New Delhi, January 24: Wrapping up a historic first meet on Indian soil with Central leaders and officials, leaders of the NSCN (I-M) today spouted all the right words when they promised to continue talking ‘‘until a peaceful and violence-free environment was achieved.’’ For the record, they maintained that the ‘‘destiny of the Nagas must be left to the Nagas.’’ But Thuingaleng Muivah and Isak Chishi Swu, who held their second meeting with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee this morning, again had the alarm bells clanging when they claimed the Centre had given ‘‘no assurance to anyone in respect to the substance of the negotiations, including the issue of unification of Naga areas.’’ In effect, they parted on a positive note, making all the right statements, but not before shooting down Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh’s claim of a Central undertaking on the territorial integrity of Manipur. The NSCN (I-M) has been demanding that four Manipur districts, inhabited by the Nagas, should be part of a Greater Nagaland. Emerging from the talks, the Centre’s interlocutor K Padmanabhaiah maintained there had been ‘‘no change on the Government’s stand on the scope of discussions’’ and ‘‘all substantive issues relating to the distinct identity of the Nagas and their stand on the unification of the Naga areas’’ figured in the negotiations. Padmabhaiah declined to go into details, simply saying both sides had agreed to continue holding talks. But behind the public stands they took, there were enough indications of the hard talk going on, especially on the issue of unification of Naga areas. The visit to Delhi of an all-party delegation from Manipur had also not made matters easy.

Sources close to NSCN said that the visit of the Manipuri delegation was ‘‘an irritant and very unfortunate to have happened’’ when the talks were on. ]

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The NSCN delegation flies out tomorrow, with the promise to keep talking. ‘‘For now, we are still on the negotiating table.’’

But Muivah kept the pressure on Manipur, reiterating his demand for a Greater Nagaland. ‘‘All the lands that belong to the Nagas must be given to us. We want nothing more and nothing less.’’
Ruling out autonomy as a solution, he said: ‘‘The destiny of the Nagas must be left to the Nagas. We have a history and a culture which was never a part of India.’’ To a query on whether the NSCN was prepared to give up arms, Muivah said that ‘‘the question does not arise.’’
Rejecting greater devolution of powers under Article 371 (a) of the Constitution to give Nagaland a similar status as Jammu and Kashmir, Muivah said ‘‘the main issue is that the destiny of Nagas must be left to the Nagas themselves, and we are talking about it.’’
Swu and he maintained they were ‘‘extremely happy’’ to have come to India and hold discussions with Vajpayee, L K Advani, George Fernandes and Jaswant Singh. ‘‘We are pleased with the progress that has been made.’’