Nagalim movement grips Northeast India with fresh unrest
Special Correspondent
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The Northeast Indian region has been gripped by a fresh spell of violence and tension centring the demand the Nagas for Nagalim or Greater Nagaland curbing out of Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh .
A tense situation has been prevailing along Arunachal-Assam border since India's independence day on August 15 when militants of the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN-IM) raided Saraipung village in eastern Sivasagar district, about 400 km from Assam's capital city of Guwahati.
The militants set ablaze many houses, demolished an under- construction barrack of Assam police and attacked police pickets in Charaipung and Bimalapur area in Assam. NSCN-IM militants ambushed the convoy of the Sivasagar district police chief Akhilesh Singh last Friday in which two of his security men were injured.
Meanwhile, normal life has been affected in Manipur and Arunachal due to road blockades separately enforced by the United Naga Council (UNC), the apex body of the Nagas in Manipur and All Assam Students Union (AASU). Press reports said the blockade caused acute shortage of essential items, petroleum products and medicines in the bordering States of Monipur and Arunachal. The indefinite economic blockade against Arunachal Pradesh has been continuing since last Saturday.
Hundreds of activists of various organisations under the banner of AASU (All Assam Students Union) and Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) have blocked the three different roads connecting Assam with eastern Arunachal Pradesh.
The United Naga Council (UNC) has been continuing its economic blockade on Imphal-Dimapur- Guwahati NH-39 and Imphal-Jiribam-Silchar NH 53 the highways. UNC has decided to extend its 20-day economic blockade that began on August 4, to 25 more days on two vital highways of Manipur, demanding, among others, lifting of Section 144 CrPC and withdrawal of state security forces from some hill areas. The demands also include institution of a judicial inquiry into the Mao Gate incident on May 6 in which two Naga students were killed. The UNC also demanded the dissolution of the "undemocratically instituted" Autonomous District Councils in the hills.
Earlier, the All Naga Students Association Manipur (ANSAM) had imposed a 68-day-long blockade following which the UNC called for a 20-day economic blockade.
Following discussions in Parliament, the Indian Central government has decided to provide security on the highways to ensure movement of goods trucks. Most of the truckers were refusing to ply on NH39 which passes through Nagaland, protesting extortion by militants on the highway.
NAGALIM movement
Nagaland (Nagalim) is a nation occupying an area of 120,000 sq. km of the Patkai Range at the tri-junction of China, India and Burma. Nagalim was apportioned between India and Burma. The Indian part is subdivided and placed under four different administrative units: Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland states. The eastern part under Burma is placed under two administrative units: Kachin State and Sagaing Division (formerly known as the Naga Hills). The area inhabited by the Naga tribes is bounded by the Hukawng Valley in the northeast, the plains of the Brahmaputra Valley in the northwest, Cachar in the southwest and the Chindwin River in the east. In the south, the Manipur Valley marks the point of contact between the Naga tribes and the Kuki tribes.
The Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN) is a Naga nationalist group operating in Northeast India with the aim of establishing a Socialist Christian state in the areas inhabited by the Naga people in Northeast India and Myanmar. NSCN (IM), as the dominant insurgent group in Nagaland has been carrying out an armed struggle to end Indian sovereignty over the Naga people and establish a People's Republic of Nagaland.
The Nagas have also established their overseas activities to mobilize international support for their causes. One such support group launched in 2003 named as Naga - American Council as a non-partisan organization whose mission is to mobilise support for the Naga people's right of self-determination in India. The Nagas claim that they were never conquered by any outside power, that they declared themselves a modern, independent nation on August 14, 1947, one day prior to the creation of independent India, and that they never consented to be part of the Indian union. This contrasts with other ethnic groups in India that were either historically integrated into what is today India, or willingly joined the union upon independence from Britain - even though some of them today are unhappy and wish to separate from India.
Traditionally, the southwest districts of Tirap and Changlang, in the proximity of Nagaland, have been a happy hunting ground for both the factions of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN). While the Khaplang faction (NSCN-K) made its first inroads into the virgin territory in the early 1990s, the NSCN-IM faction soon made its move and carved out separate areas of influence in the district.
To the Indian government Nagalim is part of India. To the Nagas, however, it has never been a question of separating from India since Nagalim has never been part of it. In their view India is a product of colonial imagination in which Nagalim was never fully integrated.
According to Thuingaleng Muivah, NSCN General Secretary, "Naga issues are therefore not comparable to other cases in India. They are unique. In order to work out the differences between the government of India and the Nagas, the nature of the case should be acknowledged not in terms of the Indian constitution. Nagalim should have its own competencies."
NSCN says, the Indian government has a history of contradicting itself by continuing the suppression of the Naga people even though it made numerous promises of stopping violence and withdrawing its armed forces. With recurring incidents of arrests, abductions, disappearances, torture, summary executions, killing of civilians and women being raped, the Nagas are still committed to their cause of self-determination. As Thuingaleng Muivah stated: "I am a Naga, I am not Indian. We are still absolutely committed to finding a solution through peaceful dialogue."
