The Naga Students’ Federation organised ‘The Naga Morung’ to mark the 78th Naga Independence Day under the theme “Kuknalim” on 14th August 2024 at the NBCC Convention Centre, Kohima.
Following is the speech of Speaker of the first session of the event by Neingulo Krome, General Secretary of Naga People’s Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR) titled ‘Naga’s Yesterday – The Odyssey’.
Looking back at Nagas of yesterday or yesteryears, we can only trace our journey from 1832 onwards when Britishers first came and invaded our land because of the fact that we had no written documents or records about ourselves, except to refer to what other people have written about us. Other than that, our ancestors are believed to have migrated from Mongolia and travelled through the Yunnan province of China to arrive at the present settlements of modern-day states of Nagaland, Manipur, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh in North-east India and Saigang region and parts of Kachin province of present-day Myanmar (erstwhile Burma).
In January 1832, Britishers started invading our Naga country which Nagas resisted and fought intermittent wars for 48 years till the last battle that was fought on November 22, 1879 at Khonoma.
“We were not defeated but the war came to an end. On 27 March, 1880 our leaders made Peace with the British. It was a verbal agreement and which the British official record explicitly stated, ‘No written treaties or engagements have been made with any of the Naga tribes’: A. Z. Phizo’s in his letter to the Naga Students’ Federation, written on December 1, 1983.
As a result, from 1880 to 1947, some parts of the Naga country came under the British colonial rule, while a large area remain as “unadministered area” and free from any governance for another 67 years, during which the British proposed “a new reform” in 1918 to which Naga leaders replied, “we need no reform, we are complete. We have everything we need. Then in 1929, the Simon Commission came to Kohima and our people told them, “We understand that you want the Nagas to become part of India. We have nothing to do with India and we do not want anything. Leave us alone”.
As a consequence of this resolve by our people, our country was officially declared “Excluded Area” by the British.
This are also quoted from what Phizo wrote in his letter to the NSF as mentioned above. “So, our people were basically living a life in our own village republic, like the ancient Greek city-states without much interference from outsiders.”
To understand a little better on how the Naga way of life was during those periods of time, let me take you briefly to a picturesque description of the Naga life through the writings as expressed by Late T. Sakhrie, the then Secretary of the Naga National Council, which I would like to quote;
“In the life of the village, the family is a permanent living institution, a conscious unit in the national polity. Every family is proud of its own and no family has ever been left by their fellowmen to the mercy of circumstances. Possessing its own house, build on its forest and woodlands. Rivers belong to the people for their cultivation without paying taxes. We cultivate as much land as we need or desire and there is no one to question our rights. We have food to eat and drinks to drink exceedingly above our needs. Truly God has been good to us. Three square meals a day and Zu (rice beers) without measures.
And wonder of wonders, we have no jail. We do not arrest nor even imprison anyone. And murder is very rare. We use no locks. Our granaries are kept outside the village and no guard is ever needed. For there is no one to steal from them. If by ill-fortune a man falls sick or dies, he is borne home to his family without counting the cost. We talk freely and often fight freely too. We have no inhibition of any kind. WILD……? … Yes …But FREE. There is order in this chaos, law in this freedom. If I were to choose a Country, it would be Nagaland, my fair Nagaland… again and again“.
This world of the Nagas of yesterday, was suddenly shattered with nightmares and never-ending stories of human sufferings, death and destructions, unknown and isolated to the outside world and even to its neighbors, just because Nagas wanted to remain as they always were. This period in time of Nagas yesterday can be compartmentalized under another 50 years of Indian military occupation of our country, ever since Nagas declared their Independence on the 14th of August in 1947 followed by the subsequent conduct of a National Plebiscite from May 16, 1951, after which, troops of Indian military in thousands started coming to Nagaland. This period has seen extra-ordinary pain and agony in human history, when entire Naga villages were burnt to ashes repeatedly from minimum of 3 times to about 18 times in a span of 2 years or so and people had to live in the jungles like animals. There are no official records of how much casualties Nagas suffered. But there is not a single Naga family who have not suffered loss, either by death, torture, arrest or maimed for life. Every family has a story to tell. Some of the most common forms of repression that the Indian army used on the innocent Naga civil population are: – Electric shocks, Execution in public, Mass raping, deforming sex organs, mutilating limbs and body, puncturing eyes, hanging people upside-down, putting people in smoke-filled rooms, concentration camps, forced starvation and labor, etc. etc.
During this period of time, we saw some so-called agreements, on which the Government of India either back-tracked or never implemented in letter and spirit, such as, back-tracking on the 9 – Point agreement, in the first instance itself of June 1947 even before any political conflict or confrontations started. Which was followed by the imposition of the present State of Nagaland in 1963, through a 16 – Point memorandum, which was also never implemented its true spirit, still leaving many of the clauses unattended or implemented. Then we had the signing of the 1 Indo – Naga Ceasefire in 1964 and political negotiations which ended up in a deadlock after Six Rounds of talks in October 1967. This first ceasefire was again unilaterally abrogated by the Government of India on August 31, 1972, and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act was declared. The Government of India then unleashed terror and hunted down all national workers to kill, torture and arrest in whatever way possible and ultimately coerced some of the key leaders to sign the Shillong Accord of November 11, 1975. This was an attempt of the Government of India to crush and destroy the Naga national movement for once and all, but which failed miserably.
Nevertheless, this situation created the emergence of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland in January 1980, to continue defending the sovereign existence of the Naga country. And within a very short span of time, it began to engage itself to revolutionary callings and proved its mettle in any field of engagements. Many battles were won with remarkable efficiencies. Many international lobby works were received with positive reciprocations, and Nagas started receiving many International support and solidarity, including from those in the United Nations and similar world body mechanisms who started acknowledging and accommodating the voices of the Naga people. This was also one important factor which prompted the Government of India to start searching and inviting the leadership of the NSCN – IM, who were in foreign countries at that time, to negotiate for cessation of arm confrontation and to talk peace which came into effect from August 1, 1997 that ushered in the 2nd Indo-Naga Ceasefire and have been continuing till date. This brings us to the last chapter of looking back at the Nagas of yesterday which connects our today, through the lenses of the last 27 years of Ceasefire and political negotiations.
This chapter of the 2nd Indo-Naga Ceasefire of 1997, started on a very high note, which were mutually agreed between leaders of the NSCN – IM and the Government of India. And that the talks will be without any conditions at the highest and Prime Ministerial level as two entities, which will be held in a third and neutral country, was in itself an achievement made by the Naga leaders of the highest order. Subsequently, the breakthrough that was made in July 11, 2002, through a Joint Communique at Amsterdam in the Netherlands, that “the Government of India recognizes the unique history and situation of the Nagas”, was very unique in itself, as it was an admission and acknowledgement of the Naga rights for the first time by the Government of India, ever since the political conflict started. Secondly, the signing of the Framework Agreement on August 3, 2015 was certainly another historic and an undeniable win-win achievement for both the Government of India and the Naga people.
However, as history repeats itself, the Government of India started its habitual back-tracking again, which was first demonstrated in the negotiations of the 9-Point Agreement of June 1947, through the deliberate mis-interpretation of the meaning of the relevant clause of the Agreement, just as it is being repeated now in interpreting the meaning of the words in the present Framework Agreement of August 3, 2015 which has become the sole contention towards reaching its logical conclusion. Therefore, all said and done. The question of the day is just as simple as saying;
Are we not back to square one? What lies ahead? Shall we stop at that or will we very vigorously take up the unfinished task?
