Thuingaleng Muivah’s homecoming: Where a village in Manipur raised hope for the Naga peace process

A temporary helipad has been built on the site of a Baptist church on a plateau mound in Somdal, the most popular village in Ukhrul district of Manipur, bordering Myanmar. The church was destroyed in September for two reasons: at nearly 100 years old, it was too old to be safe for prayer services; And it could provide the most strategic location for the helicopter carrying the Naga leader – which is just short of the church – to land on October 22.

Thuingaleng Muivah, the 91-year-old general secretary of the extremist National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN) and a devout Christian, probably missed the church when he disembarked from the helicopter that took him from Dimapur in Nagaland via district headquarters Ukhrul, 25 km from Somdal. However, for most of the 4,500 people in the village surrounding the helicopter, the sight of their godfather landing on the spot that once commanded the house of God was surreal.

“The church will be rebuilt soon, but the moment he landed in its place was divine,” said 88-year-old Mashithi Moinao, for whom Muivah graduated from “big brother.” residue He remained away from his birthplace Somdal for six decades. residual In Tangkhul language it means godfather or father figure. Somdal and much of Ukhrul district is dominated by the Tangkhuls, a Naga community whose members form the core of the NSCN, more familiar throughout the world as the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland or NSCN (IM). The faction is named after Muivah and the armed group’s co-founder Issac Chishi Swu, who died in June 2016.

Muivah, who came out of the intensive care unit of a hospital in Dimapur less than three months ago, is not in good health. In his speech at the welcome ceremony in Ukhrul, hours before reaching Somdal, he thanked God for “preserving me and making it possible for me to return to my birthplace”. The speech was read by VS Atem, the so-called ‘Deputy Prime Minister’ of the government which is represented by the NSCN (IM). Muivah is the Ato Kilonsar or Prime Minister.

their chances residue Most of the people who gathered in Ukhrul and Somdal to see Muivah in flesh and blood had a mind to never return. People of the Tangkhul area took full advantage of his homecoming to organize special prayers on 26 October, the only Sunday during his eight-day visit. “We prayed for his good health and long life,” said Jerry Muinao, a Somdal-based social worker. Without a church, the special service was held in the village multi-purpose hall for half an hour after Muivah arrived – more enthusiastic than that day, struggling to walk – at 8 a.m. from Gethsemane, a renovated community hall and his temporary address in Somdal. The multi-purpose hall and his ancestral home are both about 2.5 km away from Gethsemane, but in different directions.

Almost midway between his house and his temporary living space, under a nativity-like structure, is a bronze statue of him with his wife. These statues were built in April, when residents of Somdal were not sure whether the hurdles ahead of Muivah’s return to their village would be resolved.

A unifying force?

Some claim that Muivah visited Somdal sometime in 1973, nearly a decade after joining the Naga movement, which called for separation from India. Others say that he could not move beyond the forest near his village because of the strong military presence. However, all agree that the roads to Somdal were full of thorns for the rebels until recently. This was primarily related to the NSCN(IM)’s concept of Nagalim, a larger or unified Naga homeland, which the Manipur government and civil society groups in the Meitei-dominated Imphal Valley considered a threat to the territorial integrity of the state. Although no longer in focus, the Greater Nagalim map included all Naga-inhabited areas of the northeastern region and adjacent Myanmar. This meant an area of ​​more than 57,400 sq km spanning Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Naga Self-Administered Territory in Sagaing Division of Myanmar. The Manipur government’s fear stems from the fact that a ‘unified Naga homeland’ would mean nothing to Muivah and the NSCN (IM) without Ukhrul and the surrounding Naga-inhabited districts of the state.

This fear led the Manipur government, then led by Okram Ibobi Singh of the Congress Party, to mobilize forces in May 2010 to thwart Muivah’s last attempt to reach Somdal by road. Muivah’s convoy was stopped near Mao Gate on the Manipur-Nagaland border, about 120 km before Somdal. Two people were killed in firing by security forces to control pro-Muivah protesters.

For New Delhi, Muivah remains a stumbling block for his insistence on two pre-conditions – the Yehzabo or Naga Constitution and the Naga flag – deemed outside the scope of the Constitution of India for the resolution of the Naga peace process, which was given a direction when the Center and the NSCN (IM) signed the Framework Agreement on August 3, 2015.

Although the NSCN(IM) had threatened to “resume violent armed conflict against India” if the framework agreement was not adhered to in November 2024, the approval of Muivah’s homecoming in the autumn of his life by the Manipur government under President’s rule indicated an ease of approach on this complex issue. His visit to Somdal also pointed to the changing dynamics following ethnic clashes between the Kuki-Zomi and Meitei communities on May 3, 2023, which claimed more than 250 lives. The Nagas, the second largest ethnic group after the Meiteis, were neutral in the conflict.

