The Naga Insurgency (Part I)

Shri EN Rammohan, IPS (Retd)

The Naga insurgency is the oldest insurgency of independent India. Gestating from the run up to independence, it erupted in 1955-56, leading to enactment of the harsh Assam Disturbed Areas Act and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, and the first move by an insurgent group to a foreign country to seek help to fight the Government. The insurgency was quite fierce, and necessitated deployment of the Army, first a brigade strength, later a division. The 8 Mountain Division earned its spurs in fighting this insurgency, and had built up an excellent reputation for its knowledge of the area and its peoples. Many illustrious Generals commanded this division in Nagaland, and when it was shifted to Jammu and Kashmir in the early 1990s, many old Naga hands, felt that it was not a correct decision. The Assam Rifles has since taken over the responsibility for this sector.

The Nagas consist of about 30 odd tribes who inhabit the Nagaland state, parts of Manipur, a small part of North Cachar hills and Karbi Anglong in Assam, and a part of the old Tirap district of Arunachal Pradesh. The Naga leadership and historians claim that several small tribes in Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh are Nagas, but this is disputed by the Chin-Kuki-Mizo leaders who claim that these were really Kuki tribes who have decided to be Nagas because the Naga insurgent group is more powerful and it helps to be with the stronger group. There are several Naga tribes who live in Myanmar in the Sagaing Division opposite Nagaland and in the Somrah tracts, opposite Manipur. These are, however, the same tribes who live on the Indian side. In Nagaland the main tribes are the Angami, Ao, Sema, Konyak, Lotha, Chakesang, Rengma, Pochuri, Sangtam, Yimchunger, Khiamnungan, Phom and Zeliangrong, the last a group of three tribes, the Rongmei, Liangmei and Zemi. In Manipur, the Nagas dominate three districts. Ukhrul is the home of the Thangkuls, Senapati of the Maos, Marams, Poumeis and a very small tribe the Thengals and Tamenglong is dominated by the Zeliangrong. Chandel is divided between several Naga and Kuki tribes. The Kuki leaders claim that several tribes, whom the Naga leadership claims to be Nagas, are really Kuki. These are the Maring, Anal, Lamkhang, Moyon, Monsong, Chote, Chiru and Tarao.¹ In Assam, in the North Cachar hills, there are a number of villages of Zemis, a minority compared to the Dimasa Cachari who dominate the district and the Kukis and Hmars, who are in a sizeable majority. In Myanmar, the Thangkuls live in the Somrah tracts opposite Ukhrul district, while in the Sagaing division opposite Nagaland are the Konyak, Phom, Yimchunger, and several smaller tribes. Three tribes in the old Tirap district are Nagas.
 

Origin of the Nagas
 

Who are the Nagas and what is their origin? There is an aura of mystery about the origin of the Nagas, and their migration to their present habitation in Nagaland, Manipur, and the districts of Khonsa and Changlang of Arunachal Pradesh, and in Myanmar. There are no composite ‘Naga’ people, and among them there are many distinct tribes having more than 30 dialects, with every tribe constituting a separate language group. Their cultural and social setup varies vastly from tribe to tribe. Their physique and appearance differ from group to group. The nomenclature ‘Naga’ was given to this group by outsiders. In fact for long the appellation of ‘Naga’ was resented, till political expediency caused it to be accepted. In many cases these tribes existed in complete isolation.² For the majority of tribes, the entity was the independant village. There were both monarchical and republican systems in each village. Among the lower Konyaks and the Maos, some sort of confederation was formed where the great kings act as the titular head over some other villages. The Angs, the kings of Konyak villages, used to pay tribute to the great Ang, who had, however, no power to interfere with the other Angs.³ Among the Aos, Tatars (Councillors), who were the representatives of the people, could become the chief of the village by merit. In general a Naga village was said to be self sufficient, and by and large, maintained its sovereignty. Any interference, trespassing or encroachment by members of other villages in its territorial jurisdiction usually provoked inter village war, where head hunting could follow.

