Vajpayee: Landmark visit

Atal Behari Vajpayee, the first Indian PM to visit Nagaland in six years, will meet local leaders during the visit.

He will also launch a mobile phone service, amongst other projects, over the next three days.

Some 25,000 people have died in violence in Nagaland since India's independence in 1947.

Largely sealed off from the outside world, the tiny state with a population of two million is home to one of the world's longest-running insurgencies.

Independence demand

Militant groups from Naga tribes are opposed to Indian administration and demand recognition as an independent people.

Last month Indian negotiators met leaders of the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM), one of the most powerful of these groups.

The two sides discussed devolving more power to Nagaland.

The Indian Government has already announced a $76 million development package for the state.

But the government and the rebels still have differences over the rebels long-standing demand to integrate all Naga-inhabited areas of the north-east within the state of Nagaland.

The authorities in the neighbouring states of Assam and Manipur say this demand is unacceptable.