By Athili Sapriina
It is indeed difficult to write negatively about the Assam Rifles. They are doing such a lot of ‘good’, all around us. In fact, when I visited their website, I found the venerable Dalai Lama prominently featured there. The Assam Rifles had apparently facilitated the spiritual leader’s exit from troubled Tibet and has photographs uploaded on its site as proof, one of which is a blessing. It reads thus:
May your luck increase to the size of a mountain. May your fame be such as to cover the whole sky. May your knowledge become vast and deep as the sea long and healthy lives to you and hope your work for others, will be a success.
This ‘blessing’ of the Nobel Peace Laureate must be contextualised. The Dalai Lama was fleeing state oppression and the Indian paramilitary outfit was strategically placed to provide succour to the Tibetans.
For most of its existence since 1835 by the Brits, these ‘friends of the hill people’ have been doing much good for the civilians, in India’s northeast and often in far away countries as peacekeepers. They have the resources to rescue people during disasters, take young people to distant states for excursions, sponsor sports and music events, build roads, donate sewing machines, computers, solar panels, even organise ‘peace’ rallies with all the slogans supplied by them.
The Assam Rifles along with the CRPF, BSF, Assam Regiment, Madras Regiment, Gorkha Regiment, Rashtriya Rifles, Territorial Army and a host of other combinations have roamed the Naga areas, most of them leaving behind a trail of blood.
This article is not to undermine those who pursued what they believed was a sacred duty to serve India’s interests. It is only to question the political masters who have for seven decades relied mostly on a containment policy backed by the military, police, intelligence, administrative, cultural, educational and economic means, all of these occurring within a superstructure of an undeclared martial law, chiefly aided by the Armed Forces Special Powers Act.
Some Nagas may declare that they have finally arrived. Today, Naga civilians can more boldly and vocally, aided by social media, voice concerns on the state of affairs, a large part of which pertains to Naga national groups. While Naga armed groups will understandably be perturbed by this sudden new questioning, there is a sense that every Naga will benefit from this phase. The Naga nation must have this debate. One caution though. This should not be fuelled and directed by the Indian state agencies, as they have always tried with Nagas continuously falling prey to these designs.
Do we have a future with India? Do we have Delhi as our only pivot? What about the hordes of initiatives aimed towards South East Asia over the past decade?
Will Nagas one day rely on Chamdil (formerly Chandel) Nagas for access to the valleys, cities and peoples of South East Asia? Will Nagas drive down their Maruti, Toyota, Mahindra, BMW, Chevrolet, Ford and Enfields, just for a weekend jaunt to Bangkok and Yangon.
For those who have that dream, a look at the OPERATION BLUEBIRD is pertinent. Who will ultimately take ownership of those visions will be decided by the questions that we as a peoples are ready to address.
Exactly thirty years ago, on July 9, 1987, the Poumai Naga village of Oinam witnessed what many observers see as a low point in the interaction between the Indian state and the Naga peoples.
Following a humiliating attack by Naga rebels, the Indian military led by the Assam Rifles launched an operation to recover arms and ammunition they lost in that attack.Hundreds of Nagas in and around Oinam were subjected to weeks of torture, rape, extrajudicial killings, with some women having to give birth in the open.
WatiAier’s song read:
If my people forget you Oh Oinam; Let them never, never sing again’
Today, many a Naga think they can sing again. They live under an illusion that they will make it as a peoples.
It is also an irony that an Indian classical dancer reminds the Nagas of who they were up against. Uma Sharma is a kathak exponent. Not long after what happened at Oinam, I watched her perform at the FICCI Auditorium in New Delhi to raise awareness over the Indian military atrocities on Nagas.
Young Nagas got courage to come forward and speak up, simply because we found out that there is a constituency, though miniscule, of Indians who are very clear of what the Indian state should not be doing — wage a war upon, what India calls, her own people.
On every public rally or sit-in demonstration we participated and later organised in Delhi, there were Indians — students, university faculty, scientists, musicians, artists, former soldiers, standing by us. Their numbers were few but inspiring.
Following Oinam, Amnesty International produced a lengthy report titled Operation Bluebird: a case study of torture and extrajudicial executions in Manipur.
The people affected by what the Indian military did thirty years ago await justice. There has been no letup of Indian military misadventures in other Naga areas since. Today, Nagas serving in the Indian military are posted in other ‘disturbed’ regions of India thereby fuelling disharmony among peoples already marginalised. This has gone on while the stranglehold has run deeper with the Indian state able to limit the visions of the Nagas to elections, economic packages and building the administrative acumen of a very few.
Why dig up the past? There is no future without revisiting the past and comprehending where we would have been had our elders not taken a decision – to be free peoples.
The foundations upon which the Indian state has built its vision for the Nagas is thoroughly inadequate. It will not work. Even after a settlement between India and the Nagas is arrived at, we cannot let the future nation be militaristic.
Then again, Nagashave to be ready to raise genuine questions too. What about being able to question Israel’s handling of the Palestinian issue for instance. The vision is to be able to approach issues objectively without prejudices. Why won’t Naga Christians question Israel if Palestinians truly deserve a better deal? Will religion and faith overshadow political and civil misadventures of these two states? Will national security considerations overshadow civil and human rights concerns of those marginalised?
Nagas continue to inspire themselves and other marginalised peoples. A new relationship must result from the numerous levels of interactions between Indians and the Nagas. What about ending with a poser? How about a truth commission between India and Nagas before demanding too much from the intra-Naga process with a similar name?
