NSCN (IM) camp overrun, cadres chased away by Sumis
Source: The Sangai Express / Agencies
Kohima/Guwahati/New Delhi, December 30 2013:
Sumi Naga tribals armed with spears, machetes and shotguns forced insurgents to evacuate a camp at Mukalimi in Naglaland's Zunheboto district on Monday, following a two day siege which claimed at least three lives.
Local residents, eyewitnesses told The Hindu, burned down huts, offices and vehicles after cadre of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland�Isaac-Muviah group fled the camp, leaving only a church standing.
The violent clashes come just weeks after New Delhi met with representatives of the NSCN-IM in the latest round of a long-running dialogue meant to hammer out a political compromise with the insurgent group.
"New Delhi is committed to ensuring the ceasefire with the NSCN-IM continues", a senior Ministry of Home Affairs official in New Delhi said.
"However, the siege underlines how fast public opinion in Nagaland is turning against the insurgents" .
Violent showdown .
Friction had begun building at Mukalimi after two Suma women said they had been strip-searched at an insurgent check-point on December 21 .
The Sema Hoho, or tribal council, and Totimi Hoho, or women's council, demanded that the cadre involved be handed over to the State police for prosecution.
In a statement to media, the NSCN-IM said its own police�known as Crime Suppression Division�had arrested and sentenced three cadre, who it identified as Mapam Keishing, Mahori and Ninoto.
However, the Sumi Hoho rejected the NSCN-IM's internal punishment, demanding legal processes be implemented instead.
Local villagers answered to a call from the Hoho, and laid seige to the Mukalimi camp on December 26 .
Even as over a hundred Assam Rifles personnel stood by, bound by the terms of India's ceasefire agreement with the NSCN-IM, the insurgents inside the camp opened fire on the protestors on December 28 .
Five protestors were killed, and one injured.
Sumi protestors returned fire; police sources say two bodies of insurgents were found in the camp on Monday.
The seige also cut off food and water to the hill-top camp, leading the NSCN-IM cadre to run out of supplies.
Further firing took place early on Monday morning, an Assam Rifles source said, but the insurgents eventually accepted a safe-passage offer facilitated by the paramilitary force.