The peace accord of Aug. 3, 2015, seems to be drawing a welcome yet just lukewarm response from the Naga public as the content of the accord has not yet been divulged and thus, speculation remains rift. In all probability, continuation with India seems most imminent. Under such circumstance, what honourable solution can be hammered is left at the ingenuity of NSCN(IM) negotiators as they have not included others in their team. Nagas chequered history is wrought with failed negotiations and accords and without honourable deal, the present accord is most unlikely to remain durable though of course, if Govt of India (GOI) and IM wants to implement the same no matter the competency points, no power may be able to stop them but in the long run things will revered back to square one and history will repeat itself again.
Past negotiations have failed because of lack of understanding and insincerity from the GOI with its superiority complex & arrogant attitude especially the officials who were more interested to sabotage the talks and crush the movement militarily. Thus, they fed unreal information and ill advised the top leaders of the India which eventually led to the breakdown of talks in the past. But the Naga movement refuses to fizzle out with the exigencies of time because the real and genuine aspiration has never been addressed and until and unless this aspiration is addressed, all accord or agreement will remain ephemeral.Right from the beginning, GOI had the usual knack of belittling the Naga aspiration which can be gauged from the offer of autonomous district when Nagas vouch for a nation in the initial days. It is most likely that Jawaharlal Nehru too pictured Nagas only in a tiny compact hills of Assam fringe when he wrote to T. Sakhrie 1946, the then NNC General Secretary that Nagas are too small to stand on their own feet thus should be under Indian union but soon realise that this proud and indomitable people cannot be just beaten into submission and do encompass a much larger areas then perceived. No proper public opinion in the mainland could ever be formed because of astringent and successful curtailment of press in the hey days of Indo-Naga conflict. The consequence is that problems simmered and multiplied and got more complex with no quick fixed solution in sight.
Wrong facts led to wrong assumption which led to wrong action. Even today, it is extremely rare to find anything written or visually presented by the mainland Indians about Nagas with accuracy or authenticity or without bias. As a matter of fact, Nagas together makes the single largest ethnic group in the whole of North East India extending even to Myanmar encompassing an areas of 1,20,000 sq.km with an estimated population of 4 million.
What is so honourable about honourable settlement? If the NSCN (IM) is able to bring absolute sovereignty, no one will object as in the word of Niketu Iralu. But since complete separation seems most unlikely, what kind of honourable deal is hammered will determined the outcome of the accord. If its an honourable solution duely addressing the Naga aspiration, worthy of all sacrifices thus far, then there will be no problem in its implementation, if not, the accord will be just another repetition of tragic history. Amongst other things, these core points may form the pivot and remains central to any honourable solution.
1. Sovereignty: this is the very reason of Nagas aspiration and if not handled with tact, it will wreck the whole accord no matter the how lofty the other points. Therefore, it will be best, the issue of sovereignty is subjected to revision after a limited period of time.
2. Integration: it is inconceivable to imagine durable solution without integration but if outright integration is untenable at present then separate autonomous states/areas within the states of Naga inhabited areas completely outside the control of the respective state governments should be formed.
3. Representative to Indian Parliament: since it is a unique solution, there should be unique representation- therefore at least one Member of Parliament (MP) seat for Nagas of Manipur, one for Nagas of Assam, one for Nagas of Arunachal, one for western Nagaland (Kohima, Dimapur, Phek, Peren), one for central Nagaland (Wokha, Mokokchung, Zunheboto) and one for Eastern Nagaland should be allotted.
4. Nagas of Myanmar: Nagas should be at liberty to deal with their own Naga brethren of Myanmar as per their own genius.
5. Nagas should be represented in the UNO and also send its own team to international events like sports, trade meets, etc and also be free to be member of any other international organisation like commonwealth, regional economic forums, etc.
GOI should know that it is dealing with an entity that has never being part of India historically by conquest or consent and there is no document to prove that Nagas consented to accede to Indian union at any point of time. Nagas are practically under Indian occupation and the longer the issue persist, the more India loses its moral right to rule Naga areas in the face of international community.
Nagas are no more Nagas of yesterday and today they are far more empowered and capable to pursue its right wherever it takes. Also, 68 years under Indian rule has shown what it takes for us to be Indian in India. Because of our Mongoloid phenotype and cultural differences we are found absent in the common imaginary of the ‘Indian face’ thus the discrimination and marginalisation and therefore, regarded a lesser citizen (see Jelle J.P Wouters & Tanka B. Subba, The Indian Face). Since we are neither Aryan or Dravidian, nor Hindus or Muslim and have little in common with them, we are automatically looked upon as the other Indian and it is no nonsense triviality to be regarded a second class citizen in a country that you called yours. The recent tendency of the central govt. to override Article 371(a) with relation to land and its resources also shows what centre can do as it please once the tempo cools down in the long run. It has also been proved that we could remain a forsaken neglected part of the country with incomparable economic differences with the mainland being part of India.
But if India can offer an honourable deal befitting our aspiration and sacrifices thus far, there is no reason why Nagas shouldn’t ascribe that. For we should also take into consideration the transcending nature of the movement which seems to be fast drifting towards morbid game of manoeuvres and myopic power politics with all symptoms of criminalism, cronyism and mafiasm attracting only wrong kinds of people in them. It is neither healthy nor prudent to let these things simmers perilously for long as it may lead to self destruction in the long run. Even when conventional government could become tyrannically autocratic and corrupt, how easy it will be for rag-tag unconventional and infact abherated so called ever multiplying govt. to become one. Opportunity for settlement may also not come always.
Without finding amicable solution to Naga issue, peace in North east will always remain elusive. Unrest in Nagas land will always spill into Northeast, and instability in North east will always proliferate into the mainland. Forces inimical to the nation would also never stop exploiting such fault lines which may affect the territorial integrity of the nation in the long run. Whether it is now or after, whichever party comes to power in the centre, it may have to engage Nagas in talk for a solution at some point of time because there is no other way round, the sooner the better for all.
But if GOI thinks it is conceding too much, than there is no point to haste through a no honourable solution, Nagas can wait as long as it takes.
Zhokusheyi Rhakho, PhD.
North Eastern Hill University.
