Muivah invokes Mahatma,says he recognised Nagas’ uniqueness

“But the world is changing very fast and it is recognised everywhere that no people is completely sovereign or no nation is completely independent. The issue of independence is already there and so all this depends on negotiations. We are on that line,” he told reporters here.

Muivah said if a plebiscite is held in Nagaland,99.9 per cent Naga people would vote for independence.

“Even Mahatma Gandhi,during the course of his discussions with Naga leaders,had said ‘yes,you have every right to be independent,you can decide on your own,your history is unique’. So,we have to find out a solution considering this uniqueness,” he said.

Perhaps,this is for the first time the top NSCN-IM leader has invoked the name of the apostle of peace – Mahatma Gandhi. The banned outfit has been continuing a bloody insurgent movement in the Northeast for the last six decades which has claimed several thousand lives.

Muivah said the issue of sovereignty has to be discussed and this process was now on.

“Government of India said it is not a law and order problem. It is political,” he said.

The Naga group has been holding parleys with the Centre’s interlocutor R S Pandey to iron out differences on several vexed issues.

In the last meeting,the NSCN-IM has proposed a federal relationship with the Indian Union with additional financial and legislative powers while the Central government offered financial package for socio-cultural development of Naga people.

A ceasefire was agreed on with NSCN-IM in August,1997. In May,1998,the Union government had appointed Swaraj Kaushal as the first negotiator. He continued in his post till July 1999. After him,former Home Secretary K Padmanabhaiah took charge as the Centre’s pointsman and continued till last year.

Pandey,a former Petroleum secretary and a 1972-batch Nagaland cadre IAS officer,was appointed as a new interlocutor on February 11,2010.