ULFA-I, NSCN (Yung Aung Faction) call for boycott of Independence Day in northeast

Two of the banned insurgent outfits in the Northeast — the United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (ULFA-I) and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland/Government of the People’s Republic of Nagaland (Yung Aung faction) — have jointly announced a boycott of India’s Independence Day celebrations on August 15 across the region they call WESEA (Western South East Asia), covering parts of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Nagaland.

In a joint statement issued the outfits denounced August 15 as a “so-called celebration of freedom” which, they said, holds no meaning for the people of WESEA.

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“Freedom cannot exist on an oppressed land,” the statement read, adding that the day serves only as a reminder of “the relentless brutality of the Indian occupational forces” and the decades of alleged human rights violations in the region.

The groups accused Indian security forces of waging war “with impunity” against local communities and described their own armed struggle as an act of self-defense. They urged residents to observe a total shutdown and remain indoors on August 15 as a symbolic act of resistance.

ULFA-I, active primarily in Assam, has long sought the state’s independence from India, while the NSCN (Yung Aung) — an offshoot of the NSCN-Khaplang — is engaged in the Naga insurgency that spans Nagaland, parts of Arunachal Pradesh, and beyond.

Both outfits operate from across the India-Myanmar border and have periodically issued joint calls for boycotts of national events.
The joint statement also framed India’s Independence Day as an occasion to “expose India’s war crimes” in the region, vowing that their “resolve is stronger than ever” and that they would “never give up” their fight for sovereignty.