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The Nagas have their own history and every aspect of it does not admit of distortion. The endless attempts made by India and Burma at distorting the Naga national perspectives and keeping the Naga people painted out quite other than themselves have misinformed the outside world and much misgivings had been created for years. Yet decisiveness of falsehood on the issue remains to be seen. In spite of the adverse years of the past, we are convinced that the reality that is with the Nagas is now becoming increasingly clearer to many around the world. The truth is with us and it shall stand untarnished beyond the interests of the power politics that has overshadowed the magnitude of the Indo-Naga case for scores of years. The truth we hold is the historical fact which India dare not face except taking recourse to the boundless argument that India has inherited Nagalim from the British Imperialists, and the claim made after 18 years that the Nagas "accepted the Indian Constitution". It shamelessly installed a puppet state in 1963 and maintained the same with the help of over 200,000 occupational armed forces and a few traitors who were in the payroll of the Indian Government. Therefore, to be clear of the nature of the long standing issue, a brief historical background and the circumstances which had led the invading Indian and Burmese armed forces and the resisting Naga Army into confrontation for such a long period of time, notwithstanding our all-out efforts to avert it at every stage of opportunity, need to be explained first in their plain actualities.

When one looks at the political map of Asia, he will find mainly China, India and Burma. The tri-junction is the position of Nagalim. The Nagas are a distinct ethnical stock of Mongoloid race that migrated to the present compact area of the Nagas from the east. We are the first settlers of the land. Today, we have altogether 16 major communities and 20 smaller ones with a population of about 3.5 million. The size of Nagalim is approximately 1,20,000 sq. km.

*Nagalim (Nagaland): When the Nagas refer to Nagalim it means their rightful homeland – the Nagas in the states of pseudo-Nagaland, Manipur, North Cachar Hills of Assam, and Arunachal Pradesh in India and the Naga territory in the Northwestern part presently under the Burmese control. The present so-called Nagaland State in India (with an area of 16,527 sq. km) is a creation of the Government of India, a part of her political strategy to divide the Nagas.
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Nagas as a distinct nation remains unconquered, unadministered and independent since time immemorial, though, much to our surprise, this reality is hardly known to the outside world. Only a small portion of its territory entered the recorded history of the British Imperialist in 1832 when some Naga villages were invaded and occupied by the British forces. This year also marks their war of resistance against the political campaigns and military occupation, division and destruction of their land and institutions by the invading forces. The fight took many years. But by 1881 the British had taken over the southwestern part of Nagalim and the occupied portion of the Naga territory was declared a "British District" with Kohima as its administrative center. The British imperialists ruled the said occupied area for some 66 years (1881-1947).

The Free Naga Territory – "FREE NAGALAND"
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The British could take over and control only the southwestern part of Naga territory during the period 1881-1947 which came to be known as the British Naga Hills District. But the Northern and eastern parts, which formed the larger part of the Naga territory, was left uncontrolled and unoccupied by the British. This uncontrolled part of Nagalim, the "Free Naga Territory", remained almost unvisited, entirely self-governing and completely independent even when India attained her independence from Great Britain in 1947.

The Government of India Act 1919
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According to the Government of India Act 1919, the "Naga Hills District" was declared as a "Backward Tract" and it was made clear that no Acts passed by the Indian Legislature were to apply to this "Backward Tract". The occupied Naga territory was, thereby, treated as a separate entity from the British Indian Empire.

The Simon Commission 1929
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The year 1929 saw the Nagas again demanding the restoration of their independence when the British withdrew their forces from India and Burma. On 10 January 1929, the Simon Commission (the Indian Statutory Commission), under the chairmanship of Sir John Simon and with Mr. Clement Attlee as one of the members, visited Kohima to ascertain the wishes of the Nagas on their political future. The Commission asked the Nagas whether they would join the coming "New Reformed Scheme" which became the Government of India Act 1935. One of the Naga elders stood up, demonstrated a Naga cultural dance and said: "The Nagas will remain free as before when the British will leave Nagalim." That clearly expressed the aspiration of the whole Nagas. In the memorandum submitted to the Commission, the members of the Naga Club, the only all-Naga organization existing then, speaking on behalf of the Nagas, demanded that "the Nagas should be left alone whenever the British decided to leave India". The demand was couched in mild words but it represented their burning desire for independence. This memorandum was the first written document in which the Nagas had expressed the fervor of their national longing and political aspiration to regain their independence.

