Centre extends ceasefire agreements with 3 Naga insurgent groups for 1 year

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• Apr 20, 2022 | Dhupali Das

These outfits are breakaway factions of the NSCN-IM and NSCN-K, the two leading groups. 

Digital Desk: The ceasefire pact agreed with three Naga insurgent groups has been extended for another one year by the Centre. In a statement the Union Home Ministry said that the agreements are with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-NK (NSCN-NK), National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Reformation (NSCN-R), and National Socialist Council of Nagaland K-Khango (NSCN K-Khango). 

"It was decided to extend the ceasefire agreements for a further period of one year with effect from April 28, 2022, to April 27, 2023, with NSCN-NK and NSCN-R, and from April 18, 2022, to April 17, 2023, with NSCN K-Khango," the statement added.

 Reportedly, these agreements were inked on Tuesday. The central government signed a ceasefire agreement with another section of the Naga insurgency led by the renowned militant Niki Sumi on September 8, 2021.

These outfits are breakaway factions of the NSCN-IM and NSCN-K, the two leading groups. On August 3, 2015, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government inked a framework deal with the major Naga group NSCN-IM.

The framework deal was concluded after more than 80 rounds of negotiations spanning 18 years. The first breakthrough was in 1997, when a ceasefire agreement was signed following decades of insurgency in Nagaland that began shortly after India's independence in 1947.

However, talks with the NSCN-IM are currently stopped because the organization has demanded a separate Naga flag and constitution, which the central government has rejected.