Govt of India considering return of Khango Konyak to India for ceasefire, dialogue

September 26, 2018 2101 Views No Comment

Naga Republic News

The Government of India is considering the option of bringing the former Chairman of the NSCN Khaplang Khango Konyak back to India and possibility of entering into a ceasefire agreement and peace negotiations to further broaden the Naga peace process.

According to a report in The Hindu, messengers are being sent to talk to Khango Konyak, who is said to be on the Myanmar border.

The report in The Hindu mentions that the Centre has held meetings to discuss if Khango Konyak, former chairman of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang), who was impeached and expelled by the Myanmar-based outfit could be allowed to enter India.

In 2015, the Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had approved banning the NSCN (K) under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for five years.

According to The Hindu report, the NSCN (K) had ousted Khango Konyak “accusing him of being an Indian agent”. He had taken over as chairman of the NSCN (K) after the banned group’s leader S.S. Khaplang died in June 2017 in a Yangon hospital after a prolonged illness.

Khango Konyak, as per The Hindu report, is somewhere along the Myanmar border waiting to hear from the Indian authorities.

“A meeting was held to discuss whether Konyak should be allowed to come to India as he was associated with a banned group. We have to see if he can be of any use to the authorities in terms of disintegrating the NSCN (K),” a senior government official told The Hindu.

Yung Aung, the acting chairman of NSCN-K, is a relative of Khaplang and belongs to the Hemi Naga community, native to Myanmar. “Indian agencies suspect he has close links with China”, The Hindu report states.

Confirming this, Nagaland’s Deputy Home Minister Y. Patton told The Hindu that they had sent messengers to speak to Konyak.

Wait and watch

“We are trying to bring him back to Nagaland…The problem is he has not made up his mind whether to remain with NSCN-K or come back and join the ceasefire. We have appealed to NSCN-K to also join the ceasefire. Let us wait and see…we are on the job,” Mr. Patton said.

“Konyak claims he has a large number of followers in NSCN-K who are ready to desert the outfit and follow him. As per our information, he only has seven members with him. A realistic call will have to be taken on his return,” the official said as per the report in The Hindu.

On August 16, a statement issued by the council’s headquarters in Myanmar’s Sagaing region — adjoining Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh — said it had “unanimously impeached” its chairman for violating “party discipline.” In 2015, militants belonging to the NSCN-K killed 18 Army personnel in Chandel district of Manipur, following which the Indian Army carried out an operation in the bordering areas of Myanmar to destroy the extremist camps