The Naga peace process...the battle for accountability by acaut

K K Sema

(Though the NSCN (IM) had disqualified me as a nonentity to address the above captioned subject, the Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, did not seem to have shared their views. Therefore the talk was had as scheduled on 5th September 2014. The interaction and discussion with the academicians and journalists present was superbly lively. Since time given to me was not sufficient, (as always) the issues from this written text were condensed, and presented. Take a peek at the full text and judge for yourself)........

         [dropcap]    L[/dropcap]et me begin by saying that I am not here with the intention of demeaning the Government of India (GoI) nor am I here to glorify the Naga National Movement (NNM). My effort is to paint a fair canvas based on undistorted historical facts on the subject at issue and present it as faithfully as I understand it. Truth often tends to hurt untruth but truth be told.

            The Nagas have been struggling to restore their birthright of self determination for the past 67 years. However, the majority living in the mainland India have unfortunately had very less opportunity of exposure to the realities of this desperate struggle where thousands have lost their lives on both sides of the fence on a whim. Over the years, the print media has only helped to hype the violent aspect of the events that had transpired.  The salient issues that had caused this violent confrontation have rarely been addressed in depth despite the fact that this is one of the most tragic unsung historical disasters of our time. Thus an over extenuated picture of Nagaland being depicted as a dangerous place continues...doing more harm than good.

            It all begins on a misconceived notion that Nagas are rebelling to secede from the Indian Union. I leave it to your conscience to weigh the truth in this assumption with the historical facts in focus. The Nagas were never a part of India from the beginning of time. Nowhere in the recorded history of India would you find even a referential mention of the Nagas of the North East, leave aside being conquered by India. From the Indian context therefore, Nagas did not even exist... in as much as India did not exist, from the stand point of the Nagas. The Nagas enjoyed the truest carefree form of natural freedom from the beginning of time. Each village was a self-contained city state having its own traditional boundaries, its own traditional ways of existence, its distinctive customs and traditions. Each village consisted of a people identified with common customs, traditions and dialect as a homogeneous cluster and each cluster into a Tribe and each Tribe, an independent entity by extension. The internal village administration was governed through their intricate customary laws and fluently practiced barter system of economy.

Then came the British. They had absolutely no colonial design in the hilly Homeland of the Nagas. There was practically nothing of value in these Hills that could remuneratively enhance their Colonial wealth. Their adventure into these hills was solely dictated by the need to protect their serious commercial interests... the tea industry in Assam, which was frequently disrupted by the raids of neighbouring Naga head-hunters. Intermittent skirmishes took place between the Nagas and the British from 1832-1879, which failed to thwart the Nagas from their traditional headhunting sprees into the plains of Assam. Pitched battles were also fought with the Nagas at various sectors, notable amongst which was the battle of Khonoma in 1837 where the British had suffered heavy casualties despite their superior weaponry, while clinching their victory. By 1880, the British were finally able to establish their administrative foothold within the Naga inhabited territories with mutual consent. The British did not have to fight a war with the Nagas for their establishment at: Kohima, Wokha, Mokokchung, Wakching (in the present Mon District) all strategically located to protect the adjoining plains of Assam. Their clear objective was to check the tribal misadventures into the plains. What stands out significantly is the historical fact that not a single annexation treaty had been signed between the Nagas and the British...ever. Aitchinson, a British official of that era, recorded that: "No written treaties or engagements have been made...with the Naga tribes". (Treaties, Engagement and Sanads, Vol.XII pp 91. 1931, relating to India and Neighbouring Countries). The British left the Nagas free without interfering into the routine political, cultural and customary affairs; with just one exception...they determinedly put down the headhunting tradition, perhaps not very much from the standpoint of moral sanctity alone but certainly for the protection of their economic interest in Assam.

