In the video, a person alleged that 15 well-trained NSCN (IM) fighters are coming to Manipur to join the Meitei in the fight against the Kukis. The Kuki-Zo-Chin tribals have started demanding separate administration after violence erupted on May 3 during protests against Meiti’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
NSCN (IM) said the man seen in the video has been identified as H Khosiwei Lavingson Roa, who joined the ‘National Service’ in October last year and completed his basic military training earlier this year.
NSCN (IM) in a statement said, ‘He is a private in the Naga Army posted in the Thungbo Brigade. On 7 August 2023, he was given medical leave for an ear infection and sent to Dimapur, but has been missing ever since.
Senior NSCN (IM) leader HR Shimre said in a statement that the video clip is ‘clearly a pre-planned and scripted production of a miscreant agency, aimed at furthering unrest and portraying the NSCN in a bad light’.
In July this year, a Nagaland police inspector, a leader of an armed group and four others were arrested for allegedly stealing ammunition from the state police armoury. The ammunition was to be sent to the neighboring state of Manipur. One of those arrested was an NSCN (IM) leader.
In the early 1990s there was a land dispute between the Nagas and the Kukis. Hundreds of people were killed at that time.
The NSCN (IM) was formed in 1980 and is headed by 85-year-old Thuingaleng Muivah. Among other top leaders of the group, Isaac Chishi Suu died at the age of 87 due to multiple organ failure. In 1997, the NSCN (IM) signed a peace accord with the central government and has since continued to hold talks with central emissaries.
The NSCN (IM) signed a framework agreement with the government in August 2015, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi called a ‘historic’ step to bring peace to the state.
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