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NEW DELHI JAN. 9. The meeting of the leaders of the Naga secessionist movement, Isak Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah, and the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, ended on a positive note with the NSCN (I-M) chairman, Mr. Swu, describing the approach of both sides as "mature" and "realistic". The Prime Minister and the leadership of India, he said were "very sincere" in finding a solution to the Naga problem.

Speaking to the media outside the Prime Minister's residence after the 40 minute-long meeting, Mr. Swu declined to discuss the details of the talks, which he described as "cordial and...

Dimapur, Jan. 8: The sprawling Kevichusa family home here is a picture of opulence and contentment. But scrape off the veneer and you find sadness in every corner. Very few families have paid a higher price for peace in Nagaland than the Kevichusas. The distinguished political family from the Angami tribe lost two sons, Chalie and Tobu, to bullets just when they were coming into their own as politicians.

Anguish was writ large on the face of the slain siblings’ eldest sister as she recounted the circumstances in which her brothers were killed. Those were the days, she said, when bigotry...

New Delhi, Jan. 8: Cashing in on the rapport the NDA government has struck with the NSCN(I-M), the BJP has announced plans for a Democratic Alliance of Nagaland in a desperate bid to open its account in the Christian-dominated Nagaland and take on the might of the Congress there. The main election plank of the alliance will be to facilitate the peace talks with the insurgent organisation.

While the BJP and the Centre have managed to “befriend” the NSCN (I-M), the S.C. Jamir-led Congress government is reportedly being backed by the Khaplang faction of the NSCN.

The Khaplang faction today...

Imphal, Jan. 8: Manipuris vowed to protect the territorial integrity of the state today, a day before the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) leaders Isak Chisi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah meet Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for talks on the issue of “Greater Nagalim”. A mammoth rally, organised by the Solidarity Committee on the Territorial-Ethnic Integrity of Manipur (SCTEIM), was supported by more than 300 social organisations, including women’s organisations. Nearly one lakh people from all communities, including Nagas, attended the rally.

The rally began from the...

Kohima, Jan. 8: Springing a surprise a few hours before Isak Chisi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah were to reach New Delhi, the Khaplang faction of the NSCN indicated that its top leaders, including chairman S.S. Khaplang, could return to India later in the year for “political negotiations” with the Centre. Khughalu Mulatonu, a deputy kilonser (minister) in the NSCN (K) hierarchy, told The Telegraph over phone that his outfit had lined up “something very positive” for Nagaland. “Khaplang is keen to come to India and lay the stepping stone for a political process,” he said.

Khaplang, a Hemi Naga and...