NEW DELHI, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- The cease-fire between the insurgent National Socialist Council of Nagaland and the Indian government has been extended for six months.
The India Daily reported that the ceasefire extension will come into effect on Monday in an effort to strengthen the ongoing peace talks to resolve Nagaland's five-decade-old insurgency. The cease-fire, signed in 1997, has since been renewed every year to facilitate negotiations to bring an end to Asia's longest running insurgency, which began in 1956.
The decision to extend the truce came after two days of intensive discussions in Amsterdam. K. Padmanabaiah led the Indian negotiation team and General Secretary T. Muivah led the NSCN team. Isak Chisi Swu formed the National Socialist Council of Nagaland on January 31, 1980.
The NSCN's stated goal is to establish a "Greater Nagaland" ("Nagalim" or the People's Republic of Nagaland) based on Mao Tse Tung's ideology. Its manifesto is socialism for economic development while its spiritual component postulates a "Nagaland for Christ." Nagaland state in northeast India borders the Indian states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur and Myanmar. About 84 percent of the population belongs to 16 Naga tribes; more than 85 percent of the population is Christian, primarily Baptist.
While the Nagaland Baptists share their with a majority in the neighboring states of Mizoram and Meghalaya, unlike the rest of India which is overwhelmingly Hindu.
