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CONCISE BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON NAGALAND [NAGALIM] http://www.angelfire.com/mo/Nagaland/ THE NAGAS INTRODUCTION The first prime minister of Free India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, wrote to Assam Chief Minister B.R. Medhi on 13 May 1956: "We know that the Nagas are tough people and are very disciplined" (Sanjoy Hazarika. 1994. STRANGERS OF THE MIST. New Delhi: Viking, p. 360). Commending on the Nagas, Mr. D.R. Mankekar says: "Hard-working, proud, self-reliant, traditionally war-like, independent in spirit and once reputed as head-hunters, the Nagas as a race are also gay and cheerful, gifted with a fine sense of humor. They have an eye for color and design, and rhythm is in their bones, and they love song" (On the Slippery Slope in Nagaland. 1967. Bombay: Manaklalas, p. 23). But, above all, they are much averse to any alien domination over them. And this is what one British writer has to say while referring to the nations of the Himalayan sub-continent: "Traditionally the Nagas are a warrior people. In colonial times the Pathans of the northwest frontier and the Nagas of the northeast were the only two groups that the British failed to subdue militarily" (THE NAGAS: RIGHT TO SURVIVAL. London, p. 5). And this is what British Field Marshal Viscount Slim has to say about the gallant Nagas who refused all payment for the help extended to the Allied forces during the Second World War: "Many a British and Indian soldier owes his life to the Nagas, and no soldier of the Fourteenth Army who met them will ever think of them but with admiration and affection" (DEFEAT INTO VICTORY. Indian Edition 1981. Dehra Dun: Natraj Publishers, pp. 334-335). PEOPLE AND ORIGIN (i) THE GREAT NAGA FAMILY The name "NAGA" is derived from the Burmese word "NAKA", meaning "people with perforated ears." The Nagas, who pierced their ears to accommodate big wooden plugs and other ornaments, were given this name while they were passing through the Burmese territory during their migratory stages thousands of years ago from southern China to the Naga Hills. They are from a distinct Mongoloid stock, and they speak languages that belong to the Tibeto-Burman linguistic group. The Naga Nation, with a total population of about three-and-a-half million people (ninety-five per cent of them being Christian), consists of many communities, viz., 1. Aimol, 2. Anal, 3. Angami, 4. Ao, 5. Chakhesang, 6. Chang, 7. Cherü, 8. Chiru, 9. Chothe, 10. Kharam, 11. Khiangmungan, 12. Koireng, 13. Kom, 14. Konyak, 15. Lainung, 16. Lamkang, 17. Lotha, 18. Makhori, 19. Mao, 20. Maram, 21. Maring, 22. Mayon, 23. Monshang, 24. Nocte, 25. Pangmi, 26. Phom, 27. Pochuri, 28. Poumai, 29. Rengma, 30. Sangtam, 31. Sumi, 32. Tangkhul, 33. Tangsa, 34. Tarao, 35. Thangal, 36. Tikhir, 37. Wancho, 38. Yimchunger, 39. Zeliangrong (it is a conglomeration of the Zeme, Liangmai, Rongmei and Puimei sub-groups). (ii) LAND Nagaland (Nagalim) has always been a sovereign nation occupying a compact area of 120,000 sq. km of the Patkai Range in between the longitude 93º E and 97º E and the latitude 23.5º N and 28.3º N. It lies at the tri-junction of China, India and Burma. Nagalim, without the knowledge and consent of the Naga people, was apportioned between India and Burma after their respective declaration of independence. The part which India illegally claims is subdivided and placed under four different administrative units, viz., Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland states. The eastern part which Burma unlawfully claims is placed under two administrative units, viz., Kachin State and Sagaing Division (formerly known as the Naga Hills). Nagalim, however, transcends all these arbitrary demarcations of boundary (a sketch map of Nagalim is being attached for kind reference). Mr. Mills defines the land of the Naga people thus: "The area inhabited by the Naga tribes is bounded by the Hukawng Valley in the northeast, the plains of the Brahmaputra Valley in the northwest, Cachar in the southwest and the Chindwin River in the east. In the south, the Manipur Valley roughly marks the point of contact between the Naga tribes and the very much more closely interrelated group of Kuki tribes" (vide p. XVI of the "Introduction", The Lotha Naga). The Nagas live in different micro-environments from foot hills to high hills. They build their villages at altitudes of between 1,000 and 2,000 meter, perched like fortresses on the highest points of hill-ranges and spurs from which the land drops down into the surrounding valleys. The choice of such strategically advantageous sites dates from the days of head-hunting, when settlements had to be easily defensible against raiders. Their farming activities are divided between slash-and-burn cultivation and the tillage of irrigated rice terraces. One finds thousands of menhirs/megaliths and forked wooden posts inside these rice fields and in the villages as reminiscent of those happy days when the rich threw "Feasts of Merit" in order to enhance their social status as well as for acquiring blissful life in the next world (cf. A GLIMPSE OF NAGA CULTURE. 