Meitheis. It is generally held that the Ahoms were the first outsiders to come in contact with the Naga tribes. This is not correct. The first organised group who came in contact with the Naga tribes were the Meitheis. The Meitheis have a recorded history of nearly 2000 years, the Cheitharon Kumbaba. In My Experience in Manipur, James Johnstone said, “the territories of Manipur varied according to the mettle of its rulers. Sometimes they held considerable territories east of the Chindwin River, at other times only the Kebaw valley.” As for the north, “In 1835, indeed the forest between the Doyang and Dhansiri was declared to be the boundary between Manipur and Assam.”⁴ To quote further, “The Government was and still is inclined to regard the Manipuris as the de facto master of the hills” (Naga Hills).⁵ There are numerous references in the recorded history of Manipur, of relations with the Naga tribes, of tributes being paid by Naga tribal chiefs. There are also instances of Naga men being recruited in the army of the Manipuri kings. Many of the Naga tribes spoke the Meithei language. In 1878, the Chief Commissioner of Assam reported (Assam Proceedings, March 1878), that he considered Kohima the best site for the headquarters…and the Manipur frontier line. Even after compelling Manipur to cooperate with the British Government in bringing the Nagas under the British rule, Lt Vincent showed that there were two parties in every Angami village, one attached to the interests of Manipur and another to that of the British. Johnson said in My Experience in Manipur – “There is every reason to believe that Manipuris in former days did penetrate into the Naga Hills and exacted tribute when they felt strong enough to do so. All the villages have Manipuri names in addition to their own…. Whenever a Manipuri visited a Naga village, he was treated as an honoured guest, at a time when a British subject could not venture into the interior without risk of being murdered. Many of the Nagas spoke Manipuri, and several villages paid annual tribute.”

Ahoms. The Ahoms came into contact with the Naga tribes, as they accosted them when they were migrating to Assam from the Shan area in Myanmar. The Naga tribes fiercely resisted the movement of the Ahoms through their territory. Later when the Ahoms settled in the Brahmaputra valley, and set up their capital at Gurgaon in Sibsagar, there were several clashes with the Nagas over the collection of salt from the salt licks, which happened to lie in Naga territory. According to Elwin, the Ahom kings regarded the Nagas as their subjects and took taxes from them in the form of slaves and elephant tusks.⁶

British Expansion. The British came to the North East from East Bengal, as the East India Company. They came to Manipur through Cachar, and then linked up with upper Assam through the Naga Hills. They soon set up tea gardens in the foothills, and that is when they encroached on the territory of Naga villages. Each Naga village was an entity and its lands were sacrosanct. Clashes took place and it was then that expeditions began to be sent into the Naga Hills. Areas bordering the plains had to be protected from the depredations of the hostile Nagas, who only wanted to be left alone. The British thus entered the Naga Hills and established posts inside so that the plains below could be protected. They also wanted their axis to Manipur from Golaghat to be safe. In January 1832, Captain Jenkins and Pemberton led 800 Manipuri troops from the Manipur valley to Mohung Dijua on the Jamuna (as the Brahmaputra river is known). This was probably some town on the bank of the Brahmaputra. They had to fight their way through the Zeliang and Angami Naga country. After several such skirmishes the East India Company decided to bring the Naga Hills directly under the British government. The British then organised a series of expeditions into the Naga Hills culminating in establishing the Naga Hills District at Samagooting (Chumukdima) in1866, which shifted to Kohima in 1878. Following the forward policy, the British were able to establish control over the whole of the Naga Hills. The policy of the British in administering the Naga Hills was one of defence and conciliation, not of coercion.⁷ Enough autonomy and protection was given to the Nagas and all the hill people. The Inner Line Regulation is the best example of this. This was the first law promulgated in Assam under the authority conferred on the Government for summary legislation for backward tracts to prevent friction between the people of the hills and plains. The Naga tribes were, by a Regulation of 1880, excluded from coming under such laws as may be complex or in any way unsuitable to them. The Governor General of India could, as laid down in the Government of India Act of 1919, proclaim any part of India to be a backward area. The word backward being objected to, it was decided to call all such areas excluded areas. Unwittingly the germs of separatism were laid with these two regulations, though they were passed with the best of intentions and for the good of the Nagas.
 

