NSCN (IM) threatens to resume armed resistance if flag, constitution demands not met

Guwahati, Nov 9: Naga insurgent group NSCN – Isak Muivah (IM) has threatened to break its 27-year-old cease-fire agreement with the Centre and return to its "armed struggle" if its demands for a “separate national flag and constitution" are not met.

Further, the NSCN (IM) has demanded the incorporation of a third party to work as a mediator between the outfit and the Government of India, a national newswire reported.

The ultimatum was issued by the NSCN (IM) after inconclusive talks between the Union Government and the NSCN (IM) that took place in New Delhi on October 7 and 8.

The NSCN (IM) on its statement shared that if the demand for a third-party mediator is rejected by the Government of India, the outfit “will be forced to take up violent armed resistance against India for defending the Nagalim unique history and sovereign existence”.

It further stated in its declaration that India and its leadership will be held accountable for the catastrophic and adverse situation that will arise out of the violent armed conflict between India and Nagalim.

In a statement released on Friday, general secretary of the group and chief political negotiator Thuingaleng Muivah said he and former chairman, late Isak Chishi Swu, went to the negotiating table for the resolution of the conflict through peaceful negotiation and also honouring the commitment of former Prime Ministers PV Narasimha Rao, HD Deve Gowda, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and others to resolve the issue through peaceful political negotiation, leaving aside armed movement.

The group, which carried out a violent insurgency in Nagaland soon after India's independence in 1947, entered into a ceasefire pact in 1997 before starting prolonged peace talks with the government's interlocutors.

Accordingly, the political negotiations began on August 1, 1997 and since then more than 600 rounds of talks had held without any pre-conditions both in India and abroad, leading to the signing of the Framework Agreement of August 3, 2015, he said.

Muivah alleged that authorities and the leadership in the government have “deliberately betrayed” the letter and spirit of the Framework Agreement by refusing to recognise and acknowledged the Naga “sovereignty national flag and sovereign national constitution”.

He said the benchmark for a political agreeing between the government and the NSCN must be according to the letter and spirit of the Framework Agreement wherein among others, the Naga "sovereign national flag and Naga sovereign national constitution" must be an integral part of the political agreement.

Muivah said today or tomorrow, Naga's "unique history, sovereignty and freedom, sovereign territory, sovereign national flag and sovereign national constitution are non-negotiable".

Officials told the newswire in New Delhi that the peace talks with the NSCN-IM are currently going nowhere as the group has been insisting for a separate Naga flag and constitution, a demand rejected by the Centre.

Separately, the government is also holding peace parleys with splinter groups of the NSCN after entering into ceasefire agreements. The groups which have entered into ceasefire agreements are - NSCN-NK, NSCN- R, NSCN K-Khango and NSCN-K-Niki.