Imphal, Nov 10: The next round of the tripartite talks among the United Naga Council (UNC), Government of Manipur, and Government of India, that resumed after a gap of five years in New Delhi last month, are scheduled to be held at Senapati on November 13.

According to sources, the Centre issued a notice in this regard on Friday. The notice addressed to the UNC president, stated that the meeting would be held in Senapati district at 11 am.

The tripartite talks held in New Delhi on October 11, focused on the creation of seven new districts by the Manipur Government on December 8, 2016 and UNC's demand to roll back the newly-created districts, the sources added.

The meeting was attended by Ministry of Home Affairs Adviser (North East) AK Mishra, seven representatives of the UNC, and Manipur Chief Secretary Vineet Joshi and Commissioner-cum-Secretary (Home) N Ashok Kumar. The talks involving the Centre, the Manipur Government and the UNC, were initiated in 2017. So far, 11 rounds of talks have been held without any significant progress, the sources pointed out.

The UNC, the apex body of Nagas in Manipur, “temporarily suspended” its proposed bandh in the Naga-dominated areas of the State on October 3 following resumption of the tripartite talks in the same month. On September 11 this year, the UNC submitted an ultimatum to Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the pending issue relating to "arbitrary creation of seven new districts in Manipur," and demanded of the Manipur Government to withdraw the same.

The then Manipur Government created seven new districts in December, 2016 following a Cabinet meeting. The new districts are Jiribam, Kamjong, Kakching, Tengnoupal, Noney, Pherzawl and Kangpokpi. Earlier, the number of districts in Manipur stood at nine-four in the Valley namely, Imphal West, Imphal East, Thoubal and Bishnupur, and five in the hills namely, Chandel, Churachandpur, Senapati, Tamenglong and Ukhrul.