Nagaland Yearly Assessment 2011

The situation in Nagaland remained quite peaceful in the first few months of 2011. However, the factional fights between the two NSCN factions continued. On 24 January 2011 the Union Home Ministry offered a 29-point counter proposal to the NSCN-IM which had earlier submitted a 32-point charter of demands. The counter proposal included financial sops, facilities and accommodating the "Kilonsers" (Ministers) of the NSCN-IM as members of parliament and the "Tatars" (members) as ministers in the state.

On 7 June 2011, NSCN-K ‘Chairman’ SS Khaplang was expelled from the outfit. The 'tartars' or 'members of parliament' of the NSCN-K had a sitting at its Khehoi designated camp near Dimapur and 'impeached' SS Khaplang from his post and then expelled him from the outfit. The reason for Khaplang’s expulsion was that he was taking unilateral decisions from his hideout in Myanmar without consulting the leaders at Khehoi camp. He also had decided to remove the outfit's commander-in-chief 'general' Khole Konyak from his post without the consent and approval of its 'national assembly'. Khole Konyak was elected as the group’s acting chairman by those present at the meeting.

On 11 June 2011, the expelled chairman of NSCN-K, SS Khaplang issued two counter expulsion orders - one for general secretary N Kitovi Zhimomi and the other for ''kilo kilonser'' (home minister) Azheto Chophy and six other functionaries of GPRN/NSCN. He alleged that the expelled functionaries were "members of the unification camp" and said they were expelled for their "anti-party activities".

With this, the NSCN was split into four factions - the Isak-Muivah faction, the NSCN-K faction headed by Khole Konyak, the NSCN-K faction headed by Khaplang, and NSCN-Unification. The new split has further complicated the Naga peace process. This shows that there is still time left for the achievement of a lasting solution to the Naga problem.

NSCN-IM and NSCN-K cadres involved in a shoot out on 13 July at Kothin under Tirap district in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. According to reports no recoveries were made by the Security Forces of any kind from the spot. On 26 August, Isak Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah of NSCN-IM, General Khole Konyak and N. Kitovi Zhimomi of NSCN-Khole-Kitovi and Brigadier S. Singnya and Zhopra Vero of NNC signed a joint declaration called ‘The Naga Concordant’, in order to help form the Naga National Government.

Herato Sumi of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland- Unification (NSCN- U) and Vihuto, who were absconding since 18 November, partook in a four hour long gun battle with other cadres of the organization on 26 November at Sailhem in the Peren district. Sumi succumbed to gun shots while Vihuto managed to escape with injuries. It is alleged that both were related to the killing of Daniel Yeptho who hailed from the Zunheboto district of Nagaland apart from injuring a Sanskrit teacher on 26 November at Peren district.

Towards the end of the year on 5 December, members of the ‘Naga Concordant’ representing NSCN-IM, NNC and NSCN-Khole-Kitovi vowed to work towards the common good of the Naga fraternity.

To top it all militants imposed what they call an ‘annual salary tax’ on private business establishments and employees of all the departments of the Nagaland Government barring the police and district administrations. Fixed at 24 per cent of a month’s salary per year, media reports estimate the total to a whooping 13 billion annually. The Nagaland State Home Minister Imkong L. Imchen informed the house on the floor of the State Assembly on 15 September that 528 persons were arrested by the police between 2008 and mid 2011 in cases related to extortion. South Asia Terrorism Portal lists 12 incidents of extortion in 2011, as against nine in 2010 maintaining at the same time that this is just a fraction of the actual abductions and extortions during the year.

Nagaland Yearly Assessment 2010

The number of violent incident in Nagaland has been low for some years now, especially with both the factions of National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) under ceasefire with the government. The year 2010 saw only three casualties in Nagaland in insurgency-related incidents. The peace talks between the union government and the Isak-Muivah faction of the NSCN also advanced. For the first time, one round of talks was held in the state of Nagaland also.

The NSCN-IM delegation, lead by its chairman Isak Chisi Swu and general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah, met the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on March 2, 2010 in New Delhi. The Naga leaders also held a series of meetings with the new interlocutor for Naga peace talks, RS Pandey during their stay in New Delhi. RS Pandey was appointed interlocutor on February 11, 2010. The visiting NSCN-IM delegation put forward 30 demands, which included sovereignty for Nagaland, and unification of all Naga-dominated areas of neighbouring states.

After the talks Muivah came to Dimapur and decided to visit his native village Somdal in Ukhrul district of Manipur. This was to be his first visit to his birth place after 40 years. The union government also granted his request and the visit was scheduled to take place during first week of May 2010. Muivah was also expected to visit other Naga-inhabited areas of Manipur during the visit. But, on April 30, 2010, Manipur government announced that it would not allow Muivah to come to Manipur as there are possibilities of disturbances if the NSCN-IM leader comes to Manipur. The government also clamped restriction under Section 144 of Cr PC in Senapati district in addition to deployment of additional forces in order to prevent Muivah from entering Manipur. On May 6, 2010, the situation in Mao border gate, through which Muivah was expected to enter Manipur, turned tense. A number of locals stormed a temporary security barrack which lead the security personnel resort to firing leaving two locals dead and fifty others, including women, injured. After this incident and after requests from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and some Naga civil society organizations, Muivah postponed his visit to Somdal and camped himself in Viswema village near the Mao gate on the inter-state border of Nagaland and Manipur. Eventually, on June 5, 2010, the Central Government persuaded Muivah to leave Vishwema village where he was camping since May 6, 2010.

On June 1, 2010, Centre and NSCN-IM held peace talks for the first time in Nagaland at Kohima, where the issue of integration of Naga-inhabited areas, as demanded by the outfit, was discussed. However, the Centre ruled out change in boundaries of states without the consensus of political parties. Both sides came to an understanding on some issues and expressed their commitment to explore all possibilities to arrive at a consensus on other sensitive issues. Two more rounds of talks were held in Delhi on July 23 and July 29, 2010 with both the sides expressing satisfaction over the way the talks were progressing.

On September 18, 2010, the top leaders of the NSCN-IM, NSCN-K and the NNC met at Ikishe village near Dimapur and vowed to work towards ending hostilities among themselves and consolidating understanding. NSCN-IM general secretary T Muivah, NSCN-K general secretary N Kitovi Zhimomi and NNC/FGN president S Singnya attended the meeting organised by the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR).

On October 1, 2010 security forces arrested Anthony Shimray, a senior NSCN-IM functionary from Kathmandu in Nepal. Shimray was the chief arms procurer for the outfit and had been involved in gun running for a long time. During the interrogation, Shimray revealed the links between the NSCN-IM and China and also about Indian insurgent groups buying arms from the Chinese. He frequently visited China to procure weapons from the clandestine arms dealers.

As a whole, the year 2010 was quite a peaceful year in Nagaland. The peace process with the NSCN-IM moved further ahead and talks with the NSCN-K are also expected to start soon. However the arrest of Anthony Shimray shows NSCN-IM’s efforts of still trying to strengthen its arms base and also of selling arms to other insurgent outfits of the Northeast. This is a cause of concern which is needed to be tacked carefully by the Indian government.