Naga leaders to meet Vajpayee, Advani on Jan 9

This will be the first time that top NSCN (I-M) leaders, Isak Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah, will visit India in the last 30 years for negotiations. Though no major accord is likely to be signed between the government and the insurgent outfit, the high-level parleys are expected to pave way for the launch of a political process.

Since 1997, Swu and Muivah have been holding negotiations with Centre’s interlocutor K. Pamanabhaiah and successive intelligence bureau chiefs, including present director K.P. Singh, in countries like Netherlands and Thailand.

While NSCN(I-M) general secretary Muivah, who already possesses an Indian passport, is expected to arrive from The Hague, the outfit’s chairman, Swu, and three others have been issued passports by the Indian mission in Oslo, official sources said.

The government has already acceded to the demand of the outfit by allowing a ban on it to lapse beyond November 26 and withdrawing cases against Muivah for an alleged plot to assasinate Nagaland Chief Minister S.C. Jamir.