NSCN-IM general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and is understood to have conveyed the seriousness of his outfit to find a lasting solution to the Nagaland issue.

Muivah, who along with four other Naga leaders arrived here on February 27 from Amsterdam, met the Prime Minister at his residence, official sources said.

This is the second such meeting in last five years. Muivah along with the NSCN-IM Chairman Isak Chisi Swu had met Singh earlier during their visit in 2006.

Muivah later met Union Home Minister P Chidambaram during which the two sides had a comprehensive discussion on finding a lasting solution to the six-decade old vexed issue which includes boundary dispute with neighbouring Manipur and Assam.

"We had a comprehensive discussion and the NSCN-IM will continue the negotiation with the government of India," Muivah told reporters after the meeting.

"If the centre is serious then we will talk," he said.

The centre appointed on February 12 former petroleum secretary R S Pandey as the new pointsman on Naga talks after the services of earlier interlocutor and former home secretary K Padmanabhaiah were ended after nearly a decade.

Asked whether the organisation was happy over Pandey's appointment, Muivah said, "the government of India has confidence in him. So we will talk to him. But if the talks do not yield any result then we will say no."

Besides Chidambaram, others present at the hour-long meeting were Home Secretary G K Pillai and Special Secretary (Internal Security) U K Bansal.

Immediately after the meeting, the Naga leaders were taken to an undisclosed location for talks with Pandey.

Last week, Pillai had said in Dimapur that demands like sovereignty or integration of Naga-inhabited areas were not feasible.

Muivah, along with the NSCN-IM Chairman had last visited India in December 2006 and held talks with government leaders.

He is expected to visit Nagaland later.

A ceasefire was agreed upon with NSCN-IM in August 1997.

In May 1998, Union Government had appointed Swaraj Kaushal as the first negotiator. He continued in his post till July 1999.