Guwahati: NSCN-IM’s dissident Myanmar-based Eastern Flank leaders announced the formation of a “provisional govt” and appointed Ikato I Chishi Swu, son of NSCN-IM co-founder and former chairman late Isak Chishi Swu, as its chairman, in a direct challenge to the parent organisation’s Hebron-based leadership led by Th Muivah.The announcement formalises the split that became public after the NSCN-IM leadership expelled Eastern Flank leaders and several senior functionaries earlier this month.A security source said the move could complicate the Naga peace process by creating a parallel power centre within one of the most influential insurgent organisations in the northeast.The announcement was made through a resolution adopted at an “Extraordinary Joint Emergency Meeting” of the NSCN-IM Eastern Flank held on July 21 at Mt Horeb Camp in Myanmar and chaired by Lt Gen (Retd) H.S. Ramsan, the group’s vice-chairman.The three-page resolution declared the establishment of a provisional govt for now.Swu will lead the nine-member leadership for the provisional government headedIn a sharp attack on the NSCN-IM leadership, the Eastern Flank declared as “null and void” the expulsion orders issued earlier this year against Ramsan, A Raman and other senior leaders. It alleged that the expulsions were aimed at “silencing the veterans” to facilitate a “piecemeal solution” to the Naga political issue.The resolution also rejected the “competencies” submitted by the NSCN-IM leadership to the Centre during the ongoing Naga peace talks, alleging that they compromised the “sovereign existence” of the Naga nation within the Indian Constitution.The dissident group further claimed that the leadership at Camp Hebron had failed to act on Muivah’s November 7, 2024 statement warning of resuming armed resistance if the political process failed.Declaring that “the spirit of the ceasefire agreement has ceased to exist” following what it termed the Centre’s betrayal of the 2015 Framework Agreement, the Eastern Flank said it would continue both political and armed resistance to safeguard Naga sovereignty.
