South Asia Terrorism Portal
NSCN-K Widening Rift and an Opportunity Giriraj Bhattacharjee Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management
On December 6, 2018, the Khango Konyak-led faction of the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K-Konyak) announced the decision to revoke the 2015 pronouncement of unilateral abrogation of the cease-fire agreement (CFA) with immediate effect. ‘President’ and ‘Chairman’ Khango Konyak and ‘general secretary’ Isak Sumi, in a joint statement, called upon Union Government to respond,
The undivided NSCN-K, on March 31, 2015, had unilaterally abrogated the April 28, 2001, CFA stating, “it was no use extending the ceasefire without discussing the issue of Naga sovereignty.” Later, on April 28, 2015, the Union Government of India too announced the suspension of the CFA and followed up by banning NSCN-K for five years, on September 16, 2015, under the Unlawful Activities [Prevention] Act (UAPA), 1967. Subsequently, on November 16, 2015, the Central Government declared NSCN-K a terrorist organization.
On June 20, 2017, in the aftermath of the death of its founding ‘chairman’ S. S. Khaplang on June 9, 2017, Khango Konyak was made ‘chairman’. However, in August 2018, a vertical spilt occurred within group, leading to the formation of two splinters. A 'party emergency meeting' held on August 17, 2018, at the 'council headquarters' in Myanmar's Sagaing region, 'elected' Yung Aung, a Myanmarese national, as the new 'acting chairman'. Khango Konyak left Myanmar along with his supporters and reached Yongkhao village under Tobu sub-division in the Mon District of Nagaland on October 16, 2018. Konyak became the leader of this faction.
The announcement of the resumption of the ceasefire was not sudden, as reports indicated that both Nagaland Gaon Burha Federation (NGBF) [Federation of Traditional Village Headman] and the Naga Mother’s Association were involved in back-channel peace parleys with the NSCN-K-Konyak. NGBF in a statement on November 14, 2018, disclosed,
NGBF also disclosed that NSCN-K-Konyak had placed a four-point demand before the Union Government for consideration. It includes lifting of the ‘ban’ imposed on the NSCN and removal of the “terrorist” tag; rescinding the ‘bounties’ placed on NSCN leaders; repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and Disturbed Areas Act in “Naga areas”; and unconditional release of NSCN cadres who were arrested after abrogation of the ceasefire and were undergoing trial or serving sentences in prisons.
NGBF reportedly handed over a letter by the Khango faction to R.N. Ravi, the Deputy National Security Advisor (Internal Affairs) and the Centre’s Interlocutor for Naga talk’s. On November 14, 2018, NGBF claimed that, during a meeting between NGBF and the interlocutor, Ravi reportedly accepted ‘many’ of the demands. Ravi, however, at the same time clarified, “India has a commitment to solve the Naga issue with one comprehensive solution and, therefore, cannot have many agreements and is not in a position to take up 3rd party with fresh negotiation.”
Significantly, since the abrogation of the CFA on March 31, 2015, and till Khaplang’s death on June 9, 2017, the ‘undivided’ NSCN-K emerged as the most violent group in the entire Northeast. According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), out of a total of 431 fatalities (121 civilians, 65 Security Force, SF, personnel and 245 militants ) recorded in the entire Northeast region during this period in which the identity of the involved group was established, NSCN-K was linked to 39 fatalities (seven civilians and 32 SF personnel). The Saoraigwra faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB-S) was a distant second with 18 fatalities (17 civilians and one trooper). Moreover, in another sign of NSCN-K’s heightened activities on ground, it lost a total of 40 of its cadres during this period, second only to NDFB-S which lost 44 militants.
However, the effectiveness of NSCN-K was greatly reduced during Khango Konyak ‘chairmanship’ (June 20, 2017-August 16, 2018). According to SATP data, only five NSCN-K linked fatalities (one civilian, one trooper, and three NSCN-K militants) were recorded across Northeast during this period.
After the August 2018 split, the Konyak-led group had shown interest in talks, while the Aung Yung faction sought to continue its ‘fight’ against the Indian state.
