NSCN-Centre talks likely to begin on Tuesday

Talks between the government and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland(Isaak Muivah) are likely to begin in New Delhi on Tuesday with the Naga rebel group asserting it has not withdrawn its key demand of sovereignty for Nagaland, a call rejected by the Centre as not feasible.

The group has been blaming the government for the delay in finding a solution to the six-decades-old Naga problem. "It is pretty long time that we have been talking to government of India and it is high time that the government should take the matter seriously. In more than 10 years, they could not solve the problem so they are responsible for that," NSCN-IM general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah said.

On whether NSCN-IM had withdrawn the demand for sovereignty for Nagaland, Muivah, who reached Delji on Saturday night from Amsterdam for the talks, said it cannot be withdrawn as it

is the people who should decide their fate. "Sovereignty cannot be withdrawn because sovereignty is with the people. It is the people who should decide their fate and that cannot withdrawn but the question is how to understand, how are we going to understand the government of India or it should understand us. This is the problem," he said.

Union Home Secretary G K Pillai had earlier said that demands like sovereignty or integration of Naga-inhabited areas was not feasible. Asked how optimistic he was about the talks, he said, "We have been told that the government of India has arranged some counter-proposals from their side. I don't know how far that is practicable or acceptable to us." The Naga leaders will hold talks with the Centre's new interlocutor R S Pandey, a former petroleum secretary. Muivah is also likely to call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram.