| The objective of my paper is to present the ground realities of
the Nagas as it attains today as accurately as possible and to sketch the historical
course of its development. This will help us to appreciate the complexity of the Naga
problem which is often over simplified by seeing as one to one confrontation situation. It
will be seen that the violence generated by this complexity is multifaced and requires a
great deal of understanding and good will on the part of all those concerned to be able to
greatly reduce if not completely get rid of the senseless violence, once and for all.
The first political expression of the collective will of the Nagas
was made in the formation of the Naga Club in 1918 at Kohima. It
had limited purpose or aim of representing Naga interests to the British Government
without having a very clear picture of what later came to be known as Naga Nationalism.
However, the consciousness of nationhood was not explicitly present in the submission of
the memorandum to the Simon Commission visiting Nagaland in 1929. The
substance of the memorandum was the earnest request to the British Government to leave the
Nagas as free people as before and not to include them within the Indian Union. The
out come of the memorandum was the declaration of the Naga areas as a Special Backward
Area later changed into an Excluded Area status by the British India Act of 1935 which
became affective in 1937, since the Nagas objected to the word 'backward'.
This was followed by the 9-point Agreement signed between the
Government of India and the Naga National Council on 9th June 1947. The Government
of India was represented by Sir Akbar Hydari, the Governor of the then undivided Assam.
The 9-point Sir Akbar Hydari Agreement reflects the willingness of the Naga people to
enter into a peaceful settlement of their political status. This agreement included an
experimental coexistence with India for a period of ten years, to be reviewed at the end
of that period. And this was a clear signal that they entertained the idea of peaceful
coexistence with India and this was a temporary arrangement which was misunderstood to be
a permanent settlement. Furthermore, this settlement was read by the Government of India
as a political commitment and accomplished fact of union with the Indian union. But for
the Naga leaders it was read in a different way, they did not consider a "trail"
as an accomplished fact and consequently they felt cheated. Given this interpretation, the
Government of India thought it right to suppress the expression of any other
interpretation of the situation. As a result, dissidents were subjected to great military
violence. On July 19,1947, the NNC let by Dr. A.Z. Phizo met
M.Gandhi at his Bhangi Colony in Delhi. In the meeting, Phizo categorically stated that
the Nagas would declare their Independence Day on 14th August 1947, to which Gandhi agreed
after a lengthy discussion.
In reality the Nagas declared their Independence Day on 14th August
1947. On 27th August 1948, no tax campaign public
demonstration led by A.Dihrii was held at Mao-Gate, in which three people were killed on
the spot and several others injured by the 4th battalion of Assam Rifles. They were the
first Naga Martyrs. On November 28, 1949, the Naga delegation met
C.Rajagopalachari, The first Governor - General of Independent India, at Shillong.
Rajagopalachari told the Naga delegation that India wants to be friendly with them and it
is upto the Nagas either to become part of India or be a separate Nation. On May 8, 1950,
the Government of India offered District Autonomy to the Nagas. This offer had outraged
the Nagas and they were all the more determined to fight and deep animosity developed
towards India. On December 11, 1950, Dr. A.Z. Phizo was elected as the president of the
NNC, with his election the Naga' Freedom Movement ' became stronger and stronger.
'Non-cooperation' and 'Civil Disobedience' were the clarion calls given by Phizo. On May
16, 1951, plebiscite was conducted all over Nagaland and the result was overwhelming for
independence with 99.9% voting in favour. On May 11,1952, the Naga delegation met the
Prime Minister Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru and informed him about the result of the plebiscite.
