Naga delegation to meet NSCN-K chief SS Khaplang: CM TR Zeliang

BJP today accused Congress of forcing its Chief Ministers of Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh to retract statements on Naga peace accord and said it “augurs badly” for the country that the opposition party does so on the issue of national security.

Interestingly Congress president Sonia Gandhi questioned the government’s failure to consult the chief ministers subsequently, saying, “from this I take that this government is arrogant… their arrogance is even more clear than it was before, it’s an insult to the chief minister, not only to them, but also to the people of those states and federal structure of our country”.

“Emerging from the meeting Mr Zeliang said, Nagalands bordering states do not have to worry about their territory as the content of the Naga accord is not known to anybody”.

Government is willing to consider autonomous Hill councils to help Nagas achieve cultural integration and have more say in how they are governed.

Federal minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Nagaland Chief Minister T R Zeliang was kept in the loop and had met Modi two days before the accord was inked.

Naga peace pact is only a “formula” for a final accord, Nagaland Chief Minister T.R. Zeliang on Sunday asserted while seeking to allay apprehensions of other northeastern states, and said that the other members of Assembly were even ready to step down to make a new beginning.

The news alerted all states in the North East, as a “solution” as per the NSCN(IM) position lay in sovereignty and the creation of a Greater Nagaland, carved out of the other states with a substantial Naga population.

Rijiju said the security scenario has improved in the northeast but it needs to be improved further.

The Minister claimed that there has been a practice in government where affected states are consulted whenever such accords take place and the process was duly followed in this case too.

The Chief Minister of Manipur, Shri Okram Ibobi Singh calling on the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, in New Delhi on August 08, 2015.

The agreement, however, does not ensure complete peace in the region because of the rebel NSCN (Khaplang group), which has remained active in the recent past.

He said the central government would invite the states for discussion while working out the final shape of the accord.

Surjewala termed the government’s contention that it had consulted Gogoi, Tuki and Ibobi Singh on the accord as “a blatant lie”.

The three chief ministers have declared that they will not cede an inch of land for the accord.