World War I and After
 

The Nagas were exposed to the outside world for the first time, during the World War I. About 2000 Nagas were recruited in the labour corps and served in France. Probably the first ideas of Nagas as a group, struck these World War I veterans when they came back. They preferred to be under the direct administration of the British, so that their rights were protected and guarded against all encroachments from the non-Nagas.

At this stage a peculiar development took place in Tamenglong in Manipur, home of the Zeliangrong Nagas, comprising the Zemi, Liangmei and the Rongmei. A young man Jadonang, born in a Rongmei village, Kambiron grew up into a mystic and as he collected a following, began weeding out negative religious beliefs, which harmed his tribe. He began a social and religious reformation, which gradually turned to a movement against the British rule. Very soon the British had a minor revolt against some of their unfair practices in the form of civil disobedience, and a no tax campaign. During this period four Meitheis itinerant traders were killed in Kambiron village for insulting the religious sentiments of the Zeliang people. The British blamed Jadonang for the killings and arrested him and after a virtually mock trial hanged him. Gaidinliu of Nungkao village in Tamenglong was his lieutenant when Jadonang was hanged. She was just 16, but she took up the fight. For a year she dodged the British, but was captured and imprisoned for life. She was released only a few years before independence. When the Naga insurgency broke out she opposed it tooth and nail and had to go underground once again. She organised an army of nearly 1000 men armed with rifles. There were several skirmishes between the underground Naga army and Gaidinliu’s army. Her heroic efforts gradually petered out as the Naga underground movement gained strength.

Naga Club. The result of the awakening of the Nagas who had fought in France in the World War I, was an association called the Naga Club formed in 1918 with the joint efforts of the headmen and Government officials. This Club had Nagas drawn from a number of tribes. In 1929, the Naga Club submitted a representation to the Simon Commission, wherein the Nagas stated that they wished to be left out from the proposed reformed scheme of India. They preferred to be under the direct administration of the British. The Government, however, did not agree and merely clubbed the Naga areas as Excluded Areas.

At this stage a development took place that probably set the future leaders of the Naga Underground, thinking that there should be a separate homeland for the Naga people of India and Myanmar. In 1941 Sir Robert Reid, the former Deputy Commissioner of the Naga Hills district, and the Governor of Assam, realising the ethnic and cultural differences of the Northeastern and Burma tribes, from the mainland Indians and Burmese, recommended a scheme to carve out a Trust Territory, called Crown Colony, comprising the Naga Hills, North East Frontier Areas and the Hill areas in upper Burma. He wanted a North East Province vaguely embracing all the Hill Ranges from the Lushai Hills right round to the Balipara Frontier tracts in the North, embracing on the way the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), the Chins of Burma and perhaps the Shan states too, which would be directly administered by Whitehall. The Nagas themselves opposed it, for they were keen for the British to go.
 

World War II and After

Then came the World War II and the Japanese invasion of Burma followed by their attempt to enter India through Manipur and the Naga Hills. The Nagas were fully involved in the extensive fighting that erupted in Ukhrul and in the Naga Hills. While the majority supported the British, a small group joined the Indian National Army (INA). After the war the Deputy Commissioner of Naga Hills, launched an organisation called the Naga Hills District Council to repair the damages of war. However, in April 1946, in its Wokha session, it was rechristened as the Naga National Council (NNC). In June 1946, the NNC submitted a memorandum to the British Cabinet Mission who came to prepare the ground for granting independence to India. The points were :-
 

The reply of Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Congress President, in August 1946, though sympathetic, clearly rejected any independent status for the Nagas. In February 1947, the NNC sent a memorandum to Lord Mountbatten, the then Viceroy requesting for setting up of an interim Government for the Nagas, for a period of 10 years, after which they would choose a form of Government as they wished. In May 1947, a meeting with the Advisory committee of aboriginal tribes ended in a deadlock. Nehru then sent Sir Akbar Hydari, the Governor of Assam to discuss the issue with the Naga leaders. A nine-point agreement was signed. The last point, not very happily worded, was interpreted differently by the NNC and the Government of India. AZ Phizo, who was just emerging as a new leader, began to spread the word that the Government of India was going back on its word. At this stage the NNC had two groups, the moderates and the die-hards, led by Phizo. In July 1947, Phizo led a six-member group of the die-hards to Delhi. Phizo and his group returned empty handed, and promptly on the 14 August 1947 the NNC declared Naga National Independence, signed by nine members. In Kohima and Mokokchung, school students took part in the Naga National Independence ceremony.

