Naga insurgent group NSCN(K), which abrogated the ceasefire agreement with India and perpetrated a string of attacks, including killing of 18 soldiers in an ambush in Manipur in June, has been banned for five years.
The decision to outlaw the outfit was taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“The NSCN(K) responsible for explosions, ambushes and bombings has been declared as an unlawful organisation for a period of five years,” Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.
Prasad said the decision was taken after deliberations that took into account the recent activities of the insurgent group.
After reneging from the ceasefire pact in March, the group led by its chairman S S Khaplang, a Myanmarese national, forged ties with several other insurgent outfits, including the UlFA faction headed by Paresh Barua, in May, and formed United liberation Front of South East Asia.
The ban came days after the National Investigation Agency, probing the June 4 ambush in Manipur which left 18 armymen dead, declared a reward of `7 lakh for information about Khaplang, believed to be in Taga, a border town in Myanmar, and `10 lakh for one of his deputies Niki Sumi.