The NSCN(K) faction led by Niki Sumi has decided to revive the ceasefire with the Centre to “strengthen and support the peace process at this crucial juncture”.

“Our leaders have established contact with the officials of government of India in this connection. To facilitate the process and keeping in view the desire of the Naga people particularly Naga civil society organisations and NGOs, the NSCN has further decided to revive the ceasefire with immediate effect by revoking the earlier decision of unilateral abrogation of the ceasefire in 2015,” a statement issued by Sumi on Wednesday said.

The NSCN-K, led by the then chairman S.S. Khaplang, had joined the ceasefire in 2001 but walked out of it in 2015 after an ambush on Indian security forces that left 18 soldiers dead in Manipur’s Chandel district. Sumi is the main accused in the ambush case.

Sumi’s move is expected to give a huge boost to the ongoing peace efforts involving the NSCN (IM) and the seven-group Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs).

Sumi was chosen the president of the faction led by him on December 18 and he is expecting the Centre to respond positively to his decision to revive the ceasefire.

After the death of SS khaplang in 2017 in Myanmar , the chairmanship passed on to Khango Konyak who has since joined the NNPG. Konyak was replaced by Myanmar-based Yung Aung, a close relative of Khaplang, who expelled his deputy C-in-C Sumi in July. Reports suggest Sumi is camping along the Indo-Myanmar border in Phek district.

The peace process has presently got stuck because both the Centre and the NSCN (IM) have not been able to resolve the latter’s demand for a separate flag and constitution.

The announcement by Sumi, who hails from Nagaland's Zunheboto district, follows the December 18 notification by the Nagaland home department declared all factions of the NSCN (K) as an “unlawful association” because its activities were “detrimental to sovereignty and integrity of India”.