Naga Conflict

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Naga Insurgency
Part of Insurgency in Northeast India
IN-NL.svg
State of Nagaland
Date11 September 1958 – present
(65 years, 8 months, 2 weeks and 2 days)
Location
Northeast India

Myanmar

Status

Ongoing (Low level insurgency)

Belligerents

Flag of India.svg  India

State of Arunachal Pradesh

State of Assam

State of Nagaland

State of Manipur

Myanmar

Unofficial flag of Nagaland.svg NSCN-IM

Unofficial flag of Nagaland.svg NSCN-K (YA)
(2017 - )		Unofficial flag of Nagaland.svg NSCN (1980-88)

Unofficial flag of Nagaland.svg NSCN Dissidents (1988-)

NSCN-K (NS) (2020 - )
NSCN-K (AM) (2023 - )
NSCN-K (IS)
(2023 - )

Unofficial flag of Nagaland.svg NNPG:

NSCN-K (1988-2017)

NSCN-U (2007 - )

ZUF
MNPF

NSCN-R (AC)

ANLF
Commanders and leaders
Former:
Unofficial flag of Nagaland.svg Thuingaleng Muivah
Strength
Flag of India.svg 200,000 (1995) [2] Unofficial flag of Nagaland.svg 15,000+ NSCN-IM (2017) [3]
Unofficial flag of Nagaland.svg 2,000 NSCN-K (2007) [4]
Casualties and losses
2000-2024:
191 killed [5] 		2000–2024:
605 killed
241 Surrendered
2350 Arrested [5]

The Naga conflict, also known as the Naga Insurgency, is an ongoing conflict fought between the ethnic Nagas and the governments of India in northeastern India. Nagaland, inhabited by the Nagas, is located at the tri-junction border of India on the West and South, north and Myanmar on the East.

Contents

"National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang)", which wants an independent "greater Nagaland" to also include territory now in Myanmar, based on ethnicity; and the "Naga National Council (Adino)". [6] [ full citation needed ]

The question of "Naga Sovereignty" was put to a plebiscite on 16 May 1951. To defend themselves, the Naga, after much deliberation, formed the armed wing of the NNC and came to be known as the NSG (Naga Safe Guards) under Kaito Sukhai. [7] [ additional citation(s) needed ]

History

1946 saw the creation of the Naga National Council (NNC) under Phizo's leadership. The NNC leaders and the Governor of Assam, Sir Akbar Hydari, signed a nine-point agreement which granted Nagas rights over their lands and legislative and executive powers. The judicial capacity of Naga courts was empowered, and no law from the provincial or central legislatures could affect this agreement. Very significantly, the agreement included a clause demanding that the Nagas be brought into the same administrative unit at the earliest. However, one clause stipulates: [8]

The Governor of Assam as the agent of the Government of India will have a special responsibility for a period of ten years to ensure that due observance of this agreement to be extended for a further period, or a new agreement regarding the future of the Naga people to be arrived at.

The interpretation of this clause has been contested between the Nagas and the Indian Government. To Nagas, this clause meant independence from India at the end of the ten years. To the Indian Government, this clause meant making a new agreement after ten years if the present agreement did not address Naga issues sufficiently. Phizo rejected the nine-point agreement because the agreement fell short of dealing with the issue of Naga sovereignty. [9] Under Phizo's leadership, the NNC declared Naga independence on 14 August 1947, and, with success, propagated the idea of Naga sovereignty throughout the Naga tribes. A Naga plebiscite was organised on 16 May 1951. [10] The Naga struggle remained peaceful in the 1940s and early 1950s. [9]

The Naga insurgency, climaxing in 1956, was an armed ethnic conflict led by the Naga National Council (NNC), which aimed for the secession of Naga territories from India. The more radical sectors of the NNC created the Federal Government of Nagaland (FGN), which also included an underground Naga Army. [11]

The insurgency witnessed a new spark in 2021 when fourteen innocent citizens of Nagaland, returning to their homes after a day of work in the coal mines, were ambushed and killed by the Indian Army soldiers of the 21 Para Special Forces army unit. [12] The killings led to wide-ranging protests to hold the soldiers accountable and to ask for the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. The Act, commonly known as AFSPA, was enacted in the state in 1958 by the central government of India, which authorises soldiers of the armed forces to shoot any suspected individual without formal orders from any superior civilian authority.[ citation needed ]

Rebel groups

Several rebel groups have operated in Nagaland since the mid-twentieth century, including the following:

  1. Naga National Council: a political organisation active in the late 1940s and early 1950s, which became separatist under Angami Zapu Phizo
  2. Naga National Council (Adino) – NNC (Adino): the oldest political Naga organisation, now led by the daughter of Naga rebel A.Z. Phizo.
  3. National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah): formed on 31 January 1980 by Isak Chishi Swu, Thuingaleng Muivah and S. S. Khaplang ADAMANT. They want to establish a ‘Greater Nagaland’ (‘Nagalim’ or the People’s Republic of Nagaland) based on Mao Tse Tung’s model.
  4. National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang): formed on 30 April 1988, its goal is to establish a ‘greater Nagaland’ based on ethnicity, comprising the Naga-dominated areas within India, and contiguous areas in Myanmar.
  5. Naga Federal Government: separatist movement active in Nagaland during the 1970s. After its leader was captured and the headquarters destroyed, NFG's activities decreased. [13]
  6. Naga Federal Army: separatist guerrilla organisation active in the 1970s. Several hundred members of NFA reportedly have received training in China. [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zapu Phizo</span> Naga nationalist leader

Zapu Phizo, commonly known as A. Z. Phizo or Angami Zapu Phizo, was a Naga nationalist leader with British nationality. Under his influence, the Naga National Council asserted the right to self-determination which took the shape of armed resistance after the Indian state imposed the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in 1958. Naga secessionist groups regard him as the "Father of the Naga Nation".

