"Leave Us Alone"

The Naga people told the British colonial Government of India in 1929 to "leave us alone". Nagas have in effect been telling the postcolonial government of India since 1947 to leave us alone. We are here today in New Delhi rallying for two urgent things, Peace in the Naga homeland and an Honourable Solution to the Indo-Naga political problem, because Nagas have not been left alone to decide for ourselves what is in our best interest as a people.

Our friends across India are probably tired of repeatedly hearing and reading about the Naga political issue for so long. Let me assure you that Nagas get that, because we are sick and tired of talking about and rallying endlessly — without results -- for an Honourable and Peaceful Solution of the Indo-Naga political problem. Generations of Nagas have suffered and bear the physical and psychological wounds of the unresolved seven-decade old conflict.

So it is important for both sides to understand the main cause of the problem because only then can we find a solution. The reason for the longstanding conflict is simple. We must get the facts right. Nagas did not attack India or create problems for India. Nagas are not anti-India. What the Nagas have been doing, since the British left the subcontinent, is merely to stand up for our birthrights as human beings. Nagas wanted to safeguard our God-given autonomy and freedom in the lands of our birth, just like Indians and Burmese did in theirs. Nagas wanted no trouble with India or Myanmar. Nagas wanted to live in peace and in mutually beneficial relations with our neighbours in the region. But one thing our Naga elders were not prepared to do was -- and we are still not prepared to do is -- surrender our human dignity and rights as a people. So our Naga elders stood up to defend our rights as an autonomous people when the British left in 1947.

But the government of India took offense at the Nagas standing up for their rights. India sent in the army in 1954, so that by 1957, B. N. Mullik, the Indian Intelligence Bureau Chief under Prime Minister Nehru, reported that there were two divisions and thirty-five battalions fighting the Nagas, and "though there was nearly one security troop for every adult male Naga in the Naga Hills-Tuensang area, there never was a time when it could be claimed that the Naga guerrillas had been broken into submission." That is why the following year, in 1958, the Indian government went to parliament and had the extra judicial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) passed, which allowed the armed forces to continue waging war against the Nagas under the protection of the AFSPA.

That was then. What is now? After more than six decades, the Indian armed forces have mostly completed the job, yet the AFSPA remains in place and the Naga homeland continues to be increasingly militarised. The Indian army has established headquarters, training centers, companies, and camps throughout the Naga homeland. There are 50 such establishments in Nagaland and Manipur alone, which have a combined area of just 15,022 square miles. The army occupies some of the prime real estate areas in the two states. The region has been turned into a sprawling military training camp for the Indian Army. Naga people know this is unfair to us.