In the same year, the first Indian general election was boycotted by the Nagas. On 18,
October 1952, a public demonstration was held in Kohima in which Lasibito, the assistant
judge of the official Angami Tribal Council court was shot dead by an Assam Police
officer. In September 1954,"Sovereign Republic of Nagaland"
was set up. On March 22, 1956, Phizo established "Naga Central
Government" to replace the earlier one. In 1959, this was changed to the
"Federal Government of Nagaland". The Naga Home
guards was also formed. Open serious conflict began in March 1956. Rapid mobilization
began, and Mr. Besii Chakho the then Governor of Japfii state was the first from the Naga
Hills of Manipur to join Phizo's army in the same year, i.e. 1956.Due to the differences
of opinion and ideology, T.Sakhrie was assassinated in January 1956 by his fellow Nagas
and Sakhrei's colleagues were also forced over ground to seek the protection from the
Government of India. By this time, practically all the young able-bodied - men had joined
the Naga Home guards. Since the early 1950's the dynamics of violence has been unleashed
in Nagaland. On the other hand, the underground had started their forcible recruitment
drive. Side by side their demand for food and shelter from different villages had
intensified. Kidnappings, tortures and killings of the informers and other dissident
started. On the other hand, harassment, beatings, tortures, rape,
killings, burning of villages, burning of paddy-field huts and granaries, stealing, while
combing the villages, herding of villages into concentration camps, from the Indian Armed
Forces. And thus they forgot the great insight of Mahatma Gandhi who said, "An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind". In this
way, the violent chain reaction was set in motion.
In the late fifties (1950s) some moderates who had abandoned the extreme violent path felt
that it would be better for the Nagas to be with the Government of India. Consequently,
the Naga People's convention was formed. Dr. Imkongliba was elected as its President. The
NPC spearheaded the movement to create Nagaland State within the Indian Union with a high
degree of autonomy. As a result, the crucial 16-point Agreement was signed in 1960 with
the Union of India. On December 1,1963, Nagaland became a full-fledged state of India.
With this agreement, Nagaland was placed under the External Affairs Ministry. And India
effectively and decisively made its present felt in Naga politics and history. For all
practical purpose, Nagas had become Indians with this Agreement whether they liked it or
not. The original NNC which claimed to represent the Naga people felt that the 16- point
Agreement was a complete sell out of the Naga Political cause or struggle and they felt
sidelined. Eventually Dr. Imkongliba the NPC President was assassinated.
Since violence was so rampant, the Naga Baptist Church took
initiative to bring peace and normalcy. Finally, the Nagaland peace council was set up and
a cease-fire agreement was reached in May 1964 which become effective from September
6,1964. Several parleys were held, including 6(six) negotiations between the Prime
Minister Indira Gandhi and the underground Prime minister Sughato Sukhai and his
colleagues, in 1966-67. Mrs. Indira Gandhi was willing to consider the proposal of Suisa
the then Naga MP from outer Manipur constituency, that is, a status higher than the
statehood. But Indira Gandhi's "complete Autonomy" was not spelled out. In the
meantime, serious misunderstanding within the underground had started. By 1968, a major
split within the Naga Political Movement started with the formation of the Revolutionary
Government of Nagaland by the then Naga Army General Kaito. Kaito in collaboration with
the Indian Army started attacking other fellow underground loyal to Dr .A. Z .Phizo.
Taking advantage of the Indian Army support, Kaito's men started killing and torturing the
opposite camp partly to settle the old scores. Among the killed included General Kaito,
while the prominent peace mission member Rev. Eshuo Ashuli Mao was arrested at Tobiifii,
Christian Center and tortured to death at Mokhufii Center in 1972 by Kaito's own party men
who are presently known as Poumei and the Indian army. But this counter-movement from
within died in 1973. Nevertheless, this was a serious jolt within the underground movement
as a little more than 1500 Sema underground joined the Indian Army led by the self-styled
Gen. Zuheto. Finally, the negotiation was dead - locked. The cease-fire was officially
over by August 31, 1972. Charges and counter-charges were leveled against each other in
violating the terms of the cease-fire agreement. In 1972, Nagaland was transferred to the
Ministry of Home Affairs from the Ministry of External Affairs without any debate. On June
29, 1972, the Nagaland Legislative Assembly adopted a strong protest-resolution against
this unilateral decision. But the Government of India ignored the resolution of the
Nagaland Legislative Assembly. Since the split was so severe that after a couple of years
of dissolution of the Revolutionary Government of Nagaland, some of the underground
leaders felt that they needed to sign another agreement with the Government of India since
many underground were arrested and jailed. Thus came the 1975 Shillong Accord. The Accord
was signed at Shillong on 10th and 11th November 1975, between the Governor of Nagaland
Shri, L. P. Singh representing the Government of India and the 6(six) underground leaders
without the consultations and involvement of top leaders like A. Z. Phizo and Th. Muivah.