Post 1947

On 15 August 1947 the celebration of India’s independence day was boycotted. These two incidents showed clearly that Phizo and his die-hard group had done their groundwork well. Phizo’s group gradually gained control of the NNC. In 1948, the draft constitution of India was published. There was no mention of the nine-point agreement. In December, Phizo, advocated for a sovereign Naga state. Some of the moderate members tried once more for the implementation of the nine-point agreement, and another delegation was sent to Delhi. Beyond assurances that the constitution had all the safeguards required, it became clear that the Government of India had no intention to implement the nine-point agreement. The moderates felt let down and realised that the Indian Government was perfidious. In April 1950, the NNC decided to establish a separate state of Nagaland. In December 1950, Phizo was elected as the President of the NNC. He was in full control of the NNC and was recognised as the leader of the Naga national movement. The moderates were virtually silenced. The NNC had a grand conference of representatives of several tribes at Kohima in May 1950, in which a resolution was passed to have a plebiscite for independence. This was conducted in May 1951. The genuineness of this plebiscite was questionable, but it was this plebiscite that directly led to a boycott of the first general election in 1952. Not a single vote was cast. Two years later Phizo raised an armed body in Tuensang, called the Naga Home Guard, which developed into the Naga underground army. They were armed with World War II weapons recovered from dumps left behind by the British.⁸ There were some members of the NNC who were still moderate and did not believe in violence. Among these were T Sakhrie, JB Jasokie, TN Angami, and Dr Imkongliba Ao.

In 1955 the Indian Army was deployed and the Assam Disturbed Areas Act was enacted and promulgated in Naga Hills District. In the same year, the NNC set up the Federal Government of Nagaland (FGN) and drew up a constitution envisaging a parliament of 100 Tatars (members of parliament) and a Kedhage (President), with a cabinet of 15 Kilonsers (Ministers). In addition Deputy Commissioners and other officials were appointed. A whole parallel administration, both civil and military had come up. By 1956, the strength of the Naga Army had shot up to 15,000. In January 1956, Sakhrie was shot dead for cooperating with the Indian Government. Phizo escaped to East Pakistan, and after tying up with the Pakistan Army reached London. Despite the quick expansion of the FGN and the Naga Army, there was a sizeable moderate group still operating though several of their stalwarts were killed by the underground. The moderates organised an all tribes Naga peoples convention in Kohima in August 1957, attended by 1765 delegates and 2000 visitors, representing every tribe. The resolution adopted was for a negotiated settlement of the Naga issue, and for setting up the Tuensang division of North East Frontier Agency (NEFA) and the Naga Hills district of Assam under the External Affairs Ministry. The Government as a consequence did set up a Naga Hills Tuensang area under the External Affairs Ministry. On the Underground side, the Manipur Naga Council formed in 1956, merged with the NNC. The years 1958 and 1959 saw intense activity by the moderate Naga Peoples Convention (NPC). They held conventions in both these years at Ungma and Mokokchung, despite threats by the underground, in which they drafted a 16 point resolution for the constitution of a separate state called Nagaland. The Government of India accepted this resolution with little modification and the new state of Nagaland was inaugurated in December 1963. The underground opposed it vehemently, and the NNC refused to recognise the new state.

Insurgency : Some Lessons

An undeclared war had begun in the Naga Hills in 1955. Soon the fighting had become too serious for the Assam Rifles. The 8 Mountain Division of the Indian Army was inducted, reinforced by Assam Rifles and several armed police battalions. With so many armed forces deployed, excesses were bound to take place, and they did. The Naga insurgents by now, had a regular army, armed with rifles, sten guns and some machine guns, organised in four commands. It is easy to write now with the benefit of hindsight, but the Government of India and the Indian Army committed several strategic mistakes. After World War II, a series of insurgencies broke out in South East Asia, Malaya, the Philippines, and North Vietnam, all as a sequel to the revolution that brought the Communists to power in China. The 1950s were the decade of insurgencies and the best literature on counter insurgency is of this period. Robert Thompson's classic Defeating Communist Insurgency and the bible of all counter insurgency dates from this period.

