Dimapur, June 17 (EMN): The unique legacy of the recently departed NSCN (K) leader SS Khaplang would be his “contribution” to the making of the Nagas of Myanmar “a part of the story of the Nagas setting out to be a people and nation.”
This was stated by the noted Naga peace activist Niketu Iralu in a most eloquent tribute delivered to Khaplang during a public memorial on Saturday at IMC Hall in Dimapur. The memorial was a joint initiative of the Eastern Nagaland Peoples’ Organisation (ENPO) and the Nagaland Tribes Council (NTC).
“We have come here today because the Naga political struggle, as we know it, is important for our journey into the future and for our proper growth and development in all fields of life. And we have come to pay our tribute to a Naga leader for whom the struggle was his passion, vision and life-long commitment,” read Iralu’s tribute.
Putting in perspective the significance of the occasion, Iralu said: “My concern and desire is to sincerely and humbly try to use this moment of mourning and remembrance to deepen and widen mutual understanding within the Naga family which all will agree is our urgent need”.
He suggested that the measure of Khaplang’s role in the Naga story should be determined by his role in ensuring that the Nagas of Myanmar retain their political and ancestral identity.
“On our part we thank him for making the Nagas of North-West Myanmar and their extensive homeland up to Chindwin River a part of the story of the Nagas setting out to be a people and nation. This will always be regarded as his unique and lasting contribution.
“But for him this may well not be the case today. This is a measure of Khaplang’s life and the historic role he has played. The wide-ranging, deeply felt tributes the leaders of the different political groups though rivals, the state partes, NGOs and the public in general have paid to him indicate how much this contribution is now recognized,” Iralu reminded.
He also took the occasion to serve the reminder that ‘our tributes to the leaders of the (Naga) struggle are now increasingly mixed with our deepening concern for the struggle they have passed on to the coming generations.’
This realisation, he said, comes from proper and honest examination of reality. “And from what has happened to us we know the struggle of a people for their dreams and aspirations becomes too impossible to pursue if it if not truthfully examined and adjusted to changing realities.”
Iralu also recollected how he was struck by Khaplang’s “humane touch” when he had met him some years back inside Myanmar as part of an NBCC peace team.
The Naga National Political Group (NNPG) – an amalgamation of six Naga armed political groups – also described Khaplang as “an unparalleled revolutionary in many ways”. A statement containing said message from the NNPG working committee was read out during the memorial.
“For him the principle of Naga nationalism was defying the identity construction of the Nagas by early colonisers: the Britishers (sic) and the later neo-imperialists of India and Myanmar. He was the golden bridge that connected the divided Naga house and for which we have lost an irreplaceable bridge”, the statement – appended by the convener of the NNPG working committee, N Kitovi Zhimomi – read.
The NNPG members acknowledged that ‘we were divided by petty ideologies and artificial boundaries, but our blood was the same: a Naga with same purpose and vision’. The NNPG described Khaplang as a ‘true nationalist and a humanist.’
“If our approach differed in recent years, perhaps it was the necessity of the time we live in. humans, by nature are imperfect, and knowing this fact he sought forgiveness for any error in his long struggle for the Naga nation.
“Yet, none can take away anything from what Mr SS Khaplang believed and stood for in the realm of Indo-Naga-Burma political issue. He was the epitome of true freedom fighter. In life we were comrades through commonness of our journey. In death, he leaves a rich legacy of courage, valouyr and sacrifice for all of us to emulate,” the statement read.
Representatives of NTC, ENPO, CNTC and NGB also delivered eulogies on the occasion. Tali Angh delivered what was curiously given as a “melancholic dirge” by the organisers. A dirge in itself is melancholic since it is a lament for the dead.
