Z. Lohe
Firstly, what is terrorism? According to Webster dictionary, terrorism is a system of government that seeks to rule by intimidations. According to Franklin e- dictionary, a systematic use of terror specially as a means of coercion. The terrorist is the adjective of terrorism which means the one who adopts or supports a policy of terrorism. The word terrorism has become so familiar with both literate and illiterate as popularised by contemporary Islamist terrorism. Al Qaida leader lt. Osama bin laden was the most prominent international terrorist in the recent past. The world is now fighting with ISIS, the Islamist caliphate.
Terrorism is the antithesis to humanism. Sadism is the essence of terrorism. The agenda of terrorism is to destroy whatever is valued by humanity. Terrorism is the intolerance of human values and ethos. Terrorism aims at complete destruction of established systems and substitute facts with distortions. To terrorism what is right is wrong and what is wrong is right. Terrorism is anti-secular as it does not tolerate other’s faiths. Terrorism aims at achieving total subjugation of people under its domain by hook or by crook with coercion. The principle of terrorism is what the terrorist believes is the rule of law be it right or wrong, legal or illegal. Terrorism has no boundary, be it political, economical or geographical. Members of terrorism are educated, motivated and brainwashed with the philosophy of how best one can die to destroy others and not how best one can live.
What are the practical impacts of terrorism? When you are frightened and threatened with dire consequences to your life and your family members, to your community and to your State if you do this or if you do not do this as dictated by terrorist. When your fundamental rights are undermined, frozen and enslaved you in the bondage of the faith, the philosophy and the activities of terrorism. When your moveable or immoveable properties and those of your entitled facilities are plundered, seized or destroyed. When your wife, daughters and children are forcibly taken away and used them for pleasure. When your business is harmed by the levy of illegal rampant taxation. When your salary is deducted at will. When you are not paid for which your service is engaged. When you are illegally dragged to pseudo law courts and unjustly harassed, fined and jailed. When you are persecuted for not having faith in the State’s religion. When you are suppressed from spelling out a single of your rights and raising your rightful voice is branded as anti-authority and thus faces reprisal.
Have the people of Nagaland ever come across terrorism in any form? Have our people ever experienced terrorist activities at any point of time? Is there difference between Christian terrorism and Islamist terrorism? What is the difference when the same degree of terrorist act is committed by Akbar, Abdul and Ahmed or by Livingstone, Andrew and Hopeson? A crime is committed by a Muslim Jihad is called act of terror. The same degree of crime is committed by a Naga Christian and not by a Muslim and therefore it is not considered as act of terror.
Should there be any activity of terrorism in Nagaland, who should be held responsible? Who has sponsored terrorism in the land of Christians? Can anyone believe that Naga society is mired with elements of terrorism? When and how such culture of terrorism being imparted to our people and by whom?
Let us not forget that State Assembly elections, Village Council elections including Student Union elections or any Naga elections are the manufacturer of all what we call unwanted, undesirable and anti-people activities which become rampant and unabated in Nagaland today. Some of those activities are terrorism in nature when analysed and understood properly. Corruption has been the absolute dominion over the running of State Govt., NGOs, youth forums, student bodies, Village Councils including several Churches. Both the State political and the factional Naga political tentacles have firm grips on the hierarchical social setups. One of the major strategies of State political parties and factions is to directly and indirectly misuse those forums for its political ends for all purposes. To have its control over the forums, the State political parties and the factions used to intervene the process of tribal body elections, NGOs down to Village level elections to ensure that its sycophants are picked up to run those forums. This being the undesirable and unethical practice, the forums no more have its autonomy and loss its steam and stature of whistle blower. The post of an office bearer in a forum is considered plump. Those contaminated forums do take the society for a ride and keep their domain divided as people under them have right to become sceptical of the integrity of their apex organisation.
When an election takes place, money and liquor simply flow. Particularly during State Assembly elections, mainly three means, viz., liquor, money and gun are used to build a candidate’s electoral position.