The first lesson for any counter insurgency is to find the cause, analyse it and take drastic steps to effect remedial measures. In the case of the Naga insurgency, there were no causes of malgovernance, of corruption and discrimination, by the Indian Government, though there was some poor handling by the Assam State Government, of neglect of the hill districts. This, however, was not the reason for the Nagas to take up arms against the Indian Government. Their point was that they did not want to bewith India. One could not do anything to remedy this situation.

The second lesson is to ensure that in operations the people are not alienated. In a situation where there has been economic discrimination and corrupt governance, ensuring that there is good clean governance, can wean the people away from the insurgents. In the case of the Nagas, one had to be doubly careful, not to alienate the people, and to show them that being with the Government of India would not in any way disturb their culture, or their traditions and way of life. Unfortunately the Armed Forces, and the Paramilitary Forces did commit excesses, which alienated the people. One of the biggest mistakes made was the regrouping of villages, taken from the example of Malaya. What, the planners did not understand was that in Malaya, the villages regrouped were of Chinese settlers who were working as rubber tappers in the British rubber plantations. They were all Chinese immigrants and had no attachment to the places where they had built temporary shacks. In Nagaland, the Naga villages were hundreds of years old, each with its own rice or jhum fields, forests, and sacred groves. Uprooting the inhabitants from such villages was akin to sacrilege, and it is no wonder that the Nagas hated the Armed Forces that perpetrated this. This was a totally insensitive and thoughtless act. Added to this were dozens of instances of torture and third degree treatment. Robert Thompson has repeatedly emphasised that in a counter insurgency the forces deployed should be scrupulously legal. Here it is the Government of India that is to be faulted. They never tried to involve the judiciary in the counter insurgency grid. We have repeated this mistake in the counter insurgency operations in Mizoram, Assam, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Tripura, and Manipur.

The third major mistake was the policy of the Central Government, or rather the political party who ruled from Delhi then, of thoroughly corrupting the local politicians and bureaucrats. After splitting the NNC and the Underground Naga leadership, and granting statehood, development money was poured into the state, without any accountability. A notorious gang of contractors sprang up all based in Delhi, all followers of the party in power. It soon attained the dubious distinction of being called the ‘Delhi Durbar,’ All the major contracts of the state and contracts for supply of stores went to this unholy gang, who brought 95 per cent of all development money sanctioned to the state back to Delhi, by the simple expedient of carrying out projects and supplying stores on paper.

This infamous band of contractors built hotels, farmhouses and palaces in and around Delhi with this ill-gotten loot. The effect on the state was devastating, and the insurgency which began without any grounds of discrimination or poor governance, got all the reasons for an insurgency because of this single facet.

The incidents of violence continued unabated, but the underground was divided, with the Tuensang and Sema group leaving them. The Nagas had boycotted the 1952 and 1957 elections, but now with the state formed, elections had to be held. Two parties were formed, the Democratic Party and the Nagaland National Organisation (NNO). The first wanted the independence of Nagaland, while the second spoke of the peace and economic progress of the state. Phizo had promised to come, but dropped out at the last moment. The NNO won 28 seats and the Democratic Front ¹².

Pakistani and Chinese Links

A link had been established with the Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan, and the FGN had a base in Dacca. Self styled General Kaito Sema had led a group of hostiles through Paren Sub Division, North Cachar Hills, Jaintia Hills into East Pakistan and established training camps there. The first supplies of arms from the Pakistan Army of rifles, light machine guns and mortars was also received. Some of the hostiles were also trained in explosives. Self styled General Kaito Serna brought the group of hostiles trained in East Pakistan, and a small unit was located on Agotito hill overlooking the stretch of Dodar Ali, the old road built by the Ahom kings. Using this as a base, small parties would be sent to lay explosives on the rail track of the North East Frontier Railway. The Assam Mail the only mail train from Delhi to Dibrugarh was derailed several times between 1964 and 1967. Worse, at least twice explosives placed in a trunk and left behind in a crowded carriage which exploded killing and maiming innocent passengers. In Nagaland and Manipur, ambushes by hostiles on security force convoys were a regular feature. The security forces retaliated and very frequently the civilian population suffered from excesses committed.

