The NSCN-K (National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang) has strongly opposed the Government of India’s decision to declare the outfit an “unlawful organisation” and extend its ban for five years, terming it a “declaration of war.”
In a press statement issued on Thursday by its Ministry of Information and Publicity (MIP), the faction led by Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Ang Mai, Nyeiton Konyak, and Kughalu Mulatonu asserted that the Nagas “were never part of India or British India, are never part of India and will never be.” The statement described sovereignty as a “birthright, an inheritance from God and our fathers.”
The group claimed that the NSCN-K has “never ever transgressed, occupied, or violated an inch of Indian soil to launch a war,” and insisted its armed wing only uses light weapons for “self-defence within the Naga Country.” It also dismissed allegations of external support as “cheap propaganda … of the weakest and stupidest mindset.”
The statement criticized Indian laws such as the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (1957), the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (1967), and the Disturbed Areas Act, calling them “repressive and anti-human” measures imposed to suppress Naga sovereignty.
“The declaration of NSCN-K as an unlawful organization and banning it for 5 years is a declaration of war. The government of India must clearly understand that forcefully and illegally occupying the Naga country with more than millions of Indian armed forces is to exert the greatest military crime of this generation,” the release stated.
Urging the Ministry of Home Affairs to reverse its order, the NSCN-K called for dialogue, saying the government should “sit and speak with the NSCN-K to end the political deadlock.” The statement added that forming alliances with other “Northeast revolution” groups is a “bounden duty, a legacy passed onto us for more than 5 decades.”
The group further claimed that “the Indian security forces and its agents should be declared ‘unlawful and terrorist organizations’ and not the NSCN-K,” while accusing the government of India of being the “sole aggressor, occupier and criminal in the Naga country.”
(With inputs from EM)