During campaign many Naga youth who are teetotaller are enticed to drink liquor, become addict and many had died of alcohol and are dying of alcohol. I am discouraged to witness hundreds of Naga youth being drunk in a gathering of a thousand. Many candidates who are considered God fearing are the first to supply maximum liquor of all types to supporters during campaign so as to completely sedate them to be used in any manner. Anyone who is under the influence of liquor has the animal mentality and actions. The one who provides liquor to fellowman is responsible for destroying the character of the consumer first and equally responsible for his alcoholic death. A person may die instantly with bullet injury and another alcoholic may face slow death and yet both faced life termination; the results are same and yet the first is considered murder and the second is considered generosity. Use of alcohol is a means of slow poisoning the consumers is one of the tactics of terrorism.
Use of the service of cadres armed with sophisticated weapons from NPGs by political parties or by individual candidates has become an accepted fashion during campaign. Those cadres become the mercenaries of certain candidates and they go to any extend to intimidate, harass, physically torture, kidnap the supporters of the opponent candidate and impose huge fines on them. When the mercenaries go on rampage, they become very capable of freezing the fundamental rights of the voters including the village as a whole. The mercenaries are capable to terrorize their opponents who are bound to flee their village for life instead of freely exercising their franchise at home. Either the Islamic terrorists learnt the tactics from those mercenaries or the mercenaries in question have imported the tactics from the former. Such acts are definitely of terrorism in action.
The money used during campaign by rich candidates do not have limits. The campaign parlance of one does not denote numerical figure (1) nor 100 nor 1000 but it denotes Rs.1 lakh (Rs.1,00,000). The neo parlance is understood well by both the candidate and his voter. The said parlance is the standard figure used during negotiations. Here I do not blame the candidate after all who prefers to waste much money on election and yet compelled. The excessive use of money and its boomerang is forcing the elected member to become actively and capably dishonest in whatever position he is placed post election. During campaign, the voters are a terror to candidate and post election the elected member becomes a terror to voters in reciprocity. The other devastating effect of excessive use of money for purchase of vote is spoiling the work culture of Naga people. Our future is bleak as particularly our Naga youths are so used to easy money and unused to bend down to do anything for livelihood. Now, we have produced hordes of parasites, vagabonds and brigands with alcoholic and drug addiction. I can go on.
Nevertheless, to general public, those candidates having lot of money are preferred as capable, qualified, reliable, fit, generous and efficient. To public, those candidates who hobnob with armed cadres are considered as patriotic, fearless, strong, winnable and indispensable. To public, those candidates who provide liquor to flow are considered rational, generous and kind. Any political party having the connivance with armed group is considered as vibrant, patriotic and has brighter future. I can go on.
On the contrary, those candidates who talk sense, who care for self-reliance of the people, who are upright and stand for uprightness are rejected as stingy, small-hearted, and too wise to be used. To public, those candidates who are God fearing and do speak to public to become so are considered too religious and unfit for politics. To public, those candidates who refused to use force, refused to use intoxicant and keep the expenditure within the limit are considered poor, weak and unqualified. I can go on.
During the last few decades, we have been witnessing how Nagaland has been producing several leaders out of terrorism tactics. A black Negro couple in Texas cannot procreate a white American child and vice versa. Terrorism begets terror as terrorism is not the mother of peace, love, affection, compassion, honesty, probity and magnanimity. What are all those manoeuvres as nepotism, tribalism, selfishness, favouritism are the terrorism tactics for the fact that one determines to survive at the cost of the other. What are all those broad daylight lootings, destruction of systems and ethics, lawlessness and manipulations are terrorism in nature. I can go on.
Over the years, sufficient lessons are being taught to the people of Nagaland. It is needless for one to neither educate nor remind one, of the possible consequences lest one realizes and changes now. Unfortunately, our Naga Greed has made anyone to be so forgetful. Every Naga seems to be suffering from hypaesthesia. We, the Nagas, have become too frail to have decision, too fragile to become strong and too much available on sale at throwaway prices on the street. The tonight’s ‘bad’ will become next morning’s ‘best’.
We cannot import readymade better Nagaland from outside. We have to create it ourselves with simple implement which is no other than honesty. May God Jehovah answer the implore of the humble few prayerful Nagas and help the Nagas of Nagaland to overcome terrorism in our land which is filled with beautiful hills.
