Move by Naga Hoho and ENPO to bring back NSCN-K to negotiating table

GUWAHATI: Efforts are on to pursue the Khaplang faction of militant group NSCN to once again embrace the ceasefire that it abrogated last year.

An eight-member team of the apex body of Nagas, Naga Hoho and Eastern Nagaland Peoples’ Organisation (ENPO), is in Myanmar to talk to the Khaplang leaders for bringing them back to the negotiating table.

The president of ENPO, Khoiwang Konyak told ET, “The joint team is in Myanmar and shortly the team will met SS Khaplang, the octogenarian NSCN leader. Let see what is the outcome of the talks.”

ENPO and Naga Hoho general in a joint statement said the team met Kyaw Win Swe, an emissary from the Ceasefire Monitoring Group of NSCN-K at Mandalay.

ENPO and Naga Hoho, on behalf of the Nagaland government and the people of the state expressed views on peace and stability for bringing an amicable solution to the protracted Indo-Myanmar-Naga issue, the statement said.

An official letter signed by all the eight members addressed to the NSCN-K chairman Khaplang was submitted through the emissary, appealing to the NSCN-K leadership for the review and resumption of the ceasefire with the Government of India.

The team also appealed for equally strengthening the ceasefire by the NSCN-K with the Myanmar government.

The Nagaland assembly had earlier resolved to urge the Government of India and NSCN-K to resume the ceasefire agreement to create peaceful and congenial atmosphere for the smooth progress of the Naga political dialogue. The Centre has banned Khaplang faction for five years.

Last year, after the abrogation of ceasefire, the Khaplang faction carried out strikes in Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur. The Khaplang faction, along with other groups, ambushed and killed 18 jawans on June 4 last year, after which the government launched an offensive against the terrorist group.