                Meanwhile, a more refined political awakening beyond the sectoral Tribal independence, based on a broader platform of collective Nagas identity, began to evolve through the formation of the Naga Club in October 1918 that brought many of the major Tribal elders together. It culminated into a full-blooded United Naga declaration by the time the British Statutory Commission   headed by Sir John Simon visited Kohima on 10th January 1929. Though the memorandum, submitted to the Simon Commission, was scripted by academic nonentities, they were hardened graduates by life's experience, in their own rights. They expressed their feelings in simple terms that described the salient philosophy of their times. Due to paucity of time and space let me only share an excerpt of the core content: (Quote) "Our language is quite different from those of the plains and we have no social affinities with the Hindus or Mussalmans. We are looked down upon by the one for "beef" and the other for our "pork" and by both for our want in education, is not due to any fault of ours. Our country is poor and it does not pay for its administration. Therefore, if it is continued to be under the Reformed Scheme, we are afraid that new and heavy taxes will have to be imposed on us, and when we cannot pay, then all lands will have to be sold and in the long run we shall have no share in the land of our birth and life will not be worth living then. Though our land at present is within the British territory, Government have always recognised our private rights in it, but if we are forced to enter the council the majority of whose number is sure to belong to the other districts, we also have much fear the introduction of foreign laws and customs to supersede our own customary laws which we now enjoy. For the above reasons, we pray that the British Government will continue to safeguard our right against all encroachment from other people who are more advanced than us by withdrawing our country that we should not be thrust to the mercy of other people who could never be subjected, but to leave us alone to determine ourselves as in ancient times." (Unquote). [Clarification: 'who could never be subjected' was perhaps intended to mean...'who could never subjugate us'].  In essence, that was the Naga sentiment then and is the broader Nagas sentiment now. The British Government acknowledged the ground reality as expressed by the Nagas and decreed that the Naga country be placed outside the British India as "Naga Hills Excluded Area" under the British India Act 1935. Absorb this historical fact...an ACT...a defined Law.  The British Government further appointed the Governor of Assam to look after the affairs of the Naga Hills Excluded Area purely as a 'care-taker' in 1937. Through this Act, the 'Chin Hills Regulation and Bengal Frontier Regulation Act 1873' was made applicable to the "Naga Hills Excluded Area" as well wherein foreigners including Indian nationals were restricted to enter into the Naga country without a valid Inner-Line permit (ILP).  With a minor modification during the post independent era in 1950, this Act was sustained and is still in force.  While the British primarily enforced this Act for a monopolistic supremacy in their tea and elephant trade within these regions (and not with the intent of protecting the Tribals from exploitation as is often expounded), the Government of India adopted and continued this restriction for an entirely different objective. Indian Nationals still need ILP to enter Nagaland. We shall revisit this subject as we go along.