The Zeliangrong Uprising
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In 1929 and in the early 1930s the attention of the British Government was drawn to the Zeliangrong country in southern Nagalim. The Naga national longing for independence was demonstrated by the Zeliangrong people in an uprising directed to overthrow the British power in Nagalim by force under the leadership of Jaduanang who was apprehended and later hanged at Imphal by the British. The staggering number of Nagas who were shot dead, hanged or otherwise imprisoned in connection with this revolution, was never made public by the British authorities.

The Government of India Act 1935
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Under the Government of India Act 1935, which was passed on the recommendation of the Simon Commission, the "Naga Hills District" (or "Backward Tract" according to Act of 1919) was declared on 3 March 1935 to be treated as "Excluded Area". This act empowered the Governor of Assam to administer the area in his own discretion. It was also stated that no Act of the Federal Legislature or that of Assam Legislature was to apply to the Naga Hills, and thus the Naga area was not brought within the fold of Indian policy. Sir Robert Neil Reid, Governor of Assam (1937-41) said:

"Throughout the discussion previous to the framing of the new Act, the authorities concerned had no difficulty in agreeing that the Naga Hills ought to be kept outside the purview of the New Constitution. They were accordingly declared to be an 'Excluded Area' under the Government of India (Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas) Order 1936 and have since the 1st April 1937 been administered by the Governor in his discretion (History of the Frontier Areas bordering on Assam 1883-1941, p. 178)."

The Visit of British Cabinet Mission
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The British Government sent a Cabinet Mission to India to study the political situation in the country in April 1946. The Naga National Council (NNC), which was formed in March 1945 to voice the national sentiments of the Nagas, waited upon the British Cabinet Mission in New Delhi on 9 April 1946. It informed the latter that "the future of the Nagas will not be bound by any arbitrary decision of the British Government, and that no recommendation will be accepted without consultation."

The Naga National Council tried to make it clear that the Nagas would not accept any other kind of constitutional arrangement. It thus came to pass that the Nine-Point Agreement was negotiated.

The Nine-Point Agreement
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In June 1947, the Governor of Assam, Sir Akbar Hydari negotiated an agreement afresh with the Naga National Council at meetings in Kohima from 27-29 June 1947. This agreement came to be known as the Nine-Point Agreement. The Governor was acting on behalf of the Indian Constituent Assembly. Compromises on both sides produced the Agreement that gave increased administrative authorities to the NNC. In a memorandum submitted to him, the Naga National Council stated:

"A constitution drawn up by the people who have had no knowledge of the Naga Hills and the Naga people will be quite unsuitable and unacceptable to the Naga people. It is our desire to make it plain to your Excellency that it will not be enough to say in the end that the Constitution has been drawn up on the lines suggested by the Cabinet Mission.

"We know that Your Excellency will concede that the Naga people have as much right for self-determination as any other people. Our request to Your Excellency is to do all that is in your power to enable the Nagas to stand on their own feet so that they may be worthy members in the civilized world.

"When a deputation of the Nagas very recently waited upon you, Your Excellency was appraised of the demand of the Naga people for the restoration of their old boundary. The ancient boundary of the Nagas with the Ahom Kingdom previously scrupulously observed by the Ahoms, has been overstepped throughout its length. All the valuable forests that were previously a part of the Naga Hills have been transferred to the Sibsagar and Nowgong Districts of Assam. "In fairness, justice and equity, Nagaland should be restored to the Nagas. We should urge, Your Excellency, to set up immediately a Boundary Commission to go into this very important question.

"The Naga National Council stands for the solidarity of all the Naga tribes. The present Naga Hills District has arbitrarily been carved out for administrative conveniences only. It is now our desire that Your Excellency take all steps to bring all the Naga tribes together, for they all naturally desire to be together."

The main provisions of the 9-Point Agreement
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"That the right of the Nagas to develop themselves according to their expressed wish is recognized:
Judicial
Executive
Legislative
Land
Taxation
Boundaries
Arms Act
Regulation
Period of Agreement.

"The Government of Indian Union will have a special responsibility for a period of 10 (ten) years to ensure the due observance of this Agreement. At the end of this period, the Naga National Council will be asked whether they require the above agreement to be extended for a further period, or a new agreement regarding the future of the Naga people be arrived at."

But at the same time, Sir Akbar Hydari warned several Nagas one evening that if the Naga Hills District would refuse to join the Indian Union, India would use force against them.

