NAGA INSURGENCY

1. Background

• The British annexed Assam in 1826 and in 1881, the Naga Hills too became part of British India.
• The first sign of Naga resistance was seen in the formation of the Naga Club in 1918, which told the Simon Commission in 1929 "to leave us alone to determine for ourselves as in ancient times".
• In 1946 came the Naga National Council (NNC), under the leadership of Agami Zapu Phizo, declared Nagaland an independent state on August 14, 1947.
• The NNC resolved to establish a "sovereign Naga state" and conducted a "referendum" in 1951, in which "99 per cent" supported an "independent" Nagaland.

2. The Armed Movement 

• On March 22, 1952, Phizo formed the underground Naga Federal Government (NFG) and the Naga Federal Army (NFA).
• The Government of India sent in the Army to crush the insurgency and in 1958 enacted the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.

3. The Peace efforts

• Almost simultaneously with the resistance. On June 29, 1947, Assam Governor Sir Akbar Hyderi Signed a 9-point agreement with moderates T Sakhrie and Aliba Imti, which was almost immediately rejected by Phizo.
• The Naga Hills, a district of Assam, was upgraded to a state in 1963, by also adding the Tuensang Tract which was then part of NEFA.
• The Peace Mission got the government and NNC to sign an agreement to suspend operations that September.
• But the NNC/NFG/NFA continued to indulge in violence and after six rounds of talks, the Peace Mission was abandoned in 1967 and a massive counter-insurgency operation was launched.

4. The formation of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN)

• On November 11, 1975, the government got a section of NNC leaders to sign the Shillong Accord, under which this section of NNC and NFG agreed to give up arms.
• A group of about 140 members led by Thuingaleng Muivah, who was at that time in China, refused to accept the Shillong Accord and formed the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) in 1980. 
• In 1988, the NSCN split into NSCN (IM) and NSCN (K) after a violent clash.
• While the NNC began to fade away, and Phizo died in London in 1991, the NSCN (IM) came to be seen as the "mother of all insurgencies" in the region.

5. NSCN (IM)

• A "Greater Nagalim" comprising "all contiguous Naga-inhabited areas", along with Nagaland. That included several districts of Assam, Arunachal and Manipur as also a large tract of Myanmar.
• The map of "Greater Nagalim" has about 1, 20, 000 sq km, while the state of Nagaland consists of 16, 527 sq km.
• The claims have always kept Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh wary of a peace settlement that might affect their territories.
• The Nagaland Assembly has endorsed the "Greater Nagalim" demand "Integration of all Naga-inhabited contiguous areas under one administrative umbrella as many as five times: in December 1964, August 1970, September 1994, December 2003 and as recently as July 27, 2015.

6. NSCN (IM) Joined in Peace Talks

• Muivah, Swu and Other top NSCN (IM) leaders escaped to Thailand in the early 1990s.
• While Nagaland Governor M M Thomas, a church leader from Kerala, extracted the first positive response from the NSCN (IM), Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao met Muivah, Swu and others in Paris on June 15, 1995.
• In November 1995, the MoS (Home) met them in Bangkok.
• Subsequently, Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda met them in Zurich on February 3, 1997, which was followed by meetings with officers in Geneva and Bangkok.
• Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee met them in Paris on September 30, 1998.
• The Government of India signed a ceasefire agreement with NSCN (IM) on July 25, 1997, which came into effect on August 1, 1997.
• Over 80 rounds of talks between the two sides were held subsequently.
• For the NSCN (IM), the Modi Government continues from where Vajpayee left off.

• In March 2015, S S Khaplang abrogated the ceasefire he had signed in 2001 and is sure to oppose the accord.

Image source: The Indian Express

7. Chronicles of Conflict and Attempted Peace

7.1. June 1947: Naga-Akbar Hydari Agreement

• It was Signed by the Naga National Convention and the Governor of Assam.
• The right of the Nagas to develop themselves according to their freely expressed wishes is recognized.
• The Governor of Assam as the Agent of the Government of Indian Union will have a special responsibility for 10 years to ensure the observance of the agreement, at the end of this period the Naga Council will be asked whether they require the above agreement to be extended for a further period or a new agreement regarding the future of Naga People arrived at.

7.2. July 1960: Sixteen-point Agreement

• It was with the Naga People's Convention
• Nagaland formed as a state, under the charge of the Ministry of External Affairs.
• "No act or law passed by the Union Parliament affecting the following provisions shall have legal force in Nagaland unless specially applied to it by a majority vote of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly;

1. The Religious or Social Practices of the Nagas
2. The Customary Laws and Procedure
3. Civil and Criminal Justice so far as these concern decisions according to the Naga Customary Law

• The Naga leaders expressed the view that other Nagas inhabiting contiguous areas should be enabled to join the new state.
• It was pointed out to them on behalf of the Government of India that Articles 3 and 4 of the Constitution provided for increasing the area of any state, but the Government of India couldn't make any commitment in this regard at this stage.

• The Government of India welcomes the steps intended to bring about peace in Nagaland and with this object in view.. they will depute representatives, with whom will be associated the representatives of the  Government of Nagaland, to take part in talks with leaders of the underground.
• To facilitate these talks and take note of the letter of August 10, 1964... it has been ordered that with effect from September 6, 1964, and for a period thereafter of one month at present, the security forces will not undertake:

1.  Jungle operations
2. The raiding of camps of the underground
3. Patrolling beyond one thousand yards of Security posts
4. Searching of villages
5. Aerial action
6. Arrest and
7. Imposition of labour by way of punishment

1. Sniping and ambushing
2. Imposition of fines
3. Kidnapping and recruiting
4. Sabotage activities
5. Raiding and firing on Security posts, towns and administrative centres and 
6. Moving with arms or in uniform in towns, villages and administrative centres, wherever there are Security posts and approaching within one thousand yards of Security posts.

7.4. 1975: Shillong Agreement

• Between Nagaland Governor L P Singh and Underground leaders
• The representatives of the underground organisations conveyed their decision, of their own volition, to accept, without condition, the Constitution of India.
• It was agreed that the arms, now underground, would be brought out and deposited at appointed places.
• Details for giving the effect of this agreement will be worked out between them and representatives of the Government, the security forces and members of the Liaison Committee.
• It was agreed that the representatives of the underground organisations should have reasonable time to formulate other issues for discussion for a final settlement.