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Vajpayee`s offers unconditional peace talks with N-E separatists

IRNA

Guwahati, Oct 28, IRNA -- Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee 
Tuesday offered unconditional peace talks with any separatist group 
in India`s northeast to end decades of insurgency in the region. 
"Our doors for dialogue with any militant group in the northeast 
are open," Vajpayee told a massive public rally in Nagaland`s capital 
Kohima. 
"We want all militant groups to shun the path of violence and come
forward for meaningful negotiations with the government." 
There are more than 30-odd rebel groups in the seven northeastern 
states with demands ranging from secession to greater autonomy and the
right to self-determination. 
Vajpayee arrived in Kohima on a three-day visit to boost the 
ongoing peace process between the federal government and leaders of 
the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland 
(NSCN). 
The Prime Minister announced a whopping 45 million rupees 
development package for Nagaland to improve its roads and other 
infrastructure. 
"I had to come by road from Dimapur to reach Kohima and found the 
highway not in good shape. So I am announcing funds for construction 
of good roads and develop other infrastructure," Vajpayee told the 
more than 25,000 strong gathering. 
On Monday, the Prime Minister launched the first mobile telephone 
service in Nagaland. The premier`s programme in the province bordering
Myanmar includes meeting delegations representing tribal groups and 
church leaders. 
Hundreds of tribal Nagas Tuesday raised its demand for unification
of all Naga inhabited areas in the northeast with placards and 
banners all over the place during the prime minister`s rally. 
The NSCN is stressing on the need for creation of a Greater 
Nagaland by carving slices off the neighbouring states of Arunachal 
Pradesh, Assam, and Manipur -- all of which have sizeable Naga 
populations. 
The demand for a Greater Nagaland is, however, not acceptable to 
the other regional states in the northeast. 
"The aspirations of all the Nagas to stay under one platform 
should be respected," Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio told the 
rally. 
Meanwhile, several pressure groups in Assam and Manipur have 
threatened to launch a massive protest if New Delhi agrees to the 
demand of a Greater Nagaland. 
/212 
End