Nagaland: Rudderless Process, Aimless Violence

Giriraj Bhattacharjee

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Nagaland: Rudderless Process, Aimless Violence 

Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management

As the violent incidents of last few months suggest, NSCN-K's decision to unilaterally call off the ceasefire, the split within its ranks, and the Union Government’s failure to make any progress with regard to talks with NSCN-IM, could lead to greater violence in Nagaland and neighboring northeastern states. SFs, who had enjoyed clear respite from terror, will, in particular, face the brunt of escalating violence, if these developments continue. Intelligence inputs predict a spike in hit-and-run attacks on SFs over the coming days, particularly by NSCN-K militants operating from across the Indo-Myanmar border.

SAIR Volume 13, No. 41, April 13, 2015 

Twin ambushes by Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K) resulted in the death of eight Security Force (SF) personnel - seven of them from the ‘C’ company of 23 Assam Rifles (AR) and another from the 164 Naga Territorial Army (TA) Battalion – in the Mon District along the Indo-Myanmar border on May 3, 2015. Nine other troopers were injured in the ambushes.

Reports indicate that the first ambush occurred at around 14:45 hrs [IST] when the AR personnel in a truck were escorting a tanker to fetch water from Changlangshu to Tobu town. Three troopers died in the attack. On learning of the ambush, an AR reinforcement party, rushed to the spot, where NSCN-K cadres were lying in wait and launched the second ambush. Another five troopers were killed. The AR reinforcement party reportedly retaliated, killing one NSCN-K cadre, identified as Ngamwang Konyak, while another was injured and dragged away by the rebels. According to Nagaland Director General of Police L.L. Doungel, another four troopers are reported missing after the incident.

This is the first major incident (resulting in three or more fatalities) in the State involving SFs since April 7, 1998. In the 1998 incident, eight Army personnel were killed and another 15 were injured in an ambush by suspected NSCN-Isak Muivah (NSCN-IM) militants on an army convoy on its way to Kechire from Zunheboto in Zunheboto District.

This is the first major attack carried out by NSCN-K against SF personnel since February 19, 1997. On that day, suspected NSCN-K cadres had killed seven personnel of the Army Development Group and had injured another four in an ambush at Thingtin village, about 74 kilometers from Kohima town in Kohima District.

Prior to the May 3, 2015, incident, NSCN-K had recently targeted SFs on two separate occasions in Kohima District - on March 26 and April 25. In the April 25 incident an AR trooper, identified as Rifleman Vijay Singh Rathore, was killed near Classic Island on Raj Bhavan road in Kohima city. Four AR personnel had sustained injuries in the March 26 incident.

On March 27, 2015, NSCN-K had unilaterally called off the ceasefire, claiming that there is “no use extending ceasefire without discussing the issue of Naga sovereignty”. The Press release by NSCN-K ‘chairman’ S.S. Khaplang declared, “Clamouring for peace without even an inclination to discuss sovereignty issue or resolution of sovereignty is only farce and any settlement or solution short of sovereignty would only be a betrayal of Nagas historical and political legacy.” The ceasefire agreement with NSCN-K was signed on April 28, 2001. Meanwhile, the Union Government also called off the agreement with NSCN-K in a statement released on April 28, 2015.

Soon after the twin ambushes on May 3, NSCN-K reiterated that it was determined to “uphold and carry on the struggle, regardless of anti-Naga and anti-NSCN campaign launched by Naga collaborators and Indian agencies, after entering into cease fire with India.” It warned that it would “fight to the last remaining man and shall never be cowed down by the threat of collaborators and traitors.”

Significantly, on April 23, 2013, reports indicated that as many as nine Northeast militant groups – including the United National Liberation Front (UNLF) and the Coordination Committee (CorCom), an umbrella group of six militant groups in Manipur – had formed a joint front, the United National Liberation Front of West South East Asia (UNLFW) in the Sagaing Division of Myanmar, with S.S. Khaplang of NSCN-K as its ‘chief’.

Meanwhile, on April 27, 2015, the Union Government signed a ceasefire agreement with the breakaway faction of the NSCN-K, NSCN-Reformation (NSCN-R), for one year duration. The modalities for the ceasefire with the NSCN-R are almost the same as those with other Naga groups. The area of ceasefire will be confined within the state of Nagaland in writing, but the outfit stated that the Union Government had verbally agreed to extend the truce up to Arunachal Pradesh. The NSCN-R was formed on April 6, 2015, after the split in NSCN-K.

It is noteworthy that an earlier split in NSCN-K, resulting in the creation of the Khole Kitovi faction of the NSCN (NSCN-KK), in 2011, was followed by an increase in fratricidal killings. Such killings, however, declined through 2014, principally due to the signing of the 'Lenten Agreement' on March 28, 2014, during a two-day reconciliation meeting of three Naga militant groups – NSCN-IM, NSCN-KK and Naga National Council/ Federal Government of Nagaland (NNC/FGN) – at Dimapur, under the banner of the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR). Three incidents of fratricidal clashes, in which two militants were killed, have already been reported from the State in the current year, (data till May 3, 2015). In the most recent incident, on April 30, 2015, a former NSCN-K militant, identified as Mughato, was killed in a factional clash in Dimapur District. NSCN-KK admitted to their involvement in the killing, stating that he was a “habitual defector”, who had defected to NSCN-K along with arms belonging to NSNC-KK. Through 2014, two militants had been killed in three such incidents.

Further, there has been no positive development with regards to talks with the NSCN-IM even after 70 rounds of discussion. The Union Government’s interlocutor for Naga peace talks and chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), R. N. Ravi, dismissed reports of any time bound strategy to deal with the NSCN-IM, stating, on April 6, 2015, “The Government has not given any timeline to end the talks. I have no knowledge of it but we are trying to come to a logical conclusion as early as possible.” However, on October 18, 2014, National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval, had asserted, “There should never be any feeling that it (talks) is protracted… The (peace) process is the means to an end and if there is an end, which is a desired end, it must be found in real time. There should be rule of law in the Naga insurgency-affected areas for which peace process must be completed as early as possible.”

According to reports on May 3, 2015, AR sources in Kohima had said they have not started operations against the NSCN-K to avoid causing inconvenience to the people. However, they warned that they would not remain silent if attacked. It can now be expected that operations against NSCN-K will be initiated without any further delay.