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The Naga National Council (NNC) was a political organization of Naga people, active from the late 1940s to the early 1950s. It evolved out of the Naga Hills District Tribal Council, an organization established in 1945 by the Deputy Commissioner of the Naga Hills district. The group was reorganized to form NNC in 1946 at Sanis, with Eno T. Aliba Imti Ao as the President, and other democratically elected Naga representatives as its members. NNC declared independence a day before India's independence on 14 August 1947, and unsuccessfully campaigned for the secession of the Naga territory from India.

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The Shillong Accord of 1975 was an agreement signed between the Government of India, also referred to as the Federal government, or Union government, or Central government of India, and Nagaland's underground government, also referred to as the Naga Federal government, or Naga guerillas, or Naga rebels, to accept the supremacy of Constitution of India without condition, surrender their arms and renounce their demand for the secession of Nagaland from India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Insurgency in Manipur</span> Ongoing armed conflict between India and multiple separatist rebel groups

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">S. S. Khaplang</span>

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The history of the Nagas dates back centuries, but first appear in written records of Ahom kingdom during the medieval period of Indian history. Aside from developing contacts with the Ahom kingdom, which was established in 1228 in Assam, the Nagas generally lived an isolated existence from the outside world. This changed in the 19th century, when the Burmese Empire launched several invasions of Assam between 1817 and 1826, which led the Nagas to briefly fall under Burmese rule. However, the neighboring British Empire annexed Assam in 1828 following the 1826 Treaty of Yandabo.

Elections to the Nagaland Legislative Assembly were held in February 1998 to elect members of the 60 constituencies in Nagaland, India. The Indian National Congress won a majority of the seats and S. C. Jamir was re-appointed as the Chief Minister of Nagaland. The number of constituencies was set as 60 by the recommendation of the Delimitation Commission of India.

Perietsü Kevichüsa Meru, commonly known as Tubu Kevichüsa was a politician from Nagaland, India who served as the General Secretary of Naga National Council until his assassination in June 1996 by armed men from the NSCN-IM. His brother Chalie Kevichüsa was also assassinated by the NSCN-IM in September 1992.

This is a timeline of the history of the Nagas.

The 2011 Tirap Ambush was a violent clash within the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) between the NSCN--Isak Muivah (NSCN-IM) and the NSCN--Khaplang (NSCN-K) militant groups on the Indo-Myanmar border of Tirap district, in Eastern Arunachal Pradesh, India.

References

  1. ↑ "Government signs landmark Nagaland peace treaty with NSCN(I-M) in presence of PM Narendra Modi". The Economic Times. India. 3 August 2015. Archived from the original on 22 August 2017. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  2. ↑ Uppsala conflict data expansion. Non-state actor information. Codebook pp. 81–82
  3. ↑ "April 26th, 2017". Morung Express. 26 April 2017.
  4. ↑ "National Socialist Council of Nagaland – Khaplang". Archived from the original on 25 February 2017. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  5. 1 2 "Yearly Fatalities". SATP. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  6. ↑ "Encyclopaedia of Scheduled Tribes in India: In Five Volume", p. 253, by P. K. Mohanty.
  7. ↑ Comdt Jassal (Retd) (31 October 2002). "The Truth And Naga Issue". Archived from the original on 15 December 2004.
  8. ↑ Namrata Goswami (27 November 2014). Indian National Security and Counter-Insurgency: The Use of Force Vs Non-violent Response. Routledge. p. 47. ISBN   978-1-134-51431-1.
  9. 1 2 Namrata Goswami (27 November 2014). Indian National Security and Counter-Insurgency: The Use of Force Vs Non-violent Response. Routledge. p. 48. ISBN   978-1-134-51431-1.
  10. ↑ Namrata Goswami (27 November 2014). Indian National Security and Counter-Insurgency: The Use of Force Vs Non-violent Response. Routledge. p. 45. ISBN   978-1-134-51431-1.
  11. ↑ Namrata Goswami (27 November 2014). Indian National Security and Counter-Insurgency: The Use of Force Vs Non-violent Response. Routledge. pp. 43–. ISBN   978-1-134-51431-1.
  12. ↑ "India: Army Kills 14 Civilians in Nagaland". Human Rights Watch. 8 December 2021. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  13. 1 2 Schmid, A.P.; Jongman, A.J. (2005). Political Terrorism: A New Guide To Actors, Authors, Concepts, Data Bases, Theories, And Literature. Transaction Publishers. p. 572. ISBN   9781412804691 . Retrieved 14 December 2014.
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