Gandhiji's promise of Naga Independence
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A Naga delegation went to Mahatma Gandhi at the Bhangi Colony in Delhi on July 19, 1947, to tell him that they were resolved to declare their own independence a day before India did so, on August 14, 1947 and to ask him for his help.

It must humiliate every right thinking Indian now to recall that the Mahatma admitted the justice of the Naga claim at once. He told the delegation, "Nagas have every right to be independent. We did not want to live under the domination of the British and they are now leaving us. I want you to feel that India is yours. I feel that the Naga Hills are mine just as much as they are yours, but if you say, 'it is mine' then the matter must stop there. I believe in the brotherhood of man, but I do not believe in force or forced unions. If you do not wish to join the Union of India, nobody will force you do that. The Congress Government will not do that". When the Naga delegates pointed out that Sir Akbar Hydari was threatening to do exactly that, Gandhi exclaimed, "Sir Akbar Hydari is wrong. He cannot do that. I will come to the Naga Hills and I will ask them to shoot me first before one Naga is shot."

Declaration of Naga Independence: 14 August 1947
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According to plans and preparations, Naga independence was declared on 14 August 1947, one day before India became Independent. The Government of India and the United Nations Organization were informed by cable to which the UNO was kind enough to send an acknowledgement. The cable runs:

Benign Excellency (.) Kindly put on record that Nagas will be independent (.) Discussions with India are being carried on to that effect (.) Nagas do not accept Indian Constitution (.) The right of the people must prevail regardless of size (.)

Naga National Council

Assurance for implementing the Nine-Point Agreement

Following a statement made to the representatives of the NNC at Guwahati on 2 February 1948 by the Premier of Assam to the effect that there could be no "Agreement" with the Nagas, a 2-man Naga delegation met His Excellency, the Governor of Assam Sir Akbar Hydari, in Shillong on 9 May 1948. The purpose of the delegation was to ascertain the position of the Nine-Point Agreement of June 1947. The Governor said that the agreement would be incorporated in the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, although the Nine-Point Agreement made no reference to the Constitution of India.

The Nagas rightly considered the Nine-Point Agreement as a treaty of honor. Further assurance for the implementation of the said agreement was given to the NNC by the adviser to the Governor of Assam, vide Memo No. 490/C dated 11 June 1948. The letter reads:

"With reference to your letter dated the 25th May, 1948, to His Excellency, the Governor of Assam, I am desired by His Excellency to state that the machinery necessary to that end is already in motion. There was never, nor shall be, any question of non-implementation of the terms of the Agreement."

Sd/-

N.K. Rustomji
Advisor to the Governor of Assam.

The final assurance for implementation of the Nine-Point Agreement was made in a signed statement to the Naga National Council by both Sir Akbar Hydari, Governor of Assam, and Shri Gopinath Bordoloi, the Premier of Assam, vide Memo No. 88-C/47-570-72 dated 22 June 1948. The signed statement reads:

"A deputation of Naga gentlemen had come to Shillong to receive a written assurance from His Excellency the Governor of Assam and the Honorable Premier of Assam to the effect that the Agreement reached between His Excellency and the Naga leaders in June 1947 will be implemented. The deputation was given hearing by both and assured that there was never any question of non-implementation of the Agreement. A misunderstanding appeared to have arisen in the minds of certain section of the Naga people that the Agreement of June 1947 was nullified by the provisions laid down in the Draft Constitution. It was explained to the deputation at length that the Draft Constitution is/was in no way inconsistent with the Agreement. On the contrary, it has prescribed the machinery whereby the Agreement might be translated into action. If, however, any doubt or apprehension still remains in the minds of the Naga people regarding the validity of the Agreement, His Excellency and the Hon'ble Premier were prepared to give the written assurance that had been asked for. They have been pleased to do so accordingly and have both appended their signatures to this document as a token of the assurance they have been asked to give."

Sd/-

A. Hydari
Governor of Assam

Sd/-

G.N. Bordoloi

Hon'ble Premier of Assam

The Betrayal of the Agreement by India

In order to extract a clear statement about the actual fate of the Nine-Point Agreement, a 3-man Delegation of the Naga National Council met the representatives of the Government of India in Shillong on 3 November 1949. But, much to its surprise and dismay, the Naga delegation was bluntly told that there was no Agreement made with the Nagas. Shri Gopinath Bordoloi himself admitted to the Nagas in the Government House in Shillong on 9 November 1949 that the Agreement was no longer considered to exist by the Indian Government.

