UAPA tribunal upholds 5-year NSCN (K) ban, flags secessionist agenda

New Delhi, Mar 31: The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Tribunal has confirmed the five-year ban imposed by the Centre on the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang), or NSCN (K), along with all its factions, wings, and other fronts, an order notified on Tuesday said.

In its order on March 19, published in the gazette late Tuesday evening, Presiding Officer Justice Nelson Sailo ruled that the activities of NSCN (K) are "detrimental to the sovereignty and integrity of India" and are aimed at achieving its objective to "secede from India."

The nature of activities carried out by the outfit, its cadres and factions left "no room for doubt that the NSCN (K) is waging war" against the Government of India, it said.

The Centre has banned the outfit with effect from September 28, 2025, for a period of five years.

The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, requires that where any association has been declared as unlawful under it, the Centre shall, within 30 days from the date of publication of the notification, refer the notification to the Tribunal for the purpose of adjudicating whether or not there is sufficient cause for declaring the association as unlawful.

Accordingly, the issue was referred to the tribunal.

The tribunal ruled that there was "unrebutted" evidence to show that activities of the group intended to cause a "threat to the sovereignty of the country" by creating a "sovereign Nagaland" incorporating the Naga inhabited areas of the Indo-Myanmar region by secession from the Indian Union.

"The activities of the NSCN (K) are, therefore, a direct threat to the sovereignty and integrity of India and it is imperative that the unlawful activities be banned in order to prevent NSCN (K) from continuing its disruptive and anti-national activities," it said.

The tribunal, on an objective assessment of the materials on behalf of the central government and the governments of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland, said that the organisation during the period under consideration, engaged itself in activities which were "unlawful activities" and which undermine the unity and integrity of the nation and the safety and security of the citizens.

It said that if there is no immediate curb and control of the activities of the group, it will take the opportunity to further regroup and rearm itself, expand its cadre, procure sophisticated weapons, and cause loss of lives of civilians and security forces and thereby accelerate its anti-national activities.

The tribunal said it has been "unravelled" that NSCN (K) has been aligning itself with other unlawful outfits like the United Liberation Front of Asom (Independent) [ULFA (I)], People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK), and People's Liberation Army (PLA).

"In view of the above discussion...there is sufficient cause to declare NSCN (K) along with all its factions, wings and front organisations, as 'unlawful association' for a period of 5 (Five) years w.e.f 28.09.2025. The same is confirmed by this Tribunal under... the UA(P) Act, 1967," it held.

The governments of Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh have also recommended the declaration of NSCN (K) as an unlawful association under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

The NSCN (K) has been banned for decades, and the ban is extended every five years.

Its leader, S S Khaplang, a Myanmarese Naga, died in 2017 after leading the group for decades. The outfit is now run by two of his deputies.

The NSCN-K's rival faction, the NSCN-IM, is currently having peace negotiations with the central government to find a lasting peace solution to the seven-decade-old insurgency in Nagaland.

PTI