Delimitation Nagaland govt urged for asking Centre to tell SC about Naga peace talks status

Dimapur (Nagaland), Mar 22 (PTI) The Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs), comprising seven organisations, on Saturday urged the Nagaland government to take steps so that the Centre inform the Supreme Court about the status of peace talks, regarding its order on the delimitation exercise in the state.
    The statement of the NNPGs, which signed a pact of Agreed Position with the central government to find a solution to the Naga issue, came days after the Supreme Court granted three months to the Centre to carry out delimitation exercise in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Nagaland.
    The Centre has not yet brought the status of the Naga peace talks to the court's attention, the NNPGs alleged in a letter to Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio.

    The political negotiations concluded on October 31, 2019, and the government agreed to increase the number of seats in the Nagaland Assembly to 80 to provide representation of all the 17 tribes in the House and in the state Cabinet, it claimed.
    “The number of Lok Sabha seats would be increased to three in addition to the existing single seat,” the letter maintained.

    The NNPGs demanded that the state government take action to halt the delimitation process and convey the sentiment of the Naga people to the Centre, urging them to respect the historical and political agreements made in the peace talks.
    In the letter, the NNPGs also said that a hearing of a PIL questioning the constitutionality of the Nagaland Petroleum and Natural Gas Rules and Regulations is scheduled to be held before a division bench of the Guwahati High Court on March 24.
    The conglomerate asserted that the rules are part of the peace process and any court ruling on this might complicate the situation.
    So, the Nagaland government, as a facilitator in the peace talks, should present the facts to the court that the subjects under consideration are part of political discussions and agreements, with some matters already settled, the NNPGs said in the letter.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)