News Analysis India

Tag: Naga militancy

  • 12 days later, militants free 2 construction workers abducted from Arunachal

    Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: Two construction workers from Assam and Bihar were freed by suspected militants of the Yung Aung faction of NSCN-K on Saturday night, 12 days after they were abducted from Longding district of Arunachal Pradesh.

    Longding District Magistrate B Lego told The New Indian Express that the persons were released on the India-Myanmar border.

    Superintendent of Police Vikram Harimohan Meena said the duo was “recovered” by the police after “tremendous efforts”.

    “After tremendous efforts, Longding police has achieved success in the recovery of two abductees in the recent Pumao kidnapping case,” the SP said in a statement.

    He said the persons were visibly in good health and taken for a medical checkup.

    On the night of January 31, a group of five-six militants had abducted three persons from a camp of labourers and taken them towards neighbouring Nagaland.

    The next day, the militants freed one of them, Banphua Wangpan who is from Longding. However, the two others – Hiren Konch from Assam and Ramashis Mahato from Bihar – continued to be in the militants’ captivity.

    The workers were engaged in the construction of a road located between Longkhaw and Pumao villages in Longding. The police had suspected that the motive behind the abduction was ransom. The militants had reportedly demanded Rs 4 crore as ransom.

    The NSCN-K (Yung Aung) is made up of mostly Nagas of Myanmar. Active in some eastern Arunachal districts, it is the only NSCN faction outside the purview of peace talks. 

  • Provoked by govt order, NSCN-IM asks Arunachal lawmakers to withdraw support to CM Khandu

    Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: Insurgent group National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN-IM) has asked all 11 legislators, including three ministers, of eastern Arunachal Pradesh to withdraw their support to Chief Minister Pema Khandu and Deputy CM Chowna Mein.

    The call from the outfit comes in the wake of a constitutional amendment in Parliament followed by an Arunachal administrative decision to remove the Naga tag on at least four tribes living in Tirap, Changlang, and Longding districts.

    On August 5, a bill unanimously passed by the Rajya Sabha resulted in the removal of the reference “any other Naga tribes” from the ST list of Arunachal and replaced it with the specific names of Nocte, Tangsa, Tutsa, and Wancho tribes.

    For the NSCN-IM, this has a huge political significance. The removal of the Naga tag would mean that technically there are no Nagas in Arunachal. By extension, this would also mean that NSCN-IM’s envisaged “Greater Nagalim” cannot claim – at least technically – the three Arunachal districts, seen in the NSCN-IM’s Greater Nagalim map.

    The immediate provocation for the NSCN-IM was the order by the Longding District Magistrate. On August 24, the DM had issued a circular which removed the phrase “any other Naga tribes” and inserted the Wancho tribe.

    The NSCN-IM said the DM’s order was clearly intended to erase the word “Naga”.

    “It has blatantly insulted and humiliated the sentiments and rights of the Nagas of Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts in particular and Nagas in general, which is unacceptable,” the outfit said in a statement.

    It added: “It was done willfully to undermine and distort the rights and identity of the Naga people. Nagas were never a threat to human existent anywhere”.

    Stating that it will never accept such a “derogatory” order, the NSCN-IM pointed out that the Government of India during Atal Behari Vajpayee’s tenure as the Prime Minister had recognised the uniqueness of Naga history.

    The rebel group said if the Naga MLAs of Arunachal failed to uphold the right of the Nagas in Arunachal, they would be considered as anti-Naga.