Indeed, the Aung Yung faction (NSCN-K-Yung) has decided to continue with violence and, in a release to media on October 20, 2018, declared,
On December 3, 2018, the Indian Army’s 12 Para Special Force (SF) commandos killed three militants in an area between the Wangla and Oting villages in the Mon District along the Indo-Myanmar border. According to reports, the commandos laid an ambush after receiving specific inputs about movements of around six militants along with a civilian, reportedly a guide. Though dead bodies of the two slain militants were recovered after the ensuing encounter; their identity is yet to be ascertained. The body of a third slain militant could not be retrieved. The militants reportedly belonged to NSCN-K-Yung and the Independent faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA-I), had entered India from Myanmar. Significantly, the last major incident (resulting in three or more fatalities) involving the undivided NSCN-K was recorded on June 17, 2018. On that day, undivided NSCN-K militants laid an ambush near the Tenyak River on the outskirts of Aboi Town in the Mon District, killing two Security Force (SF) personnel. Another six troopers were injured in the ambush. One of the injured troopers died later, on June 18. ULFA-I had claimed that it was also part of the ‘operation’.
Further, according to SATP data, there was not a single incident of NSCN-K-linked killing since the August 2018 split, till the December 3 incident.
Worryingly, there are signs of emergence of strong bonding between ULFA-I ‘commander-in-chief’ Paresh Baruah and Aung Yung. Baruah, in a recent interview published on November 24, 2018, endorsed Yung’s succession declared, “We will grow with a new leadership”.
It now remains to be seen whether the Government is able to accommodate NSCN-K-Khango in the framework of the lingering talks to resolve the Naga issue, or stands on its ‘decision’ not to accommodate any 3rd party. The decision to accommodate may further widen the scope of the Naga peace process beyond the Isak Muivah faction of NSCN (NSCN-IM) and the Naga National Political Groups (NNPG), but would, at the same time, threaten further delay in any ‘final outcome’.
Whatever the Government decides, counter insurgency (CI) operations based on specific intelligence, especially in the ‘last remaining hub in Northeast’ along the Indo-Myanmar border, will continue, with improving coordination amongst the State Police and Central Forces operating, in order to block any renewed militant consolidation.
Stalled Justice S. Binodkumar Singh Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
On November 21, 2018, the Conflict Victims Common Platform (CVCP), an umbrella body of 13 organizations advocating justice for war-era victims, adopted a 23-point Charter of Conflict Victims calling for meaningful participation of the victims themselves in the overall transitional justice process and related mechanisms. The CVCP adopted the charter at the end of the two-day ‘National Conference of Conflict Victims on Transitional Justice’ that concluded in Kathmandu on November 21.
Demanding reforms in the existing Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the Commission for the Investigation of Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) the charter stated,
TRC and CIEDP were formed on February 9, 2015, to probe instances of serious violations of human rights and determine the status of those who disappeared in the course of the armed conflict between the State and the then Communist Party of Nepal – Maoist (CPN-Maoist), between February 13, 1996, and November 21, 2006.
Significantly, as a result of their failure to accomplish their assigned tasks, TRC and CIEDP tenures have been extended twice, with the second extension due to come to an end on February 10, 2019. However, the TRC has completed preliminary investigation into hardly 2,800 cases among the 63,000 cases filed, and is yet to complete a detailed probe into a single case. CIEDP, which has completed preliminary investigation into 3,197 complaints, has also failed to launch a single detailed investigation.
Anguished over the snail-paced transitional justice process, CVCP in a press release on November 30, 2018, stated “Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons have failed to provide the conflict victims a chance to freely tell their tales of sufferings. If victims get a chance to tell their tales freely, it will lessen their pain and sufferings.”
Refuting the CVCP charge the transitional justice mechanism has done nothing, CIEDP spokesperson Bishnu Pathak, in a Press Conference on December 3, 2018, pointed out that, despite legal, financial and logistics constraints, CIEDP had completed preliminary investigation into 3,197 complaints. CIEDP’s teams had collected data from 56 Districts and would soon cover at least 65 Districts. Meanwhile, CIEDP Chairperson Lokendra Mallick noted that the commission only had the mandate to investigate cases of enforced disappearance; the responsibility of prosecuting the offenders lay with the Office of the Attorney General.
