Polls put deal between Centre, Naga leaders on back burner
NEWDELHI: THE CENTRE AND THE NATIONAL SOCIALIST COUNCIL OF NAGALAND (NSCN) HAD ON AUGUST 3, 2015, SIGNED AN AGREEMENT TO
END INSURGENCY
The peace deal between New Delhi and Naga leaders to end India’s oldest insurgency will have to wait to see the light of the day. The pending framework agreement, details and execution plan missed the Nagaland assembly election deadline, with the two sides still discussing a couple of contentious points, government sources said.
The Election Commission on Thursday announced the schedule for the Nagaland assembly election, dampening hopes of an agreement before it.
The Naga Hoho, the apex body of the tribals, had last week sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s help to postpone the polls and resolve the insurgency issue first.
The Centre and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) had on August 3, 2015, signed an agreement to end insurgency. It was a year after the government appointed RN Ravi as the interlocutor for the Naga peace talks in August 2014. “Ravi is yet to submit a draft agreement (with NSCN) to the Centre,” a government leader said.
The Centre will then share this agreement with other stakeholders, such as neighbouring Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, for their objections. New Delhi will also have a look at it and make changes if required. The draft will then be returned to NSCN leaders for agreement and if it gets their approval, a bill will be brought to Parliament.
“If we can prepare a broad outline of the agreement soon, it will be a breakthrough,” the leader said. Given the uncertainty over the timeline when this agreement can be achieved, the political leadership was averse to the idea of postponing assembly polls. A pending agreement, they felt, was not a sound reason to halt a democratic process.
Responding to a question on the final signing of the Naga Peace Accord, Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said the Centre’s current priority was a “free, fair and peaceful” election in Nagaland.
“Our government is working towards signing the agreement and we are hopeful that the same will be done soon after state elections are conducted in Nagaland without any violence or untoward incident,” he said, adding it was his personal desire to see a “peaceful Nagaland”.
The government expects the draft agreement to be ready in a few months, and wants a ‘more stable and favourable’ government to be in control of the situation to handle the fallout of the agreement.