Morung Express News
Dimapur | September 26
The Centre has held meetings to discuss if Khango Konyak, former chairman of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang), who was allegedly impeached and expelled by the outfit could be allowed to enter India, reported The Hindu on late Tuesday night.
In 2015, the Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had banned the NSCN (K) under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for five years.
According to The Hindu, 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 armed group’s leader S.S. Khaplang died in June 2017 in a Yangon hospital after a prolonged illness.
Konyak, reported The Hindu, is said to be 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’ anonymously told The Hindu’s Vijaita Singh.
Nagaland’s Deputy Home Minister Y. Patton confirmed to The Hindu that they had sent messengers to speak to Konyak.
“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,” 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,” he told the newspaper.
Yung Aung, the acting chairman of NSCN (K), is a relative of Khaplang and belongs to the Hemi Naga community. Indian agencies suspect, stated the report, that he has close links with China. The report did not reveal the grounds on which the allegation was leveled.