This accord was the biggest 'concession' that the underground had offered to the
Government of India. According to this accord, different peace-camps were set up in
Nagaland. A Liaison Committee was also constituted consisting of the members of the
Nagaland peace council as the go-between. The representatives of the underground agreed to
solve the Naga political problem within the framework of the Indian Constitution. They
also agreed to surrender their arms and ammunition. They had 'reasonable period' of time
for the final settlement but soon the Shillong Accord was condemned and denounced as a
sell out by some underground representatives. Some of the underground who were in China
started firing the guns to the sky to let the world know that they have not surrendered. After much confusion and tension, finally Isaac Swu, Th. Muivah, S.S
Khaplang and their supporters broke away from the original NNC and formed their separate
organization called National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) in January 1980.Because
of the serious disagreement, a lot of the Shilliong Accord people were killed.
In 1988, another serious misunderstanding developed within the NSCN.
A parallel NSCN led by Khaplang staged a coup in which approximately 100 NSCN were killed
including the deputy General Commander-in-chief, Mr. Ashiho. With this NSCN was split into
two NSCN (K) and NSCN (I-M).
In April 1990, Dr. A. Z. Phizo, the father of the Naga Nationalism
died in London. Some of his supporter's hastily called a meeting and his daughter Adino
was elected as his successor. This improper procedure and undemocratic election had
outraged some NNC Naga Army General and their supporters. As a protest, they formed their
own separate parallel NNC. Thus, within a decade the Naga political
Movement was split into four different factions. With the emergence of the four
factions, fights among themselves have become very frequent and a lot of people including
non-factional ones have been killed. Several important leaders have also been killed
including, Chalie Kevichusa and his brother Tobu Kevichusa, the then NNC General
Secretary, Povezo D.Soho, the Brigadier NNC, Komuo Athishu Lt. Colonel and his successor
etc. Killings and violence have become so rampant in Nagaland, that
the Naga Mothers Association, the Naga Students' Federation, the Naga people's Movement
for Human Rights and the Naga Ho-Ho, the apex body etc have made repeated calls for peace,
cease-fire and reconciliation.
In 1997, the cease-fire was declared between the NSCN(I-M) and the
Govt. of India under the leadership of Prime Minister, Narasimha Rao. The three points
were also agreed upon in order to facilitate negotiation between them. They are:
Unconditional Talk
The talks to be held in the third country, and
The talks to be at the highest level i.e. between the Prime Minister of
the two respective parties. So far several negotiations have been held right from the
Prime Ministers, Narasimha Rao, Dev Gowda, I. K. Gujral and Atal Behari Vajpai with the
NSCN Prime Minister Th. Muivah in different countries. But nothing substantial has
resulted from the negotiations. From May 31st to2nd June 1999, NSCN(I-M) called unique
consultative General-Body-Meeting in Nuiland, Dimapur. (Which I personally attended).
After a long free frank debate and discussion many expressions of both satisfaction
dissatisfaction with the cadre and the conduct of the militancy, the Naga General Body
recommended and resolved that the dialogue for peace and final settlement of the Naga
Political problem between the Govt. of India and the NSCN (I-M) should continue.