The FGN had also sent several groups to China, who were trained by the Chinese Army and who brought back assorted arms, rifles, light machine guns and mortars.
Deeply disturbed at the escalating violence the Third Baptist Convention at Wokha requested the Central Government through the State Government to set up a Peace Mission. The Government of India approved the request. With the help of the Baptist Church leaders the Peace Mission met the Underground leaders. After a lot of discussions and arguments, a cease-fire agreement was signed in September 1964, and peace talks began between the two delegations. Several rounds of talks were held in Nagaland but the results were fruitless, and the talks were adjourned to the political level at Delhi. Talks at Delhi did not yield any results either and after a deadlock, the FGN delegation returned empty handed.

Inter Tribal Rivalry

The Achilles heel of the Nagas was inter tribal rivalry, and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) did its best to take advantage of this. Soon after the Naga delegation returned, differences between Kaito Sema and the Angami group sharpened, and Mowu Angami replaced Kaito Sema as the chief of the Naga Federal Army. On the civil side, Mehiasiu Angami replaced Scatu Swu Sema as the President of the FGN. Both Mowu Angami and Mehiasiu were Angamis from Khonoma, the village of Phizo. Two other appointments sealed the issue. Two Thankhul Nagas from Manipur were appointed, Z Ramyo as Home Minister and Thuingaleng Muivah as General Secretary of the NNC. As the Semas were reacting to this, Kaito Sema was assassinated in Kohima. The Semas retaliated by kidnapping both Mehiasiu Angami and Z Ramyo, and then formed a new group, the Revolutionary Government of Nagaland (RGN). Shortly thereafter, the first group of Naga hostiles who had gone to China returned with arms led by Thinuselie and Thuingalerg Muivah. The Indian Army intercepted them and several skirmishes ensued. 25 hostiles were captured and 7.62 rifles and mortars seized from them, besides incriminating documents, which showed the Chinese government was involved in training and equipping them. The RGN was meanwhile actively helping the Indian Army, and were instrumental in the capture of Mowu Angami. The split in the FGN widened and finally the RGN surrendered to the Government of India in August 1973. A number of their soldiers were taken into the Border Security Force (BSF).

1975 Peace Accord

With the failure of the talks between the Government of India and the FGN the cease-fire was annuled and the situation again escalated. There was an attempt to assassinate the Chief Minister Hokishe Sema. His convoy was ambushed and several of his escorts were killed. The ambush was arranged probably because the Naga affairs were transferred from the External Affairs to the Home Ministry.⁹ At this point Nagaland Church leaders and Sarvodaya workers formed the Nagaland Peace Council in mid 1974. This council worked quietly and without publicity. They found that several of the underground leaders had mellowed. After months of extensive ground work, the Peace Council brought the group of underground leaders who had changed their stand to the Chedema peace camp, and finally arranged for talks between the Government of India and a group of six underground leaders led by Kevi Yallya, Phizo’s brother at the Raj Bhavan Shillong.¹⁰ A peace accord was signed on 11 November 1975 with three paragraphs :-
 

The Unlawful Activities Act which was enforced after the ambush of Hokishe Sema, the Chief Minister was withdrawn. Later the FGN met at Dihoma and the President Zashi Huire, Home Minister Biseto Medom and the Chief of the Army Vijalie Mehta endorsed the agreement.¹¹ Probably there were two reasons why the leadership of the Underground accepted the accord. The leadership had been divided since 1973, and the NNO was hampering the activities of the Underground. The Chinese support was not substantial.12 At the time of the run up to the Shillong Accord, Isaac Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah were on their way back from China. They denounced the Accord and also appealed to Phizo to denounce it. Strangely Phizo did not respond publicly, but privately said that the signatories were puppets. After trying for five years to restore the image of the NNC, Isaac Swu and Muivah who were camping with SS Kaphlang the Hemi Naga from Myanmar abandoned the NNO and formed the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) along with SS Kaphlang on January 31 1980. They replaced the FGN with the Government of Peoples Republic of Nagaland (GPRN).