RN RAVI RESIGNS AS INTERLOCUTOR AFTER NAGA GROUPS OBJECT

NEW DELHI: The Centre’s interlocutor for Naga peace talks since 2014, RN Ravi, with whom Naga groups had refused to hold any discussions, on Wednesday stepped down from the post. A ministry of home affairs spokesperson said Ravi’s resignation was accepted with immediate effect.

The development comes days after Ravi was moved as Governor of Tamil Nadu from Nagaland, where he held the post of Governor as well.

Isak-muivah-led National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM), while seeking his ouster, had claimed last year that Ravi misinterpreted the 2015 Framework Agreement between the Naga groups and the Centre and tried to manipulate it. In a statement issued in August last year, NSCN-IM said Ravi was creating hurdles in the final settlement of the Naga political issue.

His removal on September 9 from Nagaland is being seen as a positive step towards finalising the peace deal, especially at a time when all the members of the Nagaland legislative assembly have agreed to come together to push for settlement and pave the way. “The trust deficit between Ravi and Naga groups had deepened so much in last two years that talks had not moved at all. The process has begun again,” said a government official.

The biggest and oldest of the Naga rebel outfits, NSCN-IM had been in peace talks with the central government since 1997 and signed a Framework Agreement (FA) on August 3, 2015, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which was to be the basis for a final deal on the longpending Naga issue.

Former Intelligence Bureau special director, Akshay Mishra, is currently handling the peace talks “unofficially”. Ravi did not respond to HT’S calls for a comment on the matter.