PAC of Nagaland govt to hold meetings with apex tribal bodies

KOHIMA: The Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of Nagaland government has decided to hold consultative meetings with apex tribal bodies and civil society organizations on taking forward the Naga Political Issue. The decision to this effect was taken during the state government's PAC meeting held here on Wednesday in the presence of Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and the two MPs of the state, said Nagaland government spokesperson and Parliamentary Affairs minister, K G Kenye at a press conference after the meeting.
The Rio government had constituted the PAC on Naga Political Issue in November 2023 to facilitate an early solution to the vexed issue. It is composed of the 60 members in the state assembly of eight political parties: NDPP, BJP, NCP, NPP, NPF, RPI (A), LJP (RV), JD (U), independent MLAs, and also the Congress MP.
Kenye said the Centre has been holding separate negotiations with NSCN-IM and the Working Committee of the Naga National Political Groups. He said despite all the stakeholders appealing to different Naga groups to come together and be one for the negotiations, they don't seem to be coming together and are not even able to see each other.
Two major agreements - Framework Agreement with NSCN-IM and Agreed Position with WC NNPGs have been inked by the Centre, but there are certain areas of the Framework Agreement which have not been divulged and come to public domain whereas the Agreed Position has been made open, he said.
The parallel stand they are maintaining is detrimental to the negotiation with the Centre while this could be the reason for the delay in the final solution, he said.
Kenye said the PAC felt that the state government should approach peoples' organisations, civil societies, tribal bodies and the apex bodies and invite their views and opinions on how to go about resolving the issue confronting the Naga society for so long.
Asked when would the consultative meeting commence, Kenye said that the resolution of the Naga Political Issue is the top agenda of the present state government because of which 60 members have come together and formed the opposition-less government and therefore the consultations would be held at the earliest.
In the past government, the PAC used to approach the Naga negotiators to press for an early solution but this time, the PAC would first seek the opinion of the general public on how to go ahead, Kenye said.
In the second session of the meeting, he said the PAC deliberated on the ongoing dialogue between the Centre and Eastern Nagaland Peoples' Organisation (ENPO) on the latter's demand for Frontier Nagaland Territory.
With the change of guard in the ENPO, the new executives apprised the PAC on the latest developments in the ongoing dialogue.
Accepting that the Centre has given a draft of its proposal to resolve the ENPO demand to the state, he said the state government would first deliberate on the proposals with Eastern Nagaland Legislators' Union having 20 MLAs in the state after which further steps would be taken.
He said that PAC is optimistic that the new team of ENPO officials would extend cooperation to the state government and momentum will pick up for the tripartite talks for early resolution of their problem.