The three outfits are breakaway factions of dominant groups NSCN-IM, NSCN-K (Representational)
New Delhi:
The Centre today extended the ceasefire agreement with three insurgent groups of Nagaland for another year. The pact, signed today, will remain in force till April next year.
“It has been decided to extend the ceasefire agreements for a further period of one year with effect from April 28, 2021 to April 27, 2022 with NSCN/NK and NSCN/R and from April 18, 2021 to April 17, 2022 with NSCN/K-Khango, ” the Home Ministry said in a written statement.
The ceasefire agreements are in operation between the Centre and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland/NK (NSCN/NK), National Socialist Council of Nagaland/ Reformation (NSCN/R) and National Socialist Council of Nagaland/K-Khango (NSCN/K-Khango).
These three outfits are the breakaway factions of dominant groups NSCN-IM and NSCN-K.
Peace negotiations with the NSCN-IM has been on since 1997 when the group signed the ceasefire agreement with the central government for the first time.
In 2015, the group signed a Framework Agreement on August 3 in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to find a permanent solution.
“The framework agreement came after over 80 rounds of negotiations spanning across 18 years, with the first breakthrough made in 1997 when the ceasefire agreement was sealed after decades of insurgency in Nagaland which started soon after India’s independence in1947,” explained a senior official in the ministry.
According to the official, the talks with the NSCN-IM seem to be heading nowhere presently as the group has been insisting for a separate Naga flag and constitution. “These demands have been rejected by the central government but we are still engaging with them,” he added.
Meanwhile, the NSCN-K had signed a ceasefire agreement with the Centre in 2001 but unilaterally abrogated it in 2015 when the then chairman of the group SS Khaplang was alive.
In December last year, the NSCN-K, led by terrorist Niki Sumi, had announced a ceasefire and said that the outfit has contacted the central government to initiate a peace dialogue.
Niki Sumi was the prime accused in the killing of 18 Indian Army soldiers in Manipur in 2015 and the National Investigation Agency had announced a bounty of Rs 10 lakh on his head.