IMPHAL, India, Dec 6 (Reuters): Leaders of a powerful separatist group in India’s northeast will hold a new round of talks with government negotiators in Amsterdam on Monday with threats of violence from a rival group hanging over the meeting.
The National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Issac-Muivah) (NSCN-IM) and officials have met more than 50 times over the past nine years to try to forge an end to the country’s longest-running insurgency.
But little progress has been made on the group’s key demands for the right to self-rule and the creation of a new state containing all Naga dominated areas, which is opposed by other tribes living amongst them.
Leaders of the Kuki community recently warned they would go on the war path if areas they inhabit were handed to the Nagas.
“Let the government of India give the Nagas what they have been demanding, but they can’t touch an inch of Kuki land to please the Nagas,” Satkhokai Chongloi, a senior Kuki leader told Reuters in Imphal, capital of Manipur state.
“We urge the Indian government to stop grabbing land belonging to others ... or civil war is inevitable,” Chongloi said.
India’s northeast is home to a complex web of tribal groups, many of which have launched insurgencies, accusing New Delhi of plundering resources and doing little to improve their lives.
Security analysts say peace with the Nagas is crucial to a broader peace in the region.
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