From Sudip Sharma Chowdhury
GUWAHATI : The Central government on Monday extended the ceasefire agreement with three militant groups in nagaland in the northeast for another year, which will remain in effect till April next year. The Union Home Ministry said in a statement that ceasefire agreements are continuing between the Government of India and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland/NK (NSCN/NK), the National Socialist Council of Nagaland/Reformation (NSCN/R) and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland/K-Khango (NSCN/K-Khango).
“It has been decided to extend the ceasefire agreements by one more year, which will be effective from 28th April, 2021 to 27th April, 2022 with NSCN/K-Khango and from 18th April, 2021 to 17th April, 2022 with NSCN/K-Khango,” the statement said. ”These agreements were signed on Monday. The three organisations were formed by nscn-im and nscn-k. Nscn-IM entered into a ceasefire agreement with the Central Government in 1997 and has been involved in peace talks ever since. The organization had signed an agreement called ‘Framework Agreement’ in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 3, 2015 to resolve the Naga issue permanently. The agreement was signed after more than 80 rounds of talks that lasted for 18 years. The first breakthrough in this regard was in 1997 when the ceasefire agreement was reached in Nagaland after decades of militancy. The problem of militancy in the State started a few days after India gained independence in 1947.
However, talks with NSCN-IM are not currently taking place as the organisation is demanding a separate flag and constitution for Nagaland, which has been rejected by the Centre. NSCN-K signed a ceasefire agreement with the Centre in 2001, but in 2015 it unilaterally broke the deal. The then chairman of the group, S.S. Khaplang, was alive at that time.
