Gam A Shimray
Member, UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP)
It is with deep sadness that I learned of the passing of Uncle Niketu Iralu. He was a respected Naga elder, a committed peace activist, and a man who gave much of his life to the Naga people and to the pursuit of peace.
Uncle Niketu belonged to a generation that carried the Naga struggle through its most risky years; when speaking of peace was itself a political act. He travelled widely, sat across from those who saw the Naga cause as a threat and those who saw it as sacred. He worked patiently to build understanding where there was suspicion. It was the kind of work measured in decades of unglamorous and unrecognised labour, and the kind of work no political settlement is possible without.
I remember him also with a personal debt. During a critical period of the peace talks; when efforts were underway to build support for the Naga cause among Indian leaders and civil society, Uncle Niketu stayed for a time in the small rented house where I lived in Delhi with my brother and sister. It was a modest setting far from the platforms where I would later know him publicly. He was there with Dr. Wati. Living in such proximity to him, I saw an elder who had travelled far, geographically and through the long history of our people's struggle yet carried none of the self-importance that history can breed.
I got to meet him on other platforms over the years, and his words of encouragement to a younger Naga on the path of human rights and peace carry more weight to me now than they did then.
Elders like Uncle Niketu remind us that a people's history is not sustained by declarations or institutions alone. It is carried by those who give, in humility, their time, their relationships, and much of their lives to the larger good of their people. His generation bore sacrifices that cannot always be named. He knew that the future of the Naga people would have to be won through wisdom, dialogue, dignity, and peace.
As a member of the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, I feel the weight of that inheritance more directly now. The work of human rights and peace is not ours alone. It is passed to us, and we are entrusted to carry it forward with the same humility, courage, and responsibility.
Uncle Niketu's passing is a loss to his family, the Angami community, the Naga people as a political community, and to all who still believe against considerable odds that peace is possible. With him goes a direct link to the generation that laid the ground on which any future resolution must still be built