From the above, account, it is abundantly clear that there were two parallel struggles
throughout the history of the political movement. On the one hand, there is the struggle
for the Naga sovereignty directed against the Indian Government. On the other hand, there
is equally powerful struggle within the movement for leadership and power. However, the
real political question or the central question of politics among the Nagas is the
question of the empowerment of the people. By empowerment of the people, I mean to create
those conditions in which people can help themselves or improve their lives in freedom,
sharing and cooperation and not living in fear, competitive destruction and extremely
isolated individualistic pursuit of self-interest. In order to bring this about, the role
of democracy, especially in its aspect of the freedom of expression and the impersonal
rule of law cannot be undermined. The best way human kind has realised so far, the
empowerment of the people is through democratic set up of the kind the various developed
countries have instituted in their states governed by the "Rule of Law"
enshrined in secular democratic constitutions. And this question is
precisely what is not being addressed by the so called 'freedom movement' programme of the
Nagas. The movement is already badly split and fragmented over the last 31(thirty one)
years i.e., since 1968 with the formation of the 'Revolutionary Government' of Nagaland'
led by General Kaito, who was later shot dead at Kohima by fellow Nagas. It seems
to me that even if sovereignty is attained through armed struggle or militancy, the same
struggle for power will continue internally, even more fiercely. This struggle for power
to rule over the people is not concerned with the empowerment of the people. The question
of how to empower the people will still be staring in our eyes. In order to start the
process of the empowerment of the people; we have to first settle the question of the
political status or the statehood of the people peacefully. I
suggest, in order to attain this peaceful settlement, a referendum should be conducted to
know if the Naga people in the changed circumstances are happy to continue with the Indian
citizenship or they still prefer complete sovereignty or some other arrangement.
For this to happen all the parties concerned including the four factions plus currently
ruling party plus the government of India must agree first to hold the referendum under a
neutral authority such as U.N. and secondly they must make a prior commitment to respect
the result of the referendum. Such proposal for referendum is in fact asking for no more
than what Nehru himself has suggested in the case of Kashmir.
The Nagas have to come out of the conflict within themselves. On the one hand, they are
more and more beginning to see both economic and political advantages of being part of the
larger constitutional democratic system of India. On the other hand, the hangover of the
determination to fight for sovereignty of Naga people continues to lure them into the
struggle for independence. This is evidenced by the fact that year after year, more and
more Naga youths are joining en-masse in various services of the Government of India, like
UPSC, banking, LIC, GIC, defence forces etc. By reverse implication, less and less highly
educated Naga youths are joining in the 'freedom struggle'. On the contrary, within the
rank and file of the ' underground ' majority are the school/college drop-outs or socially
unfits or misfits and other notorious criminal gangsters.
The so called overground Naga politicians are through and through corrupt without the
slightest moral scruples. Their only goal seems to be to make as much money as possible by
any means. They view politics as a mere money-churning machine and not to serve the
people. The result is too obvious for any one to see, like public roads, any public
services, cottage industries etc are there but only in name in Nagaland. And this is true
also with most of the active participants of the of the 'underground
movement' with the few exceptions of the top leaders, which is reflected in the
fact that in actual life they do not like to be left behind in the race for accumulation
of wealth for themselves individually independently of the cause. Moral degeneration has
set in with the break up of the traditional institutions of governing the society. And if
the cold war continues for much longer, it will only be harsh and self-destructive for the
Naga people generally. It will be extremely difficult for the Nagas to come up as a
peaceful democratic, separate, sovereign nation in the future even if this option were
available. We can see the inner conflict and serious internal fight within most of the
separatist movements going on in India, Burma, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and other parts of the
world. This is because the supposed goal of sovereign nationhood is either forgotten or is
merely a means for self-promotion. Unfortunately, the latter seems to be true even for the
Nagas today.
The volatile persistent problem continues among the Nagas because of the unwillingness of
the major advanced tribes to allow equal say to the backward and smaller tribes. This
acted as one of the greatest obstacles to the genuine Naga unity and integration. The
reluctance of certain tribes to recognize the leadership of other tribes has also acted as
one of the obstacles towards unity. Further our society by and large is now being governed
by the rule of force and not by the rule of law. The substitution of law for coercion and
substitution of humanity for blind tribal or factional allegiance are very essential. The
Naga solution leis in providing opportunities for contest that are not conducted by the
violent means. This is one of the great merits of modern democracy. It seems to me that
unless the modern democratic values and universal human brotherhood are incorporated into
cultural ethos, there is every likelihood of the return to barbarism, savagery or the near
annihilation, given the history of the internal power struggle of the Nagas.
