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The National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Issac-Muivah (NSCN-IM) was formed on 30 April 1988 following a violent clash between the NSCN cadres over the issue of starting a negotiation process with the Government of India. The undivided NSCN was, however, formed on 31 January 1980 by former Naga National Council (NNC) leaders, Issac Chisi Swu, Thuingaleng Muivah and S.S. Khaplang.
The purported aim of the NSCN-IM has been the establishment of a sovereign Nagalim (liberally described as Greater Nagaland that includes the areas inhabited by the Naga tribals in Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh in addition to the state of Nagaland). The outfit’s manifesto is guided by an overtly spiritual fervour and it speaks of the establishment of ‘Nagaland for Christ’.
The NSCN-IM is led by its chairman Issac Chisi Swu and general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah. The outfit maintains a ‘ministry’ consisting of kilonsers (ministers) for various departments. The outfit’s headquarter is presently based in Camp Hebron, near Dimapur, Nagaland’s commercial hub.
Subsequent to a decade of armed violence, the NSCN-IM entered into a peace process with New Delhi in 1997 and since, has held several rounds of dialogue with the government representatives. The talks, in the recent years, have hit a deadlock over the outfit’s demand for the merger of the Naga-inhabited areas of Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh with Nagaland. The ceasefire agreement has been extended periodically over the years, and in 2007, both sides agreed to extend it indefinitely, thus doing away with the need for its regular extension.
According to ceasefire ground rules, the NSCN-IM cadres are supposed to stay within the confines of the designated camps. But this requirement has been violated with impunity and the outfits cadres have moved out of the camps to carry out their activities. Several incidents of extortion and factional clashes have been reported with the rival Khaplang faction and the NNC from almost all districts of Nagaland and the hill districts of neighbouring Manipur. Reports indicate that taking advantage of the ceasefire agreement, the NSCN-IM has increased its cadre strength to about 2500.
NSCN-IM is described as the mother of all insurgencies in Northeast India and over the years, its assistance has been vital for the survival and sustenance of several outfits in various states of the region.
Following the violent clash of 30 April 1988, S S Khaplang led a group of NSCN cadres to form the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K). The purported objective of NSCN-K, is not too different from the Issac-Muivah faction (NSCN-IM), although the former emphasises more on the inclusion of the Naga-inhabited areas of Myanmar into the proposed Nagalim (Greater Nagaland) and not so much on such areas in the neighbouring states of Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.
NSCN-K chairman S S Khaplang is a Hemi Naga from Myanmar and is based in Myanmar, where the outfit maintains several camps. Starting 1988, the outfit has engaged in a bitter fratricidal warfare with the NSCN-IM. The latter, on the other hand, has described the NSCN-K as an agent of the Indian government and an ally of the security forces. Other senior leaders including Kughalo Mulatonu are mostly based in Nagaland.
Following NSCN-IM’s example, the NSCN-K entered into a ceasefire agreement with the Government of India in 2001. The outfit has consistently voiced its opposition against the Government’s decision to continue its dialogue with the NSCN-IM and hence, has not held a single round of dialogue with New Delhi, although both sides have extended the ceasefire agreement periodically. Its cadres, supposed to have been staying within the designated camps, like those of the NSCN-IM, have moved out to extort and intimidate civilian population in the state.
The NSCN-K’s area of influence, mostly confined to its traditional strongholds such as Mokokchung district, has shrunk over the years. A number of its cadres and middle level functionaries have deserted the outfit to join the NSCN-IM. The NSCN-K, on the other hand, has joined hands with the NNC (the first Naga insurgent group founded by Angami Zapu Phizo), to carry out attacks on the NSCN-IM.
The outfit maintains strategic linkages with the United Liberation
Front of Asom (ULFA) and allows the outfit’s cadres
to use its facilities in the Sagaing division of Myanmar.
On 23 November 2007, several 50 NSCN(IM) cadres led
by its one-time ‘home minister’ Azheto Chopey
broke away from the group and formed a new outfit called
the NSCN (Unification). These cadres assembled at the
village of Hovishe, in Niuland sub-division in the Dimapur
district, and met with leaders of the NSCN (K). Apparently,
the two groups, the newly formed NSCN (U) and the NSCN
(K)—both rivals of the NSCN(IM)—signed an
inter-factional ‘truce agreement’ declaring
the unification of the two factions for a common goal.
It was clear that the NSCN (U) and the NSCN (K) had
become allies.
On 21 January 2008, the NSCN (IM) 'dismissed' 27 of
its cadres, who had defected along with Chopey from
'national service' with effect from 22 January 2008,
for 'deliberately defying' a directive of the 'yaruiwo'
(prime minister) Isak Chishi Swu to return from the
"reactionary camp" and report to the Council
Headquarters. Samson Jajo, 'chief principal secretary'
of the NSCN (IM), said a decision towards this effect
was taken in exercise of the decision of the "National
Security Council". Since January 2008, the NSCN
(U) was involved in bitter clashes with the NSCN (IM),
culminating in the death of 14 of its cadres near Dimapur,
Nagaland’s commercial hub, on 16 May 2008.
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