You can't make a desert and call it peace

Bigkons *

No reason is reason enough than the suffering of the people. No cause can be greater than the humanitarian cause. You can't make a desert and call it peace.

In this modern era of a "world sans border' - a borderless world, the present economic blockade of the National Highways of Manipur by a group of people, demanding a geographical boundary for them, defies logic and humanity. As the situation unfolds over these several weeks, the hidden agenda behind the economic blockade is neither the correctness of the ADC elections nor suppressing "tribal" rights but the issue of "Nagalim" only.

"All warfare is based on deception" said the great Chinese General, Sun Tzu, centuries ago in his art of war. Mr Th Muivah must have planned this mayhem way back in the comfort of faraway Amsterdam along with his "Yes Boss" council to coincide with his "Indian-Government-Delaying­Tactics" peace-talk some time ago in Delhi.

It is an irony that many Naga organisations and Naga NGOs had been demanding the conduct of the ADC elections time and again prior to all these chaos. And it is a greater irony that in spite of repeated appeals by the State Government to register any objections to the proposed ADC Bill if any, none of the so-called "Keepers of Naga conscience" came forward to register their claims and objections.

It was only when their NSCN(IM) Bosses say "Bark" that they started doing so. Whether "Nagalim" is natural or artificial, whether it is a birth-right of the Nagas or not, is a purely political issue and should be fought in the political arena alone and nowhere else. The people of Manipur should not suffer a minute for this.

If the leaders of the ANSAM and the UNC are visionaries, then they should have the foresight and recognise the fact that the NSCN(IM) is a militant group and talks only through the barrel of the gun. And that this militant group is not the face of the Nagas.

As is evident from the events of the last few weeks, many democratic Naga leaders have been threatened and kidnapped, their houses burnt, their relatives beaten, and their belongings looted only because they refused to be dictated by this militant group. They refused to be unheard of in the biggest democracy in the world. Their voices cannot be muzzled.

As a matter of fact, in today's Manipur, there are a significant number of Naga intellectuals, writers, doctors, engineers, and civil servants. Can they be identified with the militant NSCN(IM)? It is an absurd possibility. Any militant group will use terror to discourage dissent.

Fear is the key to a series of murders and killings in a long history of violence by the NSCN(IM) when many Naga, Kuki and Meitei luminaries were systematically assassinated. It was a flawed game from the start itself when Mr Th Muivah recognised that his dream of sovereignty cannot be fulfilled militarily against the might of the Indian Army, only the second largest armed forces in the world.

He went into "peace-talks" with the Government of India only to be spurned that sovereignty was out of the question and meaningful dialogues can be held only under the framework of the Indian Constitution. So, it was a heady time for Mr Th Muivah because dissent was brewing in the rank and file of the NSCN(IM) asking a very uneasy and obvious question—for what purpose did so many Naga youths sacrifice their lives.

Thus, to quell this dissent, "Nagalim or Greater Nagaland" was born. Now a curious reader may ask—why greater "Nagaland"? Because, if Nagalim/Greater Nagaland was to ever come into existence, then Mr Muivah et tl must have a political say in its affair. It is another matter altogether and it is a matter for the learned historians to explain if Tangkhul tribe, the clan of Mr Muivah, is at all a Naga tribe as contested by many other educated Nagas.

Or are they really "Kacha Naga" as alleged by them? God knows!

History has taught us several times that use of force or coercion cannot achieve anything significant in the long run. Only meaningful good politics can. Mr Muivah may be a great wartime General, but he is after all a political novice. The war of Nagalim cannot be fought in the hills or the National Highways but only in the State Assembly and the Parliament.

With his child called PDA having a handful of on-the-threshold MLAs and a dethroned MP whose house is resting pretty in a high-value real estate area of Imphal, Mr Muivah hardly has a chance for Nagalim. He has a few things to learn from the Grand Old Man of Naga politics who is the oldest and hence the wisest MP of democratic India.

In hindsight, the people of Manipur, excluding this handful of trouble makers but including all other Nagas, Kukis and Meiteis, should know that what doesn't kill us, only makes us stronger. The moment we stop fighting for each other, that's the moment we lose our humanity.

And Shri Okram Ibobi and his esteemed colleagues should ensure that 2010 economic blockade should not be repeated again like 2005, and Government resources should be poured into the making of a four-lane NH 53 and a dedicated Highway Protection Force.