Six months after they came to India for talks, Naga leaders feel the United Progressive Alliance government is avoiding a resolution of the core issue of integration of Naga-inhabited areas, without which they say there could be "no solution at all" to the Naga problem.
Right now, with the peace talks making no apparent progress, National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah and his colleagues are planning to pack their bags for Amsterdam next week.
Muivah parried questions whether they were thinking of quitting the talks.
Suggesting a federal relationship between the Naga state and India, he told PTI in an interview that the government "seems to be willing to avoid it... if this issue is not resolved, there can be no solution at all".
The top NSCN (I-M) leader, however, said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson were "sincere" and "some" of the ministers negotiating with them were "serious and sensible".
"We have respect for them. But how far they can get their way through is yet to be seen," he said.
Asked whether they would quit the peace talks in case they failed, Muivah said, "We have not received any positive response from the government. But from our side, we have made our position very clear on all issues. No issue has been left unclear. So, it is for the government to give us a response."
Observing that the Centre wanted a consensus among the people of Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh to resolve the integration issue, he said, "This amounts to having the fate of Naga people being decided by them. It is an insult to the Nagas and we will never accept this."
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