naga-group-demands-flag-constitution-or-armed-struggle

The NSCN-IM, a prominent Naga insurgent group, has threatened to abandon its 27-year ceasefire with the Indian government and resume its armed resistance unless its demands for a separate "national flag and constitution" are met.

The group has remained in dialogue with New Delhi since signing a ceasefire agreement in 1997, following decades of violent insurgency in the northeastern state of Nagaland that began soon after India’s independence in 1947.

Thuingaleng Muivah, general secretary of the NSCN-IM and chief political negotiator, declared on Friday that the group may take “whatever steps that is necessary” if the government refuses to recognise a sovereign

Naga constitution and flag, which Muivah claims were promised as part of the August 2015 Framework Agreement.

This accord, signed in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was hailed as a major step towards resolving the long-standing Naga political conflict.

Mr. Muivah asserted that both he and late NSCN-IM chairman Isak Chishi Swu had entered peace negotiations with the goal of ending conflict through peaceful political discourse, respecting commitments made by former Prime Ministers P.V. Narasimha Rao,

 

H.D. Deve Gowda, and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

However, in a statement released on Friday, Mr. Muivah accused the government of “deliberately betraying” the terms of the Framework Agreement by refusing to acknowledge the Naga “sovereign national flag and sovereign national constitution.”

He emphasised that these demands, alongside Naga “unique history, sovereignty, and freedom,” are “non-negotiable” and form the essential benchmarks for any political resolution.

Officials in New Delhi have confirmed that peace talks with the NSCN-IM have reached an impasse over the group’s insistence on a separate flag and constitution, a demand firmly rejected by the Indian government. The Centre is concurrently engaged in peace discussions with various NSCN splinter factions, including NSCN-NK, NSCN-R, NSCN K-Khango, and NSCN-K-Niki, all of which have entered separate ceasefire agreements.

The NSCN-IM’s renewed threats to resume armed conflict place the future of Naga peace negotiations in a precarious position, underscoring the fragile nature of the ongoing peace process.