The Manmohan Singh [ Images ] government will for the first time open talks with the Nationalist Social Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) from Wednesday in the Netherlands to find a solution to the insurgency problem in Nagaland.

The Centre's special representative, K Padmanabhaiah, and Intelligence Bureau Director K P Singh will leave New Delhi [ Images ] on Tuesday for Amsterdam to hold parleys with the outfit's chairman Isak Chisi Swu and general secretary T Muivah, sources said.

Complete coverage: The Ceasefire in Nagaland

The talks will last three days beginning June 23, they said.

The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Home Minister Shivraj Patil [ Images ].

The charter of demands submitted by the Naga group was discussed at the meeting and it was decided that the negotiations should continue.

The NSCN (I-M) demand for a 'Greater Nagaland' to incorporate Naga-dominated areas of the neighbouring states in the Northeast, including Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Manipur, was also discussed.

The demand for Greater Nagaland had sparked-off angry protests in Manipur after which the previous National Democratic Alliance government withdrew an order extending ceasefire in Nagaland beyond the state's borders.

The peace process got a symbolic boost last year when Swu and Muivah visited India for the first time in 36 years and met the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee [ Images ], his deputy Lal Kishenchand Advani [ Images ] and other leaders.

The Centre and the NSCN (I-M) had entered into a ceasefire agreement in 1997 and the two sides have since held several rounds of talks in Switzerland [ Images ], France [ Images ], Italy [ Images ], the Netherlands, Thailand, Japan [ Images ] and Malaysia.

The two NSCN (I-M) leaders were scheduled to arrive in New Delhi in mid-February for talks with the Centre but the meeting was cancelled due to the general election.

The rival NSCN group led by guerrilla leader S S Khaplang, which has also been observing ceasefire since 2001, has also announced its decision to start talks with the new government soon.