A tense situation has been prevailing along Arunachal-Assam border since India's independence day on August 15 when militants of the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN-IM) raided Saraipung village in eastern Sivasagar district, about 400 km from Assam's capital city of Guwahati.
The militants set ablaze many houses, demolished an under- construction barrack of Assam police and attacked police pickets in Charaipung and Bimalapur area in Assam. NSCN-IM militants ambushed the convoy of the Sivasagar district police chief Akhilesh Singh last Friday in which two of his security men were injured.
Meanwhile, normal life has been affected in Manipur and Arunachal due to road blockades separately enforced by the United Naga Council (UNC), the apex body of the Nagas in Manipur and All Assam Students Union (AASU). Press reports said the blockade caused acute shortage of essential items, petroleum products and medicines in the bordering States of Monipur and Arunachal. The indefinite economic blockade against Arunachal Pradesh has been continuing since last Saturday.
Hundreds of activists of various organisations under the banner of AASU (All Assam Students Union) and Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) have blocked the three different roads connecting Assam with eastern Arunachal Pradesh.
The United Naga Council (UNC) has been continuing its economic blockade on Imphal-Dimapur- Guwahati NH-39 and Imphal-Jiribam-Silchar NH 53 the highways. UNC has decided to extend its 20-day economic blockade that began on August 4, to 25 more days on two vital highways of Manipur, demanding, among others, lifting of Section 144 CrPC and withdrawal of state security forces from some hill areas. The demands also include institution of a judicial inquiry into the Mao Gate incident on May 6 in which two Naga students were killed. The UNC also demanded the dissolution of the "undemocratically instituted" Autonomous District Councils in the hills.
Earlier, the All Naga Students Association Manipur (ANSAM) had imposed a 68-day-long blockade following which the UNC called for a 20-day economic blockade.
Following discussions in Parliament, the Indian Central government has decided to provide security on the highways to ensure movement of goods trucks. Most of the truckers were refusing to ply on NH39 which passes through Nagaland, protesting extortion by militants on the highway.
NAGALIM movement
Nagaland (Nagalim) is a nation occupying an area of 120,000 sq. km of the Patkai Range at the tri-junction of China, India and Burma. Nagalim was apportioned between India and Burma. The Indian part is subdivided and placed under four different administrative units: Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland states. The eastern part under Burma is placed under two administrative units: Kachin State and Sagaing Division (formerly known as the Naga Hills). The area inhabited by the Naga tribes is bounded by the Hukawng Valley in the northeast, the plains of the Brahmaputra Valley in the northwest, Cachar in the southwest and the Chindwin River in the east. In the south, the Manipur Valley marks the point of contact between the Naga tribes and the Kuki tribes.
The Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN) is a Naga nationalist group operating in Northeast India with the aim of establishing a Socialist Christian state in the areas inhabited by the Naga people in Northeast India and Myanmar. NSCN (IM), as the dominant insurgent group in Nagaland has been carrying out an armed struggle to end Indian sovereignty over the Naga people and establish a People's Republic of Nagaland.
The Nagas have also established their overseas activities to mobilize international support for their causes. One such support group launched in 2003 named as Naga - American Council as a non-partisan organization whose mission is to mobilise support for the Naga people's right of self-determination in India. The Nagas claim that they were never conquered by any outside power, that they declared themselves a modern, independent nation on August 14, 1947, one day prior to the creation of independent India, and that they never consented to be part of the Indian union. This contrasts with other ethnic groups in India that were either historically integrated into what is today India, or willingly joined the union upon independence from Britain - even though some of them today are unhappy and wish to separate from India.
Traditionally, the southwest districts of Tirap and Changlang, in the proximity of Nagaland, have been a happy hunting ground for both the factions of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN). While the Khaplang faction (NSCN-K) made its first inroads into the virgin territory in the early 1990s, the NSCN-IM faction soon made its move and carved out separate areas of influence in the district.
To the Indian government Nagalim is part of India. To the Nagas, however, it has never been a question of separating from India since Nagalim has never been part of it. In their view India is a product of colonial imagination in which Nagalim was never fully integrated.
According to Thuingaleng Muivah, NSCN General Secretary, "Naga issues are therefore not comparable to other cases in India. They are unique. In order to work out the differences between the government of India and the Nagas, the nature of the case should be acknowledged not in terms of the Indian constitution. Nagalim should have its own competencies."
NSCN says, the Indian government has a history of contradicting itself by continuing the suppression of the Naga people even though it made numerous promises of stopping violence and withdrawing its armed forces. With recurring incidents of arrests, abductions, disappearances, torture, summary executions, killing of civilians and women being raped, the Nagas are still committed to their cause of self-determination. As Thuingaleng Muivah stated: "I am a Naga, I am not Indian. We are still absolutely committed to finding a solution through peaceful dialogue."
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