February 10, 2011 9:20:23 am
Asserting that the Naga people had refused to be part of India when the Union was formed post-Independence,NSCN-IM general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah on Wednesday said his group would like to see a solution to the Naga insurgency problem through discussions.
In doing so,he also gave the impression of having softened his rebel-groups stand on independence. His group has been holding parleys with the Centres interlocutor R S Pandey to iron out differences on several vexed issues.
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,however,asserted that if a plebiscite were to be held in Nagaland,99.9 per cent Naga people would vote for independence.
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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.
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.
In the last meeting,the NSCN-IM 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.
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