With fresh parleys between the NSCN (IM) and the Centre likely to begin soon, rebel leaders Thuingaleng Muivah and Isak Chisi Swu are consulting civil society and church leaders in Nagaland on the contentious issue of creating a “Greater Nagaland”. “Both of them are holding a series of consultations with civil society, political and church leaders and common people on various issues to garner support for our cause for one political territorial entity for Nagas,” senior NSCN (IM) leader Kraibo Chawang said.

Union Minister Oscar Fernades, who heads the group of Central ministers engaged in parleys with the NSCN (IM), said that the peace talks could resume only after the Manipur assembly polls end.

According to a home ministry source, the talks are likely to begin in the first week of March as results of the Manipur elections will be announced on February 27.

Refusing to comment on steps the group may take if the talks fail, Chawang said, “the NSCN (IM) is hoping that the Centre concedes to our demands as early as possible. But right now, it’s not the time to comment on presumptions.”

Another NSCN (IM) leader Rh Raising said the group wanted to make its stand clear. “There have been assurances and commitments. The Centre has been buying time but we cannot be taken for granted,” he said, adding the ball is in New Delhi’s court.

“Our leaders have not come all the way to Nagaland for nothing. They are here with a certain purpose,” Raising said.

Muivah and Swu came to India in December last year. The NSCN (IM) wants the creation of a Greater Nagaland by incorporating Naga-inhabited areas of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur with Nagaland.

The other states have strongly opposed this.

On media reports that the NSCN (IM) has been asking Manipuris to “vote out the Congress government” in that state, Raising said it has informed the electorate and now it was for them to act.

“We have not issued any diktat. The government is acting as a hurdle to our demand for integration and the people must not support this,” he said.

The NSCN-IM has held over 50 rounds of talks with the Centre sincethe outfit agreed to a ceasefire in 1997.

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