India: Naga peace process slowed down

NEW DELHI, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- India says the ongoing peace process with a Naga militant group to resolve the insurgency in Nagaland has slowed down.

National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan, who last weekend visited Nagaland, said the talks could move forward only if the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (I-M) agreed to a solution within the constitution's broad parameters. The group has been waging an armed struggle against the Indian rule in Nagaland state.

Narayanan paid a two-day visit to Nagaland to review the security scenario ahead of the March 5 assembly election. He said the federal government was ready to give broad concessions to the Naga people once this prerequisite was met.

"We can work out a new arrangement for the Naga people with maximum autonomy and freedom but this must be under the Indian union," he told local media.