National Socialist Council of Nagaland

The Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) is a Naga nationalist group operating in Northeast India.[2][3] The main aim of the organization is to establish a sovereign state, "Nagalim" [4] unifying all the areas inhabited by the Naga people in Northeast India and Burma.

Formation

The National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) was formed on January 31, 1980 by Isak Chishi Swu, Thuingaleng Muivah and S.S. Khaplang opposing the Shillong Accordsigned by the then Naga National Council (NNC) with the Government of India. Later, misunderstanding surfaced within the outfit leaders over the issue of commencing negotiation dialogue with the Indian Government and on April 30, 1988, the NSCN split into two fractions; the NSCN-K led by S S Khaplang, and the NSCN-IM, led by Isak Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah. The split triggered spat of violence and factional clash between the factions.

A brief history of Naga insurgency

The word "Naga" denotes a conglomeration of ethnic tribes living on the Himalayan Range in North East India. Angami, Ao, Chakesang, Konyak, Pochury, Rengma, Sumi, Maram, Mao,Tangkhul, Thangal, Sangtam, Poumai, Zeliangrong, Phom, Nocte, Maring, etc. are some important sub-tribes of Naga. It is not to be confused with the Hindu Naga (Sadhus).

The origin of Naga Struggle is traced back to the founding of the Naga Club, in Kohima in 1918 by a group of educated Nagas. They submitted a memorandum to the Simon Commission to exclude the Nagas from any constitutional framework of India. With the coming of Angami Zapu Phizo, popularly called as Phizo, the Naga Movement gained momentum in the late 1940s.

Phizo along with some other prominent leaders fought on the side of the Indian National Army (of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose) under the Japanese command against the Allied Force with the hope of attaining freedom. The Naga Club later became the Naga National Council (NNC) in 1946, the precursor of the NSCN to voice for Naga freedom. Disappointed by the policy frameworks of the Indian National Congress, they went underground and started engaging in guerrilla warfare against Indian Security Forces.

The NNC under Phizo's leadership declared Independence of Nagaland on the 14th of August 1947. It was greeted with great euphoria which echoed all over the Naga hills. Phizo was arrested in 1948 by the Indian Government on charges of rebellion. On his release, Phizo was made the President of the NNC in 1950. In 1952, he met Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India to chalk out pathway for Naga's Independence. The meeting was un-successful with both the parties remaining steadfast to their view points and demands.

The Indian army then marched in to suppress the rebellion and to track down Phizo, however, Phizo managed to escape to East Pakistan and from there to London, where he remain exiled till his death in 1990. The armed rebellion continued led by a section of the NNC leaders. An agreement was reached by the Indian Government and the NNC in the year 1975. This came to be known as the Shillong Accord, which some leaders in the NNC called as total betrayal including Isak Chishi Swu, Th Muivah and Khaplang. This led to the formation of the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland or the NSCN in the late 1970s under the leadership of Isak Chishi Swu, Thuingaleng Muivah and Khaplang. It started an underground Naga Federal government having both Civil and Military wings. It again split into two factions in the late 1980s: the NSCN (IM) and the NSCN (Khaplang).