It is my strong conviction that a good state needs knowledge and skills, kindliness and
courage. It does not need a regretful hankering of the past. It needs a true fearless and
forward looking outlook and an integrated intelligence. It needs hope for the future, and
the hope lies in the evolution of the modern democratic and humanitarian values. By
humanitarian values I mean which transcend the limited tribal values pointing towards
universal fellowship of all humanity. We should not look back all the time towards the
past that is dead, which we trust will be far surpassed by the future that our
intelligence can create. Yet I am not advocating a total break from the past. It is the
attitudes of rational scepticism and scientific outlook towards life and not the
suppression of opinions and dissent which is the necessary condition of the emergence of a
better, progressive and more harmonious society. It is my belief that by the free use of
intelligence and good will unencumbered by any superstitious creed that the just and right
solution to the long standing problem of violence within the nagas as well as between the
naga community and the Indian union will be solved. When the cohesiveness of a group
largely depends upon the support of a foreign element focussed against a real or supposed
external enemy, then there is no genuine cohesion within the group. The genuine cohesion
is always based on internal bonds which are not only historical or racial but also
currently culturally operative. But given the character of Naga groupings it is very
doubtful if such genuine bonds are actually operative in the present day situation. This
is evidenced by the fact of explosive and volatile conflict between the factions and to a
lesser extent in the inter-tribal or inter-village relationship, that exists till today. The germs of division and hostility have been there in our society right
from the beginning of the so-called "head-hunting" days. So we have not
substantially transcended or out-grown this tribalistic feeling. There are hardly any
serious architects of the peace process among the Nagas. What do we envisage for our
future? If the Naga are determined to move toward a peaceful and civilized society, then
the democratic fight has to replace the destructive military fight among themselves and
with others. Until the fear of senseless war among the factions and the devilish
greed is removed, it is inevitable that everything in Nagaland or Nagalim should
subordinate to short-term efficiency at best, if not widespread chaos and corruption. I
believe that a fundamental change in outlook was necessary for the solution of our
fratricidal fight. The factional fight persists, in the main, out of the life of impulse,
not out of reason. There is an impulse of aggression, and an impulse of violent resistance
to aggression. Both are operative in many cases in which they are quite contrary to
reason. Each impulse produces a whole package of attendant beliefs. In the history of Naga
politics, this attitude is embodied in ethnocentricism. Our social interaction or
institutions have come to rest upon injustice, authority and gun power. There are ample
incidents of oppressions and unfairnesses in our society today.
Most of us feel helpless when it comes to action for the good of public concerns. The
present situation is destructive of our creative and ethical aspiration. All these things
are unnecessary and can be ended by wisdom and courage. If they were ended, the impulsive
life of our people would become wholly different and the Nagas can travel towards a new
happiness and a new vigour. We need to be happier, more civilized and more free, as well
as more peaceful. We need to wage a different war against tyrants, criminal leaders,
traitors and bigots. The effect of prolonged factional fighting and with the Indian army
has been to increase immeasurably all the dangers and destruction which the various
non-governmental organizations have been trying to avert. Extermination of many leaders
and educated men would bring some vacuum in our society. In view of our long record of
folly and cruelty, we need careful planning for the present and future.
Reverting to primitive subsistent economy is no longer acceptable. To
bring the Naga situation back to normalcy would require courageous and imaginative
statesmanship from all the tribes. Mutual suspicions between factions on the one
hand and on the other between factions and Indian army make efforts futile to hope in any
near future, for any genuine agreement. Because of the strong prejudice and limited
awareness, many Nagas are impervious to rational argument and debate. So long as the
opposition between various factions remains as fierce as it is at present, we have the
danger of military tyranny as Nagaland is already highly militarized. Although hatred of
foreign nations and outsiders promotes social cohesion more easily perhaps than anything
else, yet such attitude is inhuman and the resulting social cohesion is superficial and
temporary. We have not attempted constructive and creative means of resolving many kinds
of conflicts because we Nagas lack passion for perfection and the desire for excellence. Thus collective inspiration has not dawned upon our people. It is high
time therefore, that the Naga elite should sit together and reflect seriously upon the new
emerging environment both in Government of India side and on the other side of Naga
freedom movement. There should evolve a consensus between the Nagas concerning how to end
the conflict and pave the way for a peaceful democratic atmosphere for the progress of the
Naga people as a whole. |
