GoI has deliberately delayed talk process, says Muivah

NSCN (I-M) ato kilonser Th. Muivah has accused the government of India (GoI) of deliberately delaying the ongoing political talks between the two entities.
He said this while addressing the media at Dimapur airport Sunday after arriving from Delhi.  Muivah and NSCN (I-M) yaruiwo Isak Chishi Swu have been camping in Delhi for the last four months. Both the leaders went to Delhi last November for the resumption of the ongoing Naga talks.
The ato kilonser maintained that in the absence of an interlocutor in the ongoing parley between government of India and NSCN (I-M), it was not possible for both the parties to take up the initiative on resumption of the talks.
It may be mentioned that Government of India’s interlocutor for the Naga political talks R.S. Pandey resigned from his position and had joined the BJP in December last year to contest the ensuing Lok Sabha polls from a parliamentary constituency in Bihar.
Muivah has alleged that ‘’the process has been held up. I should say that it has been done deliberately by the government of India to postpone it or to just keep up that way’’. He however added that it did not mean that the talk has “stopped.”
Asserting that government of India was not expected to remain silent this way, Muivah reiterated that the ball was in the Government of India’s court and that the latter was expected to take the initiative for “active resumption of the talk”. He also lamented that government of India was “not coming forward” to find a settlement to the vexed Naga issue.
While appreciating the “difficulties” of the Indian government in the wake of the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections, Muivah however said that the Centre was “naturally” expected to take initiative and be prepared to resume the talk under any circumstances.
“Very sorry, we don’t see wisdom and guts on the part of government of India because you know both the Indians and the Naga people are anxiously waiting for the outcome of the talks and that is not wrong on their part but they could not do that.” said the ato kilonser.
Muivah admitted that the government of India has assured of taking up political talks and to work out the solution and yet he said that NSCN (I-M) was not “satisfied with that kind of promises.”
He then questioned why government of India has remained “silent” for the past two years when they had the interlocutor and the talk could have been taken up. Despite all these, Muivah reiterated that it did not mean that government of India did not want to solve the “problem” as it could not go back from the given commitment. Without an interlocutor, the ongoing talks might not proceed at the pace expected. Those doing the rounds for the new interlocutor to the Naga peace talks include: Lt. Gen. (retd) R.N. Kapur, former Assam Police chief G.M. Srivastava, Ajit Lal, currently chairman of the joint intelligence committee and a former special director of the Intelligence Bureau, and R.N. Ravi, former IB special director.