PM Modi directs IB Director to step in amid derailing peace talks with Naga rebels

In a big development, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked the Director of the Intelligence Bureau, Arvind Kumar, to bring back the Naga Peace talks on track, after expressing concern over the recent fallout, as per reports. Sources say that Government's interlocutor and Nagaland Governor RN Ravi's silence over the issue in the past months has raised concerns in the Prime Minister's office. 

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What are the Naga peace talks & what are the developments so far?

The long-standing demand of the Naga tribes is to create Greater Nagalim that comprises areas of neighbouring states, as well as Myanmar. After several rounds of talks, Centre in 2015 had signed the framework agreement of the Nagaland Peace Accord with National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) to end the insurgency. However, the details were not disclosed. While PM Modi termed the breakthrough as 'historic' and the statement by Centre after the peace accord said that they recognise 'unique history, culture and position of the Nagas', in the past six months, a  three-way feud has erupted as per reports.

Reportedly, NSCN(IM), the largest of the rebel groups, Governor and Interlocutor RN Ravi and the new National Naga Political Groups (NNPG) are in a midst of deadlock. Prime Minister's office stepped in after Thuingaleng Muivah, the general secretary of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) or NSCN(IM) while observing the Naga Independence Day, on August 14, claimed that when it signed the 2015 Nagaland Peace Accord, Centre agreed that 'Nagas will co-exist but not merge with India.'

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While NSCN-IM has demanded Ravi’s removal as the Centre’s interlocutor, the Governor made veiled attacks on the rebel group in his Independence Day speech. He alleged that 'armed gangs' were running parallel governments in Nagaland. Moreover, NSCN-IM accused the Governor of converting a political issue into a law and order problem and adopting a 'stratagem' that resulted in the killing and arrest of its members. NSCN-IM, which has been engaged in peace negotiations with the Centre for the last 23 years, also alleged that Ravi was trying to divide the Naga people and "misled" the central government and a parliamentary standing committee on the framework agreement.

The framework agreement signed in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015, came after over 80 rounds of negotiations spanning 18 years, with the first breakthrough made in 1997 when the ceasefire agreement was sealed after decades of insurgency in Nagaland which started soon after India''s Independence in 1947. 

(PTI image)

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