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The National Socialist Council of Nagaland - Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM) on Wednesday termed as an insult the 'inclusive package' offered by the Centre and said that nothing except integration of Naga-inhabited areas in the north-east is acceptable to the Nagas.
The Centre has ruled out the integration demand and offered an 'inclusive package' to the NSCN-IM.
"If it reflected the opinion of the United Progressive Alliance government to settle the Naga issue, then it was an antithesis to the bilateral agreement signed between NSCN-IM and New Delhi in 1997, and therefore not acceptable to the Naga people," the NSCN-IM said in a statement.
Mentioning the chronology of events of the ongoing peace talks between the two sides, the NSCN-IM said keeping the Nagas divided and seeking a solution through 'imposition of Indian will on the Nagas' is not a sign of political maturity of the Indian leadership.
"The application of the colonial divide and rule policy by the Indian state towards the Nagas would create more problems for India than solving it," the statement said.
Asserting that the Naga problem cannot be resolved through social, economic and cultural packages, the NSCN-IM said, "It is simply not acceptable to the Nagas, rather, it is an insult and amounts to adding salt to open sores."