NEW DELHI, SEPT 26: Widening the deliberations on the ticklish issue of extending security forces' cease-fire with the NSCN(I-M) beyond Nagaland, Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee has called the Chief Ministers of Assam, Manipur and Meghalaya here on Thursday.New Delhi is hopeful of an ``amicable'' solution to the crisis following the NSCN's demand of extending the area of cease-fire to all ``Naga-inhabited regions'' of the North-East.Earlier in the day, Vajpayee held a detailed meeting on the vexed issue. Union Home Minister L.K. Advani, officials from the PMO and the North Block and K. Padmanabhiah, the Government's emissary authorised to hold talks with NSCN leaders abroad, attended the session.Observers in the North Block share the view that the three Chief Ministers should not have any problem in accepting NSCN's position as several areas within their states have sizable number of Nagas.At the same time, the officials stressed, the Government's ``working relation'' with the NSCN could improve only after the militant organisation met two conditions - it stopped its rein of extortion and other crimes targeting civilians and agreed to quick resumption of peace talks which got derailed in January following arrest of its secretary general Muivah in Bangkok.Earlier, in a letter marked to Vajpayee, NSCN had threatened to cancel the three-year-old cease-fire if its demand was not met by September 15. The deadline passed uneventfully, mainly because in the Government's reply, Padmanabhiah maintained that the Central Government was in the process of contacting CMs of neighboring states on the question of including their areas in the cease-fire.