1998. GPRN Publication). (iii) HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Like the ancient Geek city-states, the Nagas traditionally lived in village-states, independent and self-contained, with a democratically constituted village council headed by a Chief. In other words, the Naga Nation remained unconquered and unadministered by any alien power, and it thus existed independently since time immemorial. Only a small portion of its territory in the southwest entered the recorded history of the British imperialism in 1863 when some villages were invaded and occupied by the British forces. The year also marked the beginning of the Naga War of Resistance against alien political campaign and military occupation, division and destruction of their land and traditional institutions. Mr. Haipou Jadonang, one of the Naga revolutionary pioneers, was jailed and finally hanged at Imphal on 29 August 1931 by the British. His successor, Ms. Gaidinliu, was also imprisoned for fourteen years. The memorandum submitted by the NAGA CLUB, the only all-Naga political organization existing then, to the Simon Commission on 10 January 1929, that "the Nagas should be left alone," clearly represented the burning desire of the Naga people to preserve the sovereignty of Nagalim. A period following the World War II saw the Naga people determinedly engaged in hectic political activities. The Naga Club was reorganized into the Naga National Council (NNC) in 1947, which was subsequently changed into the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) in 1980, inasmuch as the NNC signed the treasonous Shillong Accord with the Indian Government and forfeited its responsibility to lead the Naga Nation in its struggle for self-determination. "At a time when the British Government was aiming to grant independence to India, a plan was afoot to keep Nagalim as a ‘Crown Colony’. This operation, however, did not materialize owing to the vehement objection raised by the Nagas who insisted on complete independence of their nation from Great Britain as well as Hindustan. It thus came to pass that the Britisher just left the western Nagas to their free will" (A.Z. Jami Lotha. 1997. CRY FOR JUSTICE. Oking: MIP, GPRN, p. 261). At the withdrawal of the British forces from their territory, the Nagas in the British-occupied territory promptly declared their independence on 14 August 1947 and formally merged themselves with the unconquered and unadministered "Free Nagalim". The Government of India and the United Nations Organization were informed of it by cable to which the later was kind enough to send an acknowledgement. This declaration w! as reaffirmed by the astounding result of the 1951 Plebiscite where 99.9 per cent of the Naga population voted in favor of sovereign independent Nagalim. When the Naga delegates approached Mahatma Gandhi at Bhangi Colony in New Delhi on 19 July 1947, he unequivocally told them: "Nagas have every right to be independent. We did not want to live under the domination of the British and now they are leaving us....If you do not wish to join the Union of India, nobody will force you to do that. The Congress government will not do that." In November 1949, when another Naga delegation met His Excellency, Mr. C. Rajagopalachari, the Governor General of Free India, he reconfirmed the statement of Mahatma Gandhi thus: "India does not want to deprive the Nagas of their land. Nagas are at full liberty to do as they like, either to become part of India or be separated if it would be best for their interest to be isolated. But, despite these assurances from the Indian leaders to honor the national aspiration of the Naga people, India started pouring her armed forces into Nagalim in 1954 to conduct an unprecedented war of genocide. This became the crux of the problem. POLITICAL AND MILITARY CAMPAIGNS AGAINST THE
