Guwahati, Jun 19: “Disillusioned” with their leadership, at least 11 civil functionaries of the NSCN-IM have joined a rival faction led by Khango Konyak, official sources said on Saturday. This was second major setback for the NSCN-IM as several cadres of the insurgent group had shifted allegiance to the Niki Sumi-led faction earlier this year, the sources said.
“Disillusionment” with the leadership, 11 civil functionaries of the NSCN-IM, operating in the Nuiland area of Dimapur, defected to the Khango faction in the second week of June, they said. Several other disgruntled senior functionaries of the NSCN-IM hailing from different tribes of Nagaland were in touch with the factions led Khango and Sumi and may cross over at an appropriate time, the sources said.
The disillusionment among cadres of the NSCN-IM has been attributed to the group’s often use of armed tactics to silence critics and concentration of all powers in the hands of a few, among others. The rampant extortion and imposition of taxes on common people were two other reasons cited for the disillusionment among many cadres of the NSCN-IM, the sources said.
The NSCN-IM had signed a framework agreement with the central government in 2015 to find a permanent solution to the seven-decade-old insurgency problem in Nagaland. The framework agreement came after over 80 rounds of negotiations spanning 18 years, with the first breakthrough made in 1997 when the ceasefire agreement was sealed after decades of insurgency in Nagaland which started soon after India’s independence in 1947.
However, the talks with the NSCN-IM is currently going nowhere as the group has been insisting for a separate Naga flag and constitution, demands rejected by the central government. The central government has also been engaged in peace negotiations with three other insurgent groups of Nagaland and extended ceasefire agreements with them till April 2022.
These groups are the NSCN’s Sumi and Khango factions and one more outfit.
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