The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on June 29 claimed it arrested the NSCN(K)’s “chairman” for “Amamcht” region (technically Chandel district) Khumlo Abi Anal on charges of being involved in the June 4 ambush on Indian army soldiers near Paraolon village in Manipur’s Chandel district.
I confirm the arrest of Khumlo Abi Anal and he has been brought to Delhi on transit remand.
— Sharad Kumar, NIA Director General
The 40-year-old NSCN(Khaplang) leader is suspected to have conspired with several other rebels of the insurgent outfit which unilaterally abrogated a 14-year-old ceasefire with the Centre in March this year.
Besides the NSCN(K), two Manipur rebel groups, the Kanglei Yawol Kann Lup and the Kangleipak Communist Party, had claimed to have carried out the June 4 ambush in which 18 soldiers of the 6th Dogra Regiment were killed and 11 others grievously injured.
Two days after the June 9 stealth operation of Indian Special Forces in Myanmar, the Manipur police arrested three rebels, including Khumlo Abi, in a counter-insurgency operation.
At that time, the NSCN(Reformist), a breakaway faction of the NSCN(K) had claimed that the he belonged to it. A Manipur police spokesperson had said that Khumlo Abi, who went with the alias “Ambition”, is the son of L Khumlou of Lambung village of Chandel.
By identifying Khumlo Abi as one of its own, the NSNC(R), led by P Tikhak and Y Wangtin, Naga had sought to make political capital. The NSCN(R), which was formed in April, backs the ceasefire, an issue over which Tikhak and Wangtin fell out with S S Khaplang who heads the NSCN(K).
(With inputs from Sunzu Bachaspatimayum in Imphal)
(The Quint is available on Telegram. For handpicked stories every day, subscribe to us on Telegram)