Peaceful Solution or Profit Solution?

To be a nation is not an overnight story of struggles. There are stories of joys and pains, laughter and cries. The emergence of most nation resulted from selfless sacrifices of brave men and women. In the midst of struggles, no one search for profit. What matters most is freedom from external forces. In spite of oppositions from all corners (within and outside), the strife for nationhood never get crushed under the heavy wheel of exploitation, slavery or colonisation. What is it that carried people forward? I am sure it was ‘common brotherhood’ without any profit motives. The ability to see each other as brothers and sisters of the same land writing the same history with personal and community life is an important feature in the search for nationhood. ‘What was’ is also equally important as ‘what is’ and ‘what will be’. A segmented story confuses readers, so also a segmented search for a peaceful solution can create another gap of confusion between the Government of India and the Nagas as a whole. Silence may continue till the next episode. A new idea of ‘profit solution’ is replacing ‘peaceful solution.’ Most Nagas are aiming the later solution. Are we coming to a stage where we say, ‘unless solution brings profit, it cannot be called peaceful solution.’? It should not be. Let us differentiate peaceful solution from profit solution. We should not divert from what is true and due to us.

The Government of India is trying to please Nagas by bringing forth numerous profit type glisters. This pleases the Nagas. All factions want maximum profit from the outcome. All wanted to gain something from peaceful solution. Thus, it is turning out to be profit solution rather than peaceful solution. There should not be deviation in the search for peaceful solution.

In the search for profit solution, there is much ‘blame game’ between different parties (Government of India vs. Naga political groups and between various political groups themselves). Every party wanted to show itself as the best of all. This is a good story, but it leads to unhealthy harvest. Every party must accept their success and limitation. To view the limitations and failures of others with a big eye will only bring injury to one’s eye. Nagas should stop blaming the Government of India for any delay of the process towards peaceful solution. On the other hand, they should not blame each other for all are equally good and bad. No party is more committed than the other. All are running marathon race with guns and money be it the Government of India or Naga political groups. Thank God, the situation of Nagaland is much better. There is more sunshine in Nagaland now. There is much realisation of who we are as Nagas. Differences are giving way to common good. We must still go forward without selfish motives.

In the early days, when the Indian armies were a threat to Nagas, there were numerous incidents of murder, rape and killing. Nagas have not forgotten the sad side of its life. The random killing of men and women were nothing but a rare display of power and atrocities against the less fortunate ones. This led the Nagas to blame the Indian armies till date. All the same, let us not only blame the Indian armies for all our tears and cries. The Naga political groups were also equally cruel. Tortures and killings among different Naga political groups were also part of Naga history. External forces and internal conflicts were running the same track in Nagaland. Tragically, we have failed to mend this road in the truest term in the search for peaceful solution for we have replaced it with profit solution. Today, mere forgiveness does not work in Nagaland. It does not last long. We carry heavy loads of grudges against each other. A mere handshake will end with another trigger. God forbid that such incident never takes place again! We all want a peaceful solution which will be acceptable by all.