Self-styled major general Niki Sumi of the outfit’s military wing reiterated faith in the leadership of Khaplang and said they would remain loyal to their chairman. He said the outfit’s army formations in Nagaland were intact with Khaplang and not with the Khole-Kitovi camp and that the three designated camps at Suruhoto, Athibung and Sangphur were also with the Khaplang group.
The Khaplang group has promoted Sumi to the rank of “lieutenant general” and appointed him as the military supervisor of Nagaland. Sumi is currently at the Suruhoto designated camp under the state’s Zunheboto district.
The outfit’s finance minister and envoy to the collective leadership of the GPRN/NSCN, Kughalu Mulatonu, who is also the brother-in-law of Kitovi Zhimomi, the general secretary of the outfit, had recently joined the Khaplang group with some cadres.
The Konyak section of the NSCN (K) also reaffirmed Khaplang’s leadership.
With this development, the Konyaks have been sharply divided between the Khole-Kitovi and Khaplang factions.
A turf fight in the Konyak area (Mon district) cannot be ruled out in the future though both the groups have vowed not to go back to the fratricidal period, which had claimed hundreds of Naga lives.
Kitovi said he was fed up with fratricidal killings among the Naga groups and wanted to reconcile at the earliest.
The Khaplang group accused Kitovi of shooting from Khole Konyak’s shoulder, who is nearing 90 years, and warned that the identities of those shooting from Khole’s shoulder would be exposed.
At present, Khole and Kitovi are at the Khehoi designated camp, which has been declared as the group’s council headquarters.
The spokesman for Khaplang group, P. Tikhak, said Kitovi, who was a section officer of Khaplang and was later appointed as the general secretary, was now trying to insult the man who had groomed him. He accused the faction of taking the Naga movement as its own property and of taking the Naga people for a ride.
He also accused the NSCN (Isak-Muivah) of violating the Covenant of Reconciliation.