 10-member delegation of the NSCN-IM will prepare for the formal talks with the government of India in the national capital for about a week. The precise dates scheduled for the talks have not been revealed by the sources. “First we will arrive in Delhi and we will let you know,” said an NSCN-IM leader before departing for the national capital.It is not clear if the NSCN-IM team will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The sources refused to divulge details of the programme. “We have been invited by the government of India for talks and so we are responding to it,” said another source from the NSCN-IM.
Meanwhile, speculations are rife that the NSCN-IM delegation will hold talks with Narendra Modi after a week or so. Currently, the Prime Minister is in tight engagements with foreign affairs, the source stated. There have also been speculations that the NSCN-IM team will start meeting with new interlocutor RN Ravi straight away. But this yet to be confirmed officially.
Meanwhile, it is expected that in the series of meetings to be held between the NSCN-IM and the government of India representatives, the issue such as the ceasefire coverage is likely figure besides the ‘core issue’, the sources added.
It is worth noting that no concerted formal talks between the NSCN-IM and the government of India were held for a long time, as was witnessed during the Vajpayee era. When the UPA was in the saddle, the relationship between the NSCN-IM and the Centre was more of the blow-hot, blow-cold affairs.
With the returning of the NDA at the Centre, the Naga civil society organisations and the NSCN-IM are upbeat and there have been expressions of optimism that something good for the Nagas is coming.