NAGAS In pursuance of their declared national decision, Nagalim refused to join the Indian Union when India was declared a republic in 1950 for the first time, saying "the Nagas do not accept the Indian Constitution," and the Naga people launched full civil disobedience movement and successfully boycotted the first and second general elections of Free India in 1952 and 1957. When the prime ministers of Burma and India, Messrs. U Nu and Jawaharlal Nehru, made a joint visit to Nagalim on 31 March 1953, the whole Naga assemblage in Kohima walked out en masse, jeering and drumming their buttocks because of the refusal of these leaders to give a hearing to them and for not allowing them to submit their memorandum. In response to this peaceful protest, the propounders and advocates of "AHIMSA" (nonviolence) started pouring thousands of their soldiers under ruthless and notorious commanders into helpless Nagalim since 1954. It was a complete volte-face of the statement made on 7 August 1952 by the first prime minister of Free India, Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru, in the Indian Parliament: "We want no people in the territory of India against their will and with the help of armed forces....We want no forced marriages or forced unions. This great Republic of India is a free and friendly union of states of India." The unprovoked invasion and forcible military occupation, often attempted to justify with flimsy philanthropic and arrogant pronouncements, that "India wants nothing from Nagaland. Nagaland has not enough and cannot be left to perish in the jungle even if the jungle is beautiful", has given rise to this spell of fifty-one years of bloody conflict. With this self-imposed and hypocritical duty of protecting the Nagas from "perishing in the jungle", India is perpetuating genocidal campaigns in Nagalim with impunity. More than two hundred thousand Nagas have died as a result of Indian armed forces’ bullets, torture, rape, detention, and privation and epidemics in the Indian military concentration camps. Besides, countless are rendered disabled and unnerved for life. In the name of counter-insurgency measures, military powers were made absolute in Nagalim and a number of black laws, such as the "Armed Forces (Special Power) Act" of 1958, "Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act" (TADA), "National Security Act" (NSA), etc., have been imposed upon the Nagas. The occupational Indian armed forces have subjected the innocent Naga villagers to innumerable ordeals as curfews and prohibitory orders, collective fines, forced labor, looting, grouping of villages and rounding up of the public, destruction of crops and livestock, burning down of houses and granaries, desecration of churches and sacred institutions, combing and mobbing-up operations, unwarranted searches and shootings, arbitrary arrests and detentions, indiscriminate torture and rape, unaccounted deaths and disappearances, extrajudicial executions and wanton killings in fake encounters took their tolls. In an attempt to camouflage these mounting crimes perpetrated on the Nagas by the Indian armed forces, Mrs. Vijayalaksmi Pandit (Jawaharlal Nehru’s sister) flagrantly made the following hypocritical statement in Paris in the august United Nations General Assembly: "We are not the aggressor nation and we have no aggressive intentions towards anyone outside or inside our borders." If such claims would have been true, then would not all the acts that turned the land of the Nagas red with blood have been spared? As a last resort to disintegrate the solidarity of the Naga people and to derail their national aspirations, India unilaterally declared the central portion of Nagalim as one of her constituent states in 1963. The Naga people, of course, never gave their assent to it and, to show their condemnation to the treason committed to the Naga cause and assert that "traitors do not represent the people", Mr. Imkong Liba, the main signatory of the statehood deal, was eliminated. The following year, the Naga people scored a mark when India officially admitted the gravity and validity of the Indo-Naga issue and to hold "peace talks" with the then Federal Government of Nagaland at the prime ministerial level. Thus, a cease-fire came into being on 6 September 1964 and political negotiations dragged on for two years until India unilaterally abrogated the agreement and resumed her genocidal campaigns in Nagalim with greater ferocity. The fate of the Nagas in the Burmese-occupied territories are no better. Hundreds of beastly atrocities have been perpetrated on the hapless Nagas by the occupational Burmese armed forces. For instance, in the months of March and April 1992, inhuman military operations were carried out by the Burmese troops against the innocent Naga villagers in Khianmungan, Lainung, Konyak and Pangmi areas and massacred 1545 persons and many refugees were left stranded for more than a year across