“We hold out a hand of friendship to all Nagas, irrespective of their past standing, and ask all of them to join us in working together for a peaceful and honourable solution to the Indo-Naga political issue,” the NSCN-I-M said in a statement from Bangkok.

Isak Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah, the two self-exiled NSCN leaders, are expected to arrive in India this month and celebrate Christmas in Nagaland.

“It is time for all Nagas to stand up shoulder to shoulder to meet the challenges. In this crucial phase of the peace process, this is not the time to be diverted by division and disunity,” the statement said.

The NSCN-I-M entered a cease-fire with New Delhi in 1997. The two sides have held several rounds of talks in Switzerland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Thailand, Japan and Malaysia.

The NSCN is the oldest and the most powerful of the nearly 30-odd rebel armies in the region. The appeal for unity assumes significance with the NSCN split into two rival factions that are engaged in a bitter fratricidal war for territorial supremacy in Nagaland.

Source: Navhind Times