Myanmar split in Naga group

NISHIT DHOLABHAI

New Delhi, June 8: A Naga militant group straddling India and Myanmar turned “Indian” on Tuesday in a split that is expected to impact the entire Northeast.

S.S. Khaplang, the Myanmar-based head of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (K), was expelled by his group’s leaders in Nagaland Kitovi Zhimoni and Khole Konyak.

Khole was chosen to head the NSCN (K) in the state.

“There is someone behind the split,” said a leader of the rival NSCN (Isak-Muivah) group, suggesting security agencies have engineered the split.

For the government of India, an Indian insurgent group severing ties with a Myanmar-based head is a major development.

“That the Myanmar axis is cut off is important so that we may engage with our Indian citizens,” a senior official said.

Khaplang is based in the Sagaing division of Myanmar, where his camps were the training base for Paresh Barua’s Ulfa and Manipur-based groups such as the UNLF. His NSCN (K) would also provide Barua’s boys safe passage into Assam through Arunachal and Nagaland, something it will not be able to do now after the split with the group’s Indian arm.

Besides, the NSCN leader’s tie-ups with Myanmarese groups were a concern for Indian security agencies.

The NSCN (K) split, which is not a surprise because there have for long been differences between Khaplang and the Indian leaders, is being seen as indicative of how security and intelligence agencies have “opened all fronts” whether in Myanmar, Bangladesh or Bhutan. For the last two years, the excellent rapport with Dhaka has resulted in major Ulfa and National Democratic Front of Boroland leaders being caught.

Khole’s elevation might also address the discontent of the backward eastern Naga tribes of Mon, Kiphire, Tuensang and Longleng districts, who have felt neglected since Nagaland attained statehood in 1963 and have recently demanded a separate state. He is a Konyak Naga from the frontier Mon district.

Since New Delhi would be in a mood to bestow legitimacy on Khole, “eastern Nagaland” could be effectively appeased, sources said.

The government’s official position on the split is that it is “their internal matter” but sources said it was happy with the development, more so because of the increasing incursions of the NSCN (I-M) into Myanmar.

Both the NSCN (K) and the NSCN (I-M) have been demanding secession from India and integration of all Naga-dominated areas, including those in Myanmar.

After the split, it is unlikely the group led by Khole would press the demand for integration with areas in Myanmar, which will help the government when it bargains with the NSCN (I-M).

The NSCN split into the Khaplang and Isak-Muivah factions in 1988 after Khaplang fell out with fellow leaders Thuingalang Muivah and Isak Chishi Swu. Since then, the two groups have been involved in internecine battles.
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