Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reportedly assured Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh that the state will not be broken up in order to create a separate Naga state.
Singh, who was in Delhi along with other cabinet colleague, held a meeting with the prime minister. He later said, "The prime minister has given us assurance that the framework agreement has nothing to do with the boundary and territorial integrity of the state (Manipur)."
THE WEEK has recently written about how Naga peace talks have reached a deadlock over various issues pertaining to demands placed by the NSCN (IM) and six other insurgent groups, who had recently declared a ceasefire.
Among the demands put in place by various insurgent groups were shared sovereignty (which was later withdrawn), separate passports, flags, emblem and a separate Nagalim curving out the areas from Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, where large number of Nagas live.
THE WEEK had reported that none of the demands was met and that the Central government had categorically told the negotiating groups that redrawing boundaries of states would lead to violence and disturbances. What the prime minister told the Manipur chief minister has vindicated what THE WEEK had claimed in its report.
"In fact, when we met with NSCN (IM) representatives, they also told us the same thing that under no circumstances the government of India would be ready to curve out areas from Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh," said Tia Longchar, chairman of the ACAUT (Against Corruption and Unabated Taxation), an organisation in Nagaland to press for Naga cause.
With separate state demand gone, Nagas are now relying only on some societal norms and customs which perhaps would be part of the legislative laws along the lines of Mizoram.
Longchar said that under such circumstances, the Naga groups would have to accept the fact that they were unable to make a deal out of the peace process.