This betrayal of the Agreement by the Government of India, in the face of repeated assurance given to the Naga National Council, was a direct insult to the Nagas. It greatly hurt the national sentiment of the Nagas. This deliberate lie to cheat the Nagas further widened the chasm separating the Nagas from the Indians. Men's memory is short, yet, this betrayal is still fresh in the minds of the Nagas. And people such as the Nagas will never allow themselves to be called Indians.

Rajaji's Promise of Naga Independence

Greatly disappointed at India's betrayal of the Nine-Point Agreement of June 1947, an 11-man Naga Delegation met His Excellency the Governor-General of Free India, Mr. C. Rajgopalachari in Shillong on 28 November 1949 at the Government House. His Excellency told the Naga Delegation: "India wants to be friendly with you. India does not want to deprive the Nagas of their land. Nagas are at 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."

Non-acceptance of the Indian Constitution

On 24 January 1950, the NNC informed the Government of India, the United Nations Organization and all the foreign Ambassadors in New Delhi that THE NAGAS DO NOT ACCEPT THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION.

India informed about the Naga Voluntary Plebiscite

On New Year Day 1951, the Government of India was given advance information by the NNC regarding the holding of the Naga Voluntary Plebiscite on the issue of Naga Independence. Later on the Government of India was requested to send its representatives and observers to Nagalim to witness the holding of plebiscite, vide NNC letters dated 30 March and 11 April 1951.

The Naga Voluntary Plebiscite of 1951

Early in 1951, the Naga National Council launched a voluntary plebiscite, which was inaugurated on 16 May 1951 at Kohima by Mr. A.Z. Phizo, who was by then elected to the coveted office of the President of the Naga National Council. It was carried out to disprove the slander that the desire for independence was held by only a few 'educated' Nagas. But the result, when finally tabulated, was 99.9 per cent vote for a sovereign independent Naga state.

Boycott of the First General Election of Free India

In the first general election of Free India in January 1952, the Nagas decided that, as a practical demonstration of the nonacceptance of the Indian Constitution, they would boycott the elections. Thus not one Naga sought election to the Indian Parliament or the Legislature of Assam, and not a single Naga used the ballot. The boycott was a complete success. Mr. Bimala Prasad Chaliha (the then President of the Assam Pradesh Congress) toured the interior of the Naga country in September 1953. He observed that, apart from the plebiscite, the boycott of the general elections was a sufficient proof of the unanimity of the Naga people for independence and their singleness of purpose.

India's undeclared war

Tension between India and the Nagas grew as the Government of India was determined to do away with the national aspiration of the Nagas. The leaders and members of the Naga National Council became the first targets of arrest and torture. Indian Armed Police personnel were poured into Nagalim and massive indiscriminate ransacking and ravaging of Naga villages started. Shootings followed and a Sub-Inspector of the invading Indian police force shot Mr. Zasibituo Nagi of Jotsoma village on the main road at Kohima on 18 October 1952. He was a judge of the Kohima Central Court and was the first Naga in the long list of martyrs.

Indian Prime Minister Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru and Burmese Prime Minister Mr. Thakin U Nu, visited Nagalim on 30 March 1953. A few minutes before they were due to address the mammoth gathering, the Nagas were told that they were not to be allowed to submit any representation/memorandum to the two Prime Ministers. The Nagas, who considered the denial of freedom of expression as a direct affront to them, walked out en mass.