With the eminent departure of the colonial British from the Indian Sub-Continent in the horizon, the Nagas became apprehensive of their future destiny. Thus, circumstances compelled them to form their own National Political Organisation called the Naga National Council (NNC) in 1946. Despite the fact that the Imperial British Government had sufficiently been sensitised on the stand of the Nagas wanting to be left free to govern themselves in the event of their departure, no definitive response was received. Sir Clement Attlee, who was also a member of the Simon Commission, had now become the Prime Minister of Great Britain. It was during his stewardship that power was transferred to India in 1947. The overwhelmingly subject of the partition of India would have naturally been weighing heavily in his mind. It was understandable therefore, that the problems of the little Nagas would not have measured up to the catastrophic partition pressures at that crucial hour in history. He ignored the Nagas issue. A delegation headed by Mr. A. Z. Phizo, member of the Central Executive, NNC met Mahatma Gandhi at Bhangti Colony, Delhi on 19th July 1947. The Nagas continue to remember the poignant statement of the Mahatma at that meeting: "Nagas have every right to be Independent. We did not want to live under the domination of the British and they are now leaving us. I want you to feel that India is yours. I feel that the Naga Hills are mine just as much as they are yours. But if you say that they are not mine, the matter must stop there. I believe in the brotherhood of man, but I do not believe in force or forced unions. If you do not wish to join the Union of India, nobody will force you to do that".  It is of interest to analyse the honest views of the other key India leaders of that generation at the very inception, before their minds could be tempered by other political considerations. On August 19, 1946, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru defined the status of the Nagas in connection to the proposed British Colony of Couplan Plan in these words: "The tribal Areas are defined as being that long frontier of India which are neither part of India nor Burma, nor of Indian States nor of any foreign power". During his visit to Shillong on 28th November 1949, H.E. Rajagopalachari, Governor General of India had this to say: "The Nagas have every right to be independent outside the Indian Union" when he met the Naga Delegate. Unfortunately all their statements were left at the feet of 'personal opinion' not translated into a National policy. At the earlier stages, the NNC entered into a formal agreement with the Government of India, which came to be known as the Nine Point Agreement, duly signed by Akbar Hydary, the Governor of Assam on behalf of India in June 1947. Apart from all the other clauses therein, the ninth clause had this to say (Quote) "The Governor of Assam as the agent of the Government of India will have a special responsibility for a period of ten years to ensure due observance of this agreement; at the end of this period the Naga National Council will be asked whether they require the above agreement to be extended for a further period, or a new agreement regarding the future of the Naga people arrived at" (Unquote). Had the Government of India (GoI) not dishonour this agreement, the political scenario would have been entirely different. The other significant fact was that Nagaland was initially placed under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for seven years after attaining Statehood in 1963 to be funded through the Consolidated Fund of India. It was unceremoniously brought under the Internal Affairs Ministry without due process, in the early seventies. It would not be wrong to conclude that the expressed sentiment of the leaders, the 9 points agreement (though dishonoured) and the placement of Nagaland under Foreign Affairs, all amply define the uncontaminated honest understanding and appreciation of the Nagas' rightful political status before the colonial disease corrupted the Indian political thoughts.

            There is no official document certifying that the British specifically handed over the Naga Territories to India. However, their silence on this subject provided India with a fertile assumptive status of an owner over all the British colonial territories after their departure. The logical stand of the Nagas was that there was no real necessity for the British to redefine the status of the Nagas which was already sufficiently defined through their British India Act 1935... NAGA HILLS EXCLUDED AREA. India went one step further by incorporating the Eastern Naga inhabited area bordering Myanmar as well, which was UN-ADMINISTERED FREE NAGA AREA even during the British Raj. Prime Minister Nehru displayed a total lack of respect for the Nagas as human beings. He arbitrarily dissected the Naga territories with Myanmar on a watershed principle without ascertaining the geographical ground reality. Longwa, a border Konyak Naga Village bears the brunt of this heartless dispensation. The Indo-Myanmar international boundary runs right through the middle of the Angh's (Chief) house. This Chief therefore, crosses the International boundary every other minute without a passport. Now consider this: If the Prime Minister of India was earnestly claiming his own, it shows poor sense of ownership to have abandoned and disowned many more Nagas villages lying beyond this arbitrary international boundary. In effect he disdainfully dealt with this issue on a 'no-man's land' theory where Nagas as a people did not merit a consultation.  The lack of depth and disrespect for the Nagas in the Indian thinking process continued further with no serious homework being undertaken during the post Independent era. They blindly and arbitrarily adopt the British policy of fragmenting and segmenting portions of the Naga inhabited areas into Manipur, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Myanmar. Apart from the self determination issue, the Nagas have therefore, been claiming that all the Naga inhabited areas must be brought under the same administrative umbrella, which also finds a legitimate mention at Clause 13 in the 16 Points Agreement at the time when Nagaland was made the 16th State in the Indian Union in 1963. While the Naga Political Groups (NPGs) continue to condemn this 16 Point Agreement as a betrayal, to this day, the insincerity on the part of the GoI to enact an agreement and then dishonour it even before the ink is dry, has only helped to accentuate the unreliable, dishonourable character of a Nation. It has lead to a counterproductive loss of faith and trust in the Indian system.

The above is the text of the talk delivered by K K Sema (retd IAS) at “Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research” at Jamia Millia Islamia on September 5th 2014 in New Delhi.

(To be continued)