The fact is, the two transitional justice bodies have made little or no progress in investigating war-era cases of human rights violations, principally because the Government continues to delay the release of funds necessary for the process. TRC and CIEDP have received no money for investigation despite their persistent lobbying for funds since the beginning of the current fiscal year. Out of total NR 130 million required by CIEDP, the Government has released NR 40 million for staff salary, and NR 30 million to pay experts and contract officials. But officials say there is no money for travel, which is critical to the investigation of thousands of cases. The situation at TRC is worse. The commission needed NR 117 million for the current fiscal year, towards salary, travel costs, and a stipend for employees, as well as allowances for the victims who need to travel to TRC offices to record their statements. The Government has released just NR 37.70 million.
On December 4, 2018, CIEDP formed five committees: the Suggestion Preparation Committee for Institutional Improvement for Prevention of Conflict in Future, with Commission Chairperson Lokendra Mallik as coordinator; the Reparation Recommendation Criteria Preparation Committee under the coordination of Commission member Bijul B.K. Dulal; the Perpetrator Statement Committee, headed by Bishnu Pathak; the Disappeared Victim Identity Card Distribution Work Procedure Preparation Committee under the coordination of Commission member Nar Kumari Gurung; and the Action Recommendation Criteria Committee under the coordination of Commission member Aai Bahadur Gurung.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, addressing the inaugural session of the Asia Pacific Summit organized under the theme ‘Addressing Critical Challenges of Our Time: Interdependence, Mutual Prosperity and Universal Values’, by the Universal Peace Federation at Kathmandu on December 1, 2018, noted,
At the conclusion of the two-day Asia Pacific Summit, on December 2, 2018, a seven-point Kathmandu Declaration for Peace and Development was issued, observing,
Earlier, on June 12, 2018, Nepal ordered the United Nations to close its Department of Political Affairs (DPA) unit in Nepal with immediate effect and remove its staff within three months, stating that Nepal’s political transition, which started in 2006, had come to an end with the successful conclusion of elections to three tiers of Government – local, provincial and federal – as envisaged in the new Constitution adopted on September 20, 2015. Significantly, in 2017, after an interregnum of 20 years, local level elections were held in three phases; and, after a gap of 18 years, the House of Representative (HoR) and Provincial Assembly (PA) elections were held in two phases.
However, warning that the culture of impunity had been institutionalized in the country, as its recommendations to the Government of Nepal to take legal action against those involved in incidents of human rights violation during the conflict were not duly implemented, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), in a brief report on ‘Twelve Years of Comprehensive Peace Accord: Human Rights Situation’ released by the rights watchdog on November 21, 2018, paints a dismal picture of the implementation status of NHRC’s recommendations to the Government. According to the report, NHRC made 810 recommendations to the Government for necessary action to provide justice to conflict victims, from 2000 to mid-July 2017. Of the recommendations, 12.5 per cent were fully implemented and 48.3 per cent partially. Similarly, 39.2 per cent of the recommendations are still under consideration of the Government. The fully implemented recommendations relate essentially to providing compensation to conflict victims. The recommendations for legal action against perpetrators of human rights violations are yet to be implemented.
Since the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) 2006, which ended the decade-long insurgency bringing the Maoist revolutionaries into the political mainstream, Nepal has taken many strides forward on the socio-political front. The victims of the war have, however, been consigned to oblivion despite their continuous cry for justice. Even after 12 years, victims of the conflict are waiting for justice for human rights’ abuses that were committed during 10 years of war. The two Commissions, which had an initial mandate of two years, have twice extended their tenures. However, they have neither the legal power nor the wherewithal to investigate war-era violations and their job has been limited to collecting complaints and recording statements. Unless justice is delivered and a climate of reconciliation is established, these processes can only perpetuate injustice.
Weekly Fatalities: Major Conflicts in South Asia December 2-9, 2018
Civilians
Security Force Personnel
Terrorists/Insurgents
Total
INDIA
Arunachal Pradesh
Jammu and Kashmir
Manipur
Nagaland
INDIA (Left-Wing Extremism)
Chhattisgarh
INDIA (Total)
PAKISTAN
KP
PAKISTAN (Total)
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The South Asia Intelligence Review (SAIR) is a weekly service that brings you regular data, assessments and news briefs on terrorism, insurgencies and sub-conventional warfare, on counter-terrorism responses and policies, as well as on related economic, political, and social issues, in the South Asian region.
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