Thereafter the Indian Government launched large scale operation in Naga territory, branding the Nagas as 'hostile', 'insurgents'', 'misguided elements', 'extremists', 'miscreants', 'terrorists', 'treacherously bloodthirsty savages', and the like. The Reign of Terror, which the Indian Army unleashed, thus began. It is impossible to give in detail the atrocities committed on the Naga people in a small note. It may, therefore, be given in a general way with a few cases as examples out of thousands. The behavior of the Indian troops, to say the least, was inhuman. There was no human compunction in them. Mass arrests of men, women and children were done all over Nagalim. They were beaten and herded into concentration camps, where thousands died of starvation, torture and diseases. All able-bodied Nagas were used as laborers to construct camps, carry supplies and what not, without payment. Men and women were often separated; women were raped in front of husbands, parents, brothers and sisters. These Indians even used chilly powder in the private parts of the Naga women, the sight of which only sadists can stand. They would then insert sticks into the private parts and after that torture to death. It would be hard for any civilized person to believe, but that was what really happened. Even pregnant women were so manhandled and ravaged that quite often miscarriages occurred in the crowds. Assaults on women were such that the Indian troops were in no way better than the irrational animals. Forced practices of sodomy upon men were strange to the Nagas. It was a new phenomenon introduced in Nagalim by the Indian soldiers. Torturing to death through beating, thrusting sticks into the rectums or private parts of men and women, and hanging upside down were daily occurrences. Mutilation of the bodies of men and women who had been raped or tortured or shot to death were displayed to the public in towns and villages with the warning that the same fate awaited those who refused to accept the Constitution of India. Some people were even forced to eat their own flesh before they were killed. Jails and concentration camps were full, but the process of harassment, molestation, inhuman torture and indiscriminate killing continued all the more. Villagers everywhere were indefinitely terrorized. They were flushed out and gathered at open places for days and nights together. Unbearable restrictions and curfews were imposed upon them and "shoot at sight" at any suspect was the standing order everywhere in Nagalim. There was no more law. Only the whims and moods of the Indian armed forces were in force. They were not allowed to cultivate their fields. Life was indeed precarious; it was completely at the mercy of the invaders. Side by side, thousands of villages were incinerated across the country. Some villages were burned down more then twenty times even. Besides, a large number of villages were uprooted from one place to another causing suffering beyond words. Granaries were burnt to ashes without exception. Standing crops were destroyed. Schools and churches were razed to the ground. Scorch-earth policies were applied in every part of the land. Countless persons were given electric shock so that innumerable Nagas died or left crippled. Despite their tall declaration of respect for every religion, Christians were much hated by the occupational forces. Pastors were killed; church buildings were set on fire. Rev. Pelesato Chase was put in a sack and burnt alive. He was the first supervisor of Mission Center Bible Hills at Phek. The 1st Maratha Regiment raped four girls inside the Yankeli Baptist Church. Time and again almost the whole Naga population was driven into jungle where they lived on roots and leaves without medical cares. Thousands died of starvation and diseases. They used all unimaginable methods of genocide. The whole population underwent untold suffering since 1954.

As a result of such inhuman carnage, starvation, diseases and deprivation of other necessities of life, more than a hundred thousand died within 1954-1964. Out of the forty- plus Naga communities, about 47,000 death is recorded from the Sumi community alone.

The first area to suffer the horrible onslaught of the Indian armed forces was Free Nagalim, a Naga territory that was outside the British Empire. The Indian troops had been moving into that part of Nagalim for some years intimidating the population. Then on 15 November 1954 Indian troops raided the village of Yangpang in Free Nagaland and killed 60 men, women and children. The killing lasted for two hours from 05:00 hrs. to 19:00 hrs., led by a Political Officer and his Assistant. The Political Officer had been boasting previously that he would show that the Indians were better headhunters than the Nagas. He carried out his boast with punctilious accuracy. All the victims were beheaded, some alive, some after being shot and their heads were taken back to Noklak Camp of the Indian troops to be photographed. He rewarded his soldiers that night with a feast of pork (the pigs were stolen by the Indian soldiers from the Yangpang village). Among the stories told by survivors is that which concerned one Mrs. Subonglemla, a cheerful young teacher. They dragged her by her long hair. She wept and begged for mercy, but the killers scalped her while she was still alive and then cut her head off. The Political Officer took the scalp. Subonglemla's husband and their two sons were slaughtered too. Another 296 people were massacred in Yangpang village in the ensuing year.

On 27 November 1954, the 29 Squadron* of the Indian Air Force destroyed the Chingmei village in Free Nagaland through heavy aerial bombardment, causing an unknown number of death. In Chemong village, Mr. Chenimong (23) and Mr. Shemshi-mong (25) were crucified (tortured for several hours and then shot). Mr. Yemkhotong (35) had his thigh bored through with bayonet; a cord was passed through the hole to bind him to a post and, after being hulled and flayed, he was soaked with petrol and burned alive. The chief of Longpha village, Ahng Yuwang (60) was shot in his bed by the Indian officers.

These are but a few cases by way of example. There are thousands of atrocities and killings of such nature committed by the Indian Armed Forces in Free Nagaland alone. The Government of India developed their plan for wholesale village extermination and in the year 1955 alone it is believed that about 10,000 Free Nagas lost their lives.

* Till date, the Government of India have been vehemently refuting the Nagas' claim that its jetfighters were involved in bombing Naga villages and suspected camps of the Naga nationalists. Only after a lapse of 43 years, she admitted the truth and the Indian Air Force's 29 Squadron was conferred the President's Standard by the Indian President K. R. Narayanan on 7 November 1997.