Naga group NSCN-IM questions PM Modi's 'silence' over his claim to end conflict in the region

Guwahati: The Naga insurgent group in ceasefire, NSCN-IM, stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence regarding the Naga issue suggested that he was "running away" from finding an end to the 77-year-old Naga conflict.

The outfit said that Modi was quick to take credit when the Centre had signed a "Framework Agreement" with NSCN-IM in August 2015 but did not utter a word about the Naga conflict even as he began his third term.

"When the Framework Agreement was officially inked, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's excitement was uncontrollable for having solved the Naga political issue, the longest political movement in South Asia.

Besides making the world witness the high profile political signing ceremony through a live broadcast, he called upon leaders of all major political parties to let them know that he has outscored them by solving the issue.

"But in reality, it turned out that he simply wants to claim the credit in hurry when it's not due," NSCN-IM said in its mouthpiece, Nagalim Voice, which was released on Saturday evening.

The mouthpiece said PM Modi has done nothing that goes beyond the ritual agreement speech and so the Nagas are "furious about his broken words."

Most Naga groups claim they were never part of India and declared "independence" in 1947.

They launched an armed movement in which hundreds of Nagas and security forces died in the conflict. The violence by the Naga groups and the operations by the security forces continued till 1997 when the NSCN-IM agreed for a ceasefire with the Centre and continued negotiations. Some agreements were signed in between but those were declared "null and void" by the NSCN-IM.

After years of negotiations, a Framework Agreement was signed between the NSCN-IM and the Centre on August 3, 2015 in New Delhi, months after Modi government came to power.

This agreement was to be the basis for signing a final agreement to end the Naga. But contrasting interpretation of the Framework Agreement by both the NSCN-IM and the Centre delayed the process for signing of a final agreement.

The NSCN-IM have made several attempts to make it clear that its "core demands" such a separate flag and Constitution (called Yehjabo) for the Nagas and "integration" of the Naga-inhabited areas in the Northeast, is non-negotiable.

But the Centre categorically rejected the demands and offered the Nagas to only symbolically use their flag and constitution, for reaching a final solution.