Naga Army

Last updated

Naga Army
Leaders Reivilie Angami
Thuingaleng Muivah
Kaito Sukhai
Mowu Gwizan
Dates of operation1952 (1952) – present
HeadquartersCamp Hebron, Peren District, Nagaland
Active regions
Ideology Naga nationalism
Sizeone brigade and six battalions
Part of NNC
NSCN
Battles and wars Naga Conflict
Designated as a terrorist group byFlag of India.svg  India
Website Naga Army FB page

The Naga Army is the ethnic minority army of the Naga people.[ citation needed ] Currently it is the military wing of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN). [1]

Contents

History

The Naga Army was founded by Reivilie Angami in 1952. In its first phase it was part of the Naga National Council. After 1980 it became the armed wing of the NSCN. [2] [ failed verification ]

The Naga National Council had two wings, the Naga Federal Government (NFG) —renamed Federal Government of Nagaland (FGN) in 1959— and the Naga Army, also known as "Naga Federal Army" (NFA).[ citation needed ] After more than a decade of unfruitful talks with the Indian authorities, including Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Zapu Phizo, the NNC chairman, lost faith in the diplomatic process. He realized that the possibility of a peaceful settlement of the issue with India would be very remote, for he saw that there was no intention to grant self-determination to Nagaland.[ citation needed ] When the insurgent army began operating in the Naga territories the Indian government responded heavy-handedly. In 1958 the whole sector was declared a "disturbed area" by the Indian state, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) was implemented and the Indian Army forced its way into the Naga region. In the ensuing unequal battle the Naga fighters were crushed.[ citation needed ] According to historian Benjamin Zachariah "It was in the north-east of India that the Nehruvian vision took on its most brutal and violent forms." [3] [ page needed ] Despite official denials, the Indian Armed Forces committed atrocities both against the fighters, as well as against the civilian population, including torture, rape and arson. [4] [5] The Naga National Council leadership fled to East Pakistan and Phizo went from there into exile. The insurgents meanwhile dispersed among the civilian population and engaged in small, sporadic, attacks. Some of the most severe confrontations of this period took place in Jotsoma village. [6] On 26 August 1960 a Douglas C-47 plane of the Indian Air Force was shot down during an attempt to drop relief materials and ammunitions to a military outpost. Eventually, on 6 September 1964 the Indian Armed Forces declared a ceasefire. [7] [8]

In 1966 the insurgents sought help from China. The first expedition being led by NNC General Secretary Thuingaleng Muivah in October. It trekked across the mountainous Sagaing Division, reaching the Chinese border three months later in January 1967. Over 130 military personnel were trained and indoctrinated in Tengchong, Yunnan, and returned to Nagaland with brand-new Chinese equipment, including rifles and rocket launchers. A second expedition was led by NNC leader Isak Chishi Swu and Naga Army General Mowu Gwizan. The 330 men left in December 1967 and reached China by March 1968, being similarly trained and supplied weapons at Tengchong. A third expedition with one hundred men, led by Ngasating Shimray and Lt. Colonel Taka left Nagaland in January 1968. They were blocked and turned back by Kachin Independence Army (KIA) members, after confiscating their weapons. [9]

The association with Communist China caused deep disagreements at the top. General Kaito Sukhai, who had been in the Naga Army since the beginning, firmly opposed it and left the organization in July 1967. The following year in August he would be assassinated. [10] Shortly thereafter Kaito Sukhai's supporters, who were mostly Sümi Naga, defected from the Naga Army and formed their own organization, the Revolutionary Government of Nagaland (RGN). In the end the cadres of this group gave up the armed struggle and went back to civilian life. Some of them joined the Border Security Force (BSF). [11]

See also

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Insurgency in Northeast India</span> Ongoing militancy in Northeast India

The Insurgency in Northeast India involves multiple separatist and jihadist militant groups operating in some of India's northeastern states, which are connected to the rest of India by the Siliguri Corridor, a strip of land as narrow as 14.29 miles (23.00 km) wide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">S. C. Jamir</span> Indian politician

Senayangba Chubatoshi Jamir is an Indian politician and former Governor of Odisha. He was Parliamentary Secretary to Jawaharlal Nehru and Deputy Minister under Indira Gandhi. He has served as the Chief Minister of Nagaland, Governor of Maharashtra, Governor of Gujarat & Governor of Goa. He was awarded the third-highest Civilian Award in India, Padma Bhusan in 2020 for his work in public affairs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zapu Phizo</span> Naga nationalist leader

Zapu Phizo, commonly known as A. Z. Phizo or Angami Zapu Phizo, was a Naga nationalist leader with British nationality. Under his influence, the Naga National Council asserted the right to self-determination which took the shape of armed resistance after the Indian state imposed the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in 1958. Naga secessionist groups regard him as the "Father of the Naga Nation".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naga Conflict</span> Ongoing conflict in northeast India

The Naga conflict, also known as the Naga Insurgency, is an ongoing conflict fought between the ethnic Nagas and the Government of India in North-East India. Nagaland, inhabited by the Nagas, is located at the tri-junction border of India on the West and South, north and Myanmar on the East.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Socialist Council of Nagaland</span> Naga separatist group of Northeast India

The National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) is a Naga militant and separatist group operating mainly in northeastern part of India, with minor activities in northwest Myanmar (Burma). The main aim of the organisation is allegedly to establish a sovereign Naga state, "Nagalim", which would consist of all the areas inhabited by Naga tribes in Northeast India and northwest Myanmar. Despite the name, the group does not endorse the ideology of "National Socialism" as practiced by Nazi Germany. Rather, the group's name is derived from their belief in the nationalist goal of a sovereign Naga state, combined with their belief in socialism. Due to the area the Naga traditionally inhabit being relatively isolated, the combination of the terms "nationalism" and "socialism" together do not have the same association with Nazism as it does in the Western world. India claims that China and Pakistan provide financial support and weaponry to the NSCN. Drug trafficking and extortion are believed to be other major sources of income for the NSCN.

