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Centre-Naga talks deferred

Josy Joseph in New Delhi

Talks between the Union government and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muviah) have been postponed indefinitely.

The decision comes in the wake of the detention and sentencing to one-year jail term of the NSCN (IM) general secretary, Thuingaleng Muivah, in Thailand a few days back.

The talks were to have been resumed between prime minister's chief negotiator K Padmanabhiah and NSCN (IM) representatives in Thailand later this month. Sources said no new dates have been fixed.

The break down of peace talks threatens whatever peace that exists in Nagaland, where the NSCN (IM) and the Indian authorities have been observing a cease-fire since August 1997. The cease-fire would end on July 31 this year.

This would have been the third round of talks between the NSCN-IM and the Indian government after the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government came to power.

The cease-fire was declared in August 1997. But there were several issues of dispute, including the area covered under it. New Delhi maintains that the cease-fire covers only Nagaland, while the NSCN-IM says it covers all areas where Nagas live.

Muivah was sentenced to a year's jail term by a Thai court for violating immigration laws and attempting to flee while on bail. He faces yet another trial for entering Thailand on a fake passport.

Muivah landed in Bangkok on January 19, travelling from Karachi on a South Korean passport.

He was granted bail by a local court, but was not supposed to leave the country. He was kept at Hotel Basili near Bangkok International airport with two security guards.

On January 28, he pretended to be ill and went to a hospital. He disappeared from there.

Muivah later appeared at Hatyai, an airport in South Thailand with yet another fake passport. He was nabbed at the airport and produced before the Songkhla court.

Muivah's close associate I Shimre was also arrested with him.

In a recent interview withrediff.com, Padmanabhiah, said that during the last round of talks both the sides had "talked about various irritants that came in the way of extending the cease-fire."

He said, "Ultimately a solution has to be found within the framework of the Indian Constitution. What they are looking for at this point of time is not very important. All this is part of the negotiations."

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