First Indo-Naga CF remembered amid calls for peace

[caption id="attachment_137192" align="alignleft" width="355"] Niketu Iralu[/caption] Our Correspondent Kohima, Sep. 6 (EMN): A solemn programme commemorating the first Indo-Naga Ceasefire which was declared between the government of India and the Federal Government of Nagaland (FGN) on the 6th of September 1964 through the initiative of the Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC), was held at Peace Camp Chedema on Wednesday. How the 1964 event is still relevant to the present day generation, was the crux that was discussed at the event. “I believe the ceasefire (1964) can be said to be the first sign of recognition by Delhi that a solution by suppression with superior military force or economic development could not nullify the legal validity and legitimacy of the position that the Nagas has established,” says peace activist and former NBCC Peace Committee chairman, Niketu Iralu. He is of the view that today, the Nagas are observing an event that is historic for them. While acknowledging that every Naga village has its story of its people ‘who came out and gave everything’, Iralu stated that any discussion around ‘the ceasefire’ is a discussion about the greatest, the most meaningful and difficult experience of the Naga people at the most painful and difficult times. “The Chief fact about the Naga struggle is that it cannot be treated by Delhi as an illegal, anti-India or anti-national struggle for secession from India- unlike the other liberation struggles that erupted in India after August 15, 1947. The Nagas had made their position clear before the British empire,” he asserted. Indirectly remarking on the division in the present Naga society on the lines of factions, tribes, organisations etc, the activist underscored that there is a dire need to emphasize the birth of Naga nationality to the younger generation as well as the need to redefine the prevailing Naga situation. The most important questions the youth of today are asking, as per his observations, are: ‘did our grandparents do the right thing in launching the Naga struggle? Was it necessary? Have the Nagas achieved anything or have we covered any distance forward?’ “Our honest answers to these questions will be the most important thing we will do for them and the future of the Naga struggle in the totally changed world in which they are going to live in their lives,” Iralu said. He stated that the society and the highly challenging issues that the younger generation is inheriting from the older generation demand that the latter are truthful, realistic and free from their hates and prejudices. “Year after year we, the older generation, have looked at what has happened during the past and made our own conclusion to reaffirm our long held positions which we have defended,” he pointed out, and stressed on the need for the leaders and elders to introspect whether they were honestly seeing themselves as others were. He felt that the Nagas are now at a point where things can be offered to them if they catch what God is trying to show them. If the leaders grasp this (point), he said, it will start a process where there would be less lies and less negative opinions about one another. Iralu stated that the present generation was left with a difficult legacy, however, it is clear that sovereignty is not Nagas’ problem but India’s as Nagas know what sovereignty means to them. Also making a reference to the Bible, he pointed out that the book of Genesis, chapter 4 has much relevance to the Naga society today. The programme was chaired by SABAK executive secretary Rev. Hotokhu P Zhimomi, while a prayer for peace was pronounced by Viswema Baptist Church pastor Rev. Puthavil Neikha.