the so-called Indo-Burma border. The Nagas in the Burmese-occupied territories are completely neglected and denied anything and everything by the Burmese Government. As a result, the people here subsist mainly on their meager produce from slash-and-burn cultivation. And as there are no educational institutions here, the literacy rate is very low. Since no roads are made, most of the villages here are tucked away in deep jungles, making them isolated, exposed and vulnerable. Taking full advantage of the socio-economic backwardness, the marauding Burmese troops raid these defenseless villages every year, always leaving nothing standing behind them. Granaries are forcibly ransacked, livestock requisitioned, women raped at will and menfolk abducted and used as porters, minesweepers and human-shields in the frontline. Many who became too weak to continue are simply shot dead in the name of safeguarding operational secrecy. Many villages are raged to the ground on the flimsy excuse of being proved uncooperative ! and inhospitable. Having no access to the outside world, this is the vicious recurring oppression the helpless Nagas are made to bear mutely year in and year out. SOCIAL OPPRESSION AND DISCRIMINATION For the last five decades India has been trying her best to keep the outside world in the dark of her unholy behavior and beastly enterprise in Nagalim. "Restricted Area Permit" system that effectively prohibits foreigners from entering Nagalim, expulsion of foreign social and religious workers, indiscriminate arrest and detention of Naga social and political activists, skepticism towards and censorship of social and religious gatherings and functions are all living witnesses to the fact the India desires to keep Nagalim completely isolated so that she can continue to lecture the world on "peace" and "Ahimsa" and perpetrate heinous crimes on the Nagas simultaneously. Yes, India has been vigorously practicing systematic annihilation of political intellectuals and prospective national leaders in Nagalim. India is making the Nagas live under constant fear and intimidation, and there is no such a thing as guarantee of human rights. India treats the Nagas as an unprivileged and untouchable class/caste. No wonder, ninety per cent of the masses still lack basic amenities of life in Nagalim. Absence of proper inter-village roads, electricity, water supply system and medical facilities afflicts most of the villages. ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION _______________________ Nagalim has rich natural resources. She is richly blessed with huge deposit of minerals, such as gold, petroleum, uranium, chromite, coal, limestone, jade and varieties of precious stone. Eighty per cent of the land is wooded and valuable trees, such as teak, pine, oak, walnut, satinwood, agar, etc., are found here. But the past decades of ruthless exploitation of these mineral resources and indiscriminate logging by the colonial agents have completely tilted the ecological balance of our once beautiful richly-gifted land. While greedily draining off these resources, not a single industry has been set up within Nagalim. With nonavailability of factories and technical institutes, employment opportunity is as good as nil. As a result of these abuses, the bulk of the Naga population is conditioned to live below the poverty line. RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION As far as the Nagas are concerned, Indian culture means Hindu culture and Indianization equally means Hindunization. In the process of Indianization of the Nagas, Nagalim has been bombarded with forcible introduction of Hindu culture in every imaginable way. Indian armed forces, Indian currencies, mock state legislature, social and educational institutions, television and radio programs, Indian bureaucrats and business houses, all are in array to confront the Christian faith and indigenous culture of the Nagas. Naga churches have been orphaned through the expulsion of foreign missionaries. Christian missionaries to the Konyak Nagas in the so-called Arunachal State have been murdered and there are prohibitory orders for their entry and propagation of Christian Gospel in the said area. Introduction of "Freedom of Religion Bill, 1978" (that prohibits the propagation of Christianity) in the Indian Parliament is not a thing of the past. Christian Nagas ! are made to live in constant fear and suspicion. The same ugly religious persecution is being practiced to the extreme by the Burmese in the eastern part of Nagalim. Here Christian Nagas are being converted into Buddhism through military threat. |
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