N Kitovi Zhimomi (left) and Col (Rtd) Isak Sumi (right) after their meeting with GoI representative AK Mishra on July 17.
Morung Express News
Dimapur | July 17
The two segments of the Working Committee, Naga National Political Groups (WC, NNPGs) has had a joint seating, a first, since splitting. A development believed to have been brokered by the Government of India’s (GoI) representative to the Indo-Naga political talks, AK Mishra, representatives from both the sides sat across the table in a closed-door meeting held at the Nagaland Police Complex, Chümoukedima on July 17.
The splintering of WC, NNPGs was a fallout of the split in the GPRN/NSCN in April 2024, an event that saw General (retired) MB Neokpao Konyak, Alezo Venuh and General Samson Aye parting ways with N Kitovi Zhimomi. Konyak was the President, Venuh was the Special Envoy to the Collective Leadership, Aye was the army chief, while Zhimomi was the Ato Kilonser before the split.
Today's meeting was a three-way affair between the elusive Mishra, and the two WC, NNPGs led by Zhimomi and Konyak as Convenors. Zhimomi attended in person, while Neokpao Konyak’s side was represented by Working Convenor Col (retired) Isak Sumi, who leads the NSCN/GPRN (Isak) as Ato Kilonser. The meeting’s points of discussion remained guarded with the protagonists preferring to hurriedly exit the venue after the meeting.
In his brief interaction with the media, N Kitovi Zhimomi said that they discussed on how to bring an early solution to the stalemated Indo-Naga political issue. “We acknowledged our past history, we acknowledged our legacy,” said Zhimomi, while maintaining marching ahead together is the intention. He added, “We have decided that we will not allow the past legacy, past history to stop us from moving ahead.”
Ato Kilonser of the NSCN-K (Khango-Hokato), who also attended the meeting, declined to make any comments. The NSCN-K (Khango-Hokato) was part of the Naga National Political Alliance that merged with the Zhimomi-led WC, NNPGs last month, in June.
Working Convenor of the Neokpao Konyak-led WC, NNPGs said that all the groups coming together, arriving at a consensus and working out a solution remains the “ultimate objective.” The imagined solution, he added, would not be exclusive to the WC, NNPGs. He said, “It is meant for all the Naga political groups. All the stakeholders coming together, and working out a common aspiration plan. That’s it.”
The previous round of talks with Mishra was held in the second week of June.
He also reportedly met the NSCN (IM).
