Guwahati: The Myanmar-based Eastern Flank of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN-IM) has announced the formation of a provisional government headed by Ikato I. Chishi Swu, son of the outfit’s co-founder and former chairman Isak Chishi Swu, in a move that formalises its split with the Hebron-based leadership led by Thuingaleng Muivah.
The decision was announced through a resolution adopted at an “Extraordinary Joint Emergency Meeting” of the Eastern Flank held at Mt. Horeb Camp in Myanmar on July 21. The meeting was chaired by the faction’s vice-chairman, Lt. Gen. (Retd.) H.S. Ramsan.
The faction said the provisional government had been constituted to “rescue the Naga political movement from its present predicament” and appealed to Naga national workers and the public to support what it described as a unified national government based on the principles of the organisation’s founding leaders.
Besides Swu as chairman, the provisional government includes Lt. Gen. (Retd.) H.S. Ramsan, Lt. Col. (Retd.) Victor Angami, Lt. Gen. A. Raman, Brig. Detail Dani and Angyo Jacob Jingseya. Ngaranmi Jagoi, Merry Ramson and Rev. Vitovi Yeputho have been named advisers.
The announcement follows the expulsion of Ramsan, Raman and several other senior leaders by the NSCN-IM leadership earlier this month, bringing into the open divisions within the organisation.
In the resolution, the Eastern Flank declared the expulsion orders against Ramsan, Raman, Angami, Swu and Yeputho “null and void”, alleging that the action was intended to silence senior leaders and facilitate what it described as a “piecemeal solution” to the Naga political issue.
The faction also rejected the “Competencies” submitted by the NSCN-IM leadership to the Government of India during the ongoing Naga peace negotiations, alleging that they compromised the “sovereign existence” of the Naga people and violated the preamble of the Yehzabo, the organisation’s constitution.
On the ceasefire issue, the Eastern Flank alleged that the NSCN-IM leadership had failed to act on Muivah’s November 7, 2024 statement warning of a return to armed resistance if the political process failed.
Claiming that “the spirit of the ceasefire agreement has ceased to exist” following what it described as the Centre’s failure to honour the 2015 Framework Agreement, the faction said it would continue both political and armed resistance.
A security source said the emergence of a parallel leadership could complicate the Naga peace process by creating another power centre within one of the region’s most influential insurgent organisations.
The latest development comes as negotiations between the NSCN-IM and the Centre over a final Naga political settlement remain unresolved.