Does the Government of India (GOI) want the Nagas to keep on dreaming?

April 18 2012

At around 1954, not long before any of the now existing states of Northeast India were founded, the Indo-Naga conflict began in earnest. The first state -Nagaland State- making up the Seven Sisters later was carved out of Assam and disputably inaugurated in 1963.

Already in 1929, long before India's independence, the Nagas conveyed to their British colonizers that they, once the British would have left, they expected to be free again. Considering too that the British only controlled and administered less than one-third of Naga territory, the rest was termed 'unadministered areas' of free Nagas, it is also disputed how the British could hand over land and people to the emerging Union of India without jurisdiction.

Immediately after the reports on the imminent lasting solution of the Indo-Naga conflict the other but later formed northeastern states vehemently objected. In view of history this it is remarkable because Nagas have never been conquered by any outsider and they do not want to live under the jurisdiction of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Assam or Burma/Myanmar either. For almost 60 years Nagas have been fighting for their right to self determination.

It is therefore a double insult that Home Minister Gaikhangam of Manipur provokes his own people by stating the Nagas (NSCN-IM; the first insult is because he is a Naga himself and the second is that he ridicules reunification. So we see on what transpires now that the cornered Government of India is in a predicament. (See statements of United Naga Council and Naga Hoho for further understanding below)

The Naga International Support Center reminds the Government of India that India signed the UNO covenant on the right to self determination for all Peoples. And even though Mr. Gaikhangam is a Naga this does not mean he decides on the fate of the Nagas; Nagas as a people are quite capable of doing that. If the Government of India is so much impressed with the reactions of 'other' northeastern states which form stumbling blocks to the solution of the conflict it initiated, then it is apparent that they use it for their own ends. Hence:

- To prevent the Nagas from reunifying will not solve the conflict
- To prevent the Nagas from shaping their own future is asking for great trouble
- To force the Nagas to live within the Indian Constitution will only prolong the conflict unnecessarily as there are no cultural, historical, economical or communicational links

A Naga International Support Center, NISC
A human rights organization

PRESS STATEMENT

Dated Tahamzam, 13th April, 2012

The United Naga Council(UNC) has felt it necessary to bring the views of the Naga people in Manipur on the responses of the Meitei organisations and purported intellectuals of Imphal valley on 9th April 2012 edition of the local media on the supposed options that are emerging in the Indo-Naga dialogue to find an honourable settlement to the Naga issue.

As the UNC has always maintained, it is not against the political aspiration of the Meiteis and other communities, which of necessity are rooted in the histories of the respectivde communities. While it is matter of inherent historical rights for the Nagas to live together as a people, for the dominant community it is their economic and political interest that Nagas should not have political empowerment to be able to decide their own future.

Let it be also clearly placed that the land of the Nagas and tribals were not gifted by the Meitei Maharaja. Meiteis lived in the Sanaleibak of the valley and the Hao tribals/Nagas lived in the hills. Our histories were different. The hills were never a part of the Meitei Kingdom or its magnificent history. Nagas and tribal live in their own land. And Nagas and tribals alone must decide their destinies, which cannot not be conditioned and subjected to the interest and convenience of the dominant community of the valley.

The Indo-Naga dialogue is between the NSCN and the Government of India as two entities. The talk is in place because the legitimacy of the Naga movement has been recognised. Manipur is a state under the Constitution of India. But the parochialism and chauvinism of the dominant community as reflected in the recent statements emanating from the valley has given rise to the demand for alternative arrangements outside the communal government of Manipur by different tribal communities even as far back as 1948.

Selective reference of the Kuki-Naga conflict in the 1990s have been frequently cited to project the NSCN as the perpetrators of genocide. It was a clash factored by many causes and chief among them was the instigation and manipulation of the dominant community in the state who were the silent and sadistic spectators. But nothing is mentioned of the massacre of Nagas by Kuki irregulars in 1971-1919 with the use of 600 musket rifles provided by the Meitei Maharaja. The targeting of Nagas does not reflect kindly on the historical and ethical sense of the Meitei intellectuals. There seems to be a persistent aversion to any news or development on the historically registered Naga issue and decided unwillingness to look into the merit of the case. When the Nagas position is not appreciated and no sincere effort made to do so, then the peaceful parting of ways is the only option.

Threat of use of violence by referring to the June 18, 2001 mayhem is constantly used against changing the territorial boundary of Manipur. But such threats do not change the fact that Nagas and tribals are not Meiteis and that there is already an irreparable social divide in the present state of Manipur.

AMUCO and UCM rightly uses Manipur, which is without the Nagas and tribals in the hills. Their concern for Manipur's (Imphal valley) territorial integrity is rightly placed. The 'naked' Nagas have always desired is to be able to live together as a people and to have other communities as good neighbours. Sooner this position is understood as inevitable , the better it would be for all concern.

Publicity Wing United Naga Council

PRESS STATEMENT Naga Hoho

Dated Tahamzam, 12th April, 2012

The statement of Mr Gaikhangam, Home Minister of the Government of Manipur and President MPCC on the supposed options that are emerging in the Indo-Naga dialogue to find an honourable settlement to the Naga issue reeks of utter disrespect of the Naga people and their political aspirations. Although he himself is a Naga by blood, he describes as 'daydream' the almost 6 decades of bloodshed and struggle of the Naga people for their rights to live together as a people. The Naga movement for their political aspiration, based on their history, has unfortunately dragged on for so long because of individuals like him who have betrayed the mandate of the people for the proverbial 30 pieces of silver.

Mr Gaikhangam was not so long ago a champion for Naga integration and a signatory to the memorandum demanding for integration of Naga areas submitted to the Prime Minister of India on 27th May, 2005 by 11 MLAs and 2 MPs. The 30 pieces of silver has indeed turned him into a different person today.

The NSCN(IM) is having a dialogue with the Govt of India with a view to negotiate a settlement to the protracted Indo-Naga issue. Mr. Gaikhangam, who is the Home Minister of a state under the Union of India has the audacity to state that such a process that has brought peace in our land is a daydream. Instead of facilitating the peace process, as is his duty, this Naga become the spoilsport, for the applause from the gallery which threw down the silvers. Does he really believe in what he has uttered ? But history will record his due place in its pages.

Publicity Wing
United Naga Council