ABSTRACT
The insurgencies in the northeast states of India represent the seemingly most intractable internal security situations in South Asia. The so-called Seven Sisters, the states of northeast India, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura, initially were part of the Ahom Kingdom, followed by Assam. There has been a virtual kaleidoscope of groups identified as insurgents in the northeast, with the estimates of existing groups almost constantly changing. The Nagas, consisting of some sixteen major sub-clans and living in both northeast India and in Myanmar, launched the first major insurgency in the northeast shortly after World War II and the formation of independent India. One possibly important factor in their feelings of distinctiveness from their Indian rulers is that the majority of Nagas are Christian, particularly Baptist. Most negotiations have centered around conflicts between insurgents and the government, with considerably less attention paid to inter-communal violence.
