NEW DELHI, MARCH 25 (PTI): The Centre today strongly refuted as “erroneous” the reports that it has agreed to carve out a larger Nagaland state.
A Home Ministry spokesperson said some reports have appeared recently to the effect that the Government of India has agreed to carve out a larger Nagaland state by taking away territories of states contiguous to Nagaland.
“Such reports are erroneous. It is clarified that there is no such agreement or decision by the Government of India,” the spokesperson said.
Thuingaleng Muivah, General Secretary, NSCN (IM) was quoted recently that the ‘Framework Agreement’ signed with the Centre two years back has recognised the outfit’s demand for territorial integration of all Naga inhabited areas in the region.
The Framework Agreement was signed on August 3, 2015 by Muivah and the government’s interlocutor R N Ravi in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
The agreement came after over 80 rounds of negotiations spanning 18 years with the first breakthrough in 1997 when the ceasefire agreement was sealed.
“The pact had set the political parameters of the final solution,” officials said.
Demand for white paper on Framework Agreement, bandh launched
Demanding a white paper on the Framework Agreement, Manipur Muslim Welfare Association has launched a 24-hour bandh starting 6 pm today in the state. Association president Abdullah Pathan demanded that the BJP-led government should produce the white paper on the agreement signed between NSCN (IM) and the Centre within 24 hours.
The bandh follows NSCN (IM) General Secretary Th Muivah’s reported remark at Camp Hebron in Nagaland recently that the Framework Agreement, which was signed two years ago, recognized the demand to integrate all Naga inhabited areas in the region.
Pathan also urged the state government to make public any hidden agenda behind the induction of a Naga Peoples Front (NPF) MLA in the new council of ministers and criticized NPF for its reluctance to identify itself as Manipuris. The new BJP-led coalition government in Manipur has the support of 4 NPF MLAs and one of them has been given a cabinet rank.