Muivah’s acceptability among non-Nagas was evident from leaders of influential Meitei groups such as the Coordination Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) and the All-Manipur United Clubs Organisation, who attended his reception. COCOMI was formed in 2019 to counter the NSCN (IM)’s earlier target of Greater Nagalim. Its spokesperson Athauba described Muivah as a “big leader” and his visit as a “historic moment”. Organizations like hardline Meitei Leepun praised the Center for its “wise and compassionate decision” of allowing Muivah to return home, even if only for a short period. Its chief, Pramot Singh, praised the NSCN (IM) leader, calling him “a respected leader of the Naga people” and “an inspirational and visionary man admired across all communities”.

There were no representatives of the Kuki-Zomi communities, Manipur’s third largest ethnic group, at the events organized to welcome Muivah in Ukhrul. However, their organizations welcomed Muivah’s visit, which signals reconciliation given a violent past – more than 1,000 people were killed in Kuki-Naga clashes in the 1990s – for the sake of a shared future. The hills of Manipur, which comprise about 90% of the state’s landmass, are shared between the Naga and Kuki-Zomi groups. While the Zomi Re-unification Organization celebrated Muivah’s return as a “moment of joy”, the Eastern Kuki Chiefs Association in the Tangkhul-dominated Kamjong district praised his “tireless efforts” in the Naga political struggle.

critical voices

In Manipur, Muivah appears to have evolved from a separatist Naga icon to a more acceptable leader among non-Nagas. However, some are critical of the changing storyline. A group supporting Kukiland, an administrative region excluding areas inhabited by Meiteis and Nagas, acknowledged Muivah’s right to visit any place “within the Manipur Naga areas”, but said it was neither excited nor concerned about his visit to his birthplace. Claiming that the three communities of Manipur “still live in their own separate lands”, it advised the Center to give separate administration to each of these communities to ensure peace and prosperity.

Ahead of Muivah’s visit, the Zeliangrong United Front, an armed group representing the Zeme, Liangmei and Rongmei Nagas, sought an apology from the NSCN (IM) for alleged atrocities committed against their tribals. It stressed that there is no reason to glorify a man who “failed the Nagas on all fronts” and visited his native village “empty handed” decades after going on a mission for his people. The Front said, “…he ordered the brutal killings of many prominent leaders in the name of Naga nationalism and sovereignty. He ordered the arson of villages in the name of taxation or fighting the Indian Army and all common Nagas were sacrificed.” This shows that a section of Nagas are not in unanimity with Muivah and his organization regarding the Naga peace process.

Muivah addressed the concerns among his fellow villagers during his leave. “The issue we are fighting for is bigger and older than most of us gathered here…,” he said, adding that the “historic national decision for sovereign Nagalim” has been defended and consolidated from the battlefield to the negotiating table. He said, “We have not surrendered the independent existence and sovereignty of the Nagalim and we will defend to the last breath the sovereign national decisions of the Nagalim, no matter what.”

What mattered more to the young and the old in the Tangkhul area was the presence of their “national hero” among them. “God has a plan for everything, including the peace process. For now, He has done our will residue To be with us,” said Naokhao Shitung, 62, pastor of Ramwa Baptist Church in Ukhrul. “We are very happy thinking about what may or may not happen in the future,” said Shonaringam Layam, 30, of Ukhrul. Octogenarian Elizabeth Tungshasnao of Langtang, a village near Ukhrul, believed Muivah fought for everything. That will become reality, but “probably not yet. We are alive”.

controlling emotions

Many in Somdal and Ukhrul districts met at least once before their return home in October, but only at Camp Hebron in Nagaland, the central headquarters of the NSCN (IM), as its members came out of the forests and elsewhere in the country following the ceasefire effective August 1, 1997. Lalotala Shimrang, 80, met him in New Delhi, where her deceased son lived. “It’s a different feeling having them in our backyard,” he said.

Somdal secretary Raripam Rungshung underlined the positive aspects of Muivah’s visit. “The government had deployed a doctor at our community health center before his visit. We haven’t had a doctor for years,” he said, adding that he hoped the infrastructure of Somdal’s schools would improve as well as the village’s roads – an SUV is required to cover the 25 km distance to the village in less than two hours. Of these, two schools, one privately run, are higher secondary, and one is primary.

Khanot Ruiva, a former principal of a college in Ukhrul, recalled growing up with Muivah and other friends in Somdal. He met the NSCN (IM) leader in Dimapur in 2022 and did not expect him to come home given the complexities of the Naga peace process. She said, “He seemed frail at that time, and as we parted, I hoped that we might meet at least once more before he died.”

Muivah’s three siblings – sister Longrangala and brothers Shangreihan and James – died while he was away deploying his fighters and negotiating with the government. The only other survivor is Asui Muivah, 84, a former village chairman. He said, “I wish our family reunion had happened earlier, but better late than never.”

His brother became-residue Indicated that there may be some delay in his return home. “A lot of people I knew and loved are missing,” he said through the Atom, as he surveyed his subjects from behind dark glasses. Behind them, he was crying, his colleagues were wiping his cheeks.