The Naga National Council (NNC) was a political organization of Naga people, active from the late 1940s to the early 1950s. It evolved out of the Naga Hills District Tribal Council, an organization established in 1945 by the Deputy Commissioner of the Naga Hills district. The group was reorganized to form NNC in 1946 at Sanis, with Eno T. Aliba Imti Ao as the President, and other democratically elected Naga representatives as its members. NNC declared independence a day before India's independence on 14 August 1947, and unsuccessfully campaigned for the secession of the Naga territory from India.

Naga nationalism is an ideology that supports the self-determination of the Naga people in India and Myanmar, and the furtherance of Naga culture.

The Shillong Accord of 1975 was an agreement signed between the Government of India, also referred to as the Federal government, or Union government, or Central government of India, and Nagaland's underground government, also referred to as the Naga Federal government, or Naga guerillas, or Naga rebels, to accept the supremacy of Constitution of India without condition, surrender their arms and renounce their demand for the secession of Nagaland from India.

T. N. Angami was an Indian politician from Nagaland. He was the first Speaker of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly, and later, the second Chief Minister of Nagaland state.

The Naga Peace Accord is a peace treaty, signed, on 3 August 2015, between the Government of India, and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN), to end the insurgency in the state of Nagaland in Northeast India. The Government’s interlocutor for Naga Peace Talks, R. N. Ravi signed it on behalf of the Government of India, whereas Lt. Isak Chishi Swu, Chairman and Thuingaleng Muivah, General Secretary signed on behalf of the NSCN, in presence of the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

Isak Chishi Swu was the chairman of the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN). He along with Thuingaleng Muivah and S. S. Khaplang were instrumental in the creation of NSCN on 31 January 1980 after opposing the Shillong Accord signed by the then Naga National Council (NNC) with the Indian government. He was unable to attend the historic Naga Peace Accord signed on 4 August 2015 due to health conditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">S. S. Khaplang</span> Burmese insurgent leader (1940–2017)

Shangwang Shangyung Khaplang was a Burmese leader of Naga ethnicity. He was the leader of the NSCN-K, an insurgent group that operates to establish a Greater Nagaland, a sovereign state bringing all Naga-inhabited areas of Myanmar and India under one administrative setup.

Khodao Yanthan was a Naga liberation leader and a member of the Naga National Council (NNC). He was popularly called, “the grand old man of Naga political struggle”.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Nagas</span>

The history of the Nagas dates back centuries, but first appear in written records of Ahom kingdom during the medieval period of Indian history. Aside from developing contacts with the Ahom kingdom, which was established in 1228 in Assam, the Nagas generally lived an isolated existence from the outside world. This changed in the 19th century, when the Burmese Empire launched several invasions of Assam between 1817 and 1826, which led the Nagas to briefly fall under Burmese rule. However, the neighboring British Empire annexed Assam in 1828 following the 1826 Treaty of Yandabo.

This is a timeline of the history of the Nagas.

The following is an list of articles relating to Angami Nagas of Nagaland, India, sorted in alphabetical order.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Mukalimi</span> Armed conflict in Nagaland, India

The siege of Mukalimi was an armed conflict that occurred from 26 December – 30 December 2013, in the Mukalimi area of Nagaland, India. The siege resulted from escalating tensions following an incident on 21 December 2013, when two Sumi women were allegedly strip-searched by NSCN-IM cadres at a checkpoint.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Involvement of Northeast Indian insurgents in the Myanmar conflict</span>

Throughout the long-running separatist insurgencies in Northeast India, dozens of India-based insurgent groups have been involved in the neighboring conflict in Myanmar, both sheltering in Myanmar from the counterinsurgent Assam Rifles and participating in the conflict itself. Outside of several Indian-led operations, including Operation Golden Bird in 1995, Operation Hot Pursuit in 2015, or Operation Sunrise I and II in 2019, areas in which these insurgent groups are active have scarcely experienced fighting. Amid the escalation of civil war in Myanmar from 2021, several sources claim that the majority of Indian ethnic armed organisations (IEAOs) are allied, or have some level of understanding, with the ruling military junta of Myanmar, who allows them to maintain bases inside mountainous areas of northern Myanmar, typically in return for the IEAOs attacking anti-junta resistance groups.

References

  1. ↑ South Asia Terrorism Portal - Incidents and Statements involving NSCN-IM: 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 1992-2012
  2. ↑ "Late Brig. Reivilie Angami remembered". Nagaland Post. 19 February 2010. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  3. ↑ Benjamin Zachariah, Nehru, Routledge Historical Biographies ISBN-13 978-817436338
  4. ↑ Lanukaba Imchen, Younger generations should know/// Nagaland Tribune, 14 August 2014
  5. ↑ "Everything explained about the 'History of Naga Insurgency'". ETV Bharat. 12 July 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  6. ↑ Morung Express - Tale of Jotsoma Rüna Dze
  7. ↑ "Remembering the Fallen: 'Black Day' Observed At Meluri Sub-Division". Nagaland Page. 6 September 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2025.
  8. ↑ "The Cease-fire Agreement, September 6, 1964". South Asia Terrorism Portal. 6 September 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2025.
  9. ↑ Bertil Lintner. Great Game East, Yale University Press, London 2015. p. 262 ISBN 978-0-300-19567-5
  10. ↑ A tribute to Gen. Kaito Sukhai 1933-1968
  11. ↑ Highland Institute - Shadows of the Past; Memories with Revolutionary Government of Nagaland Members
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.