State-specific extremist groups have begun peace parleys alongside the Centre’s push for resolving decades-old conflicts in the northeast.
On Tuesday, members of the Working Committee of the Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs) held a “solidarity meeting” with leaders of the pro-talks United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) in Guwahati toward peaceful co-existence.
The NNPGs, in talks with Delhi since 2017, comprise the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Unification), the NSCN (Reformation), the NSCN (Khango), the Naga National Council and two of its factions, and the Federal Government of Nagaland.
Leaders of the NNPGs and the ULFA said the meeting for “appreciating each other’s ongoing peace process” was significant given the history of inter-State boundary disputes and apprehensions that the final solution to the Naga political problem could lead to Assam losing large swathes of land for a “Naga-administered sub-region”.
Unification of all Naga-inhabited areas beyond Nagaland has been a long-term demand of the Isak-Muivah faction of the NSCN, or NSCN-IM, the largest and strongest group in the peace process that has continued since August 1997.
“We have the common goal of taking the region forward while protecting our identity and culture. We appreciated each other’s peace process with New Delhi and hoped that an early inclusive agreement (with the Naga groups) would be inked fulfilling the aspirations of the indigenous people of Assam,” ULFA general secretary Anup Chetia said on Wednesday.
“The two sides also agreed to maintain constant interactions and ensure continuity of dialogue, besides maintaining, preserving and promoting fraternal relationship in the future,” said N. Kitovi Zhimomi, the convenor of the Working Committee of the NNPGs.
ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, the outfit’s vice-chairman Pradip Gogoi and NNPG co-conveners Wangtin Naga, Zopra Vero, Hozheto Chophy, Kiumukam Yimchunger, Toshi Walling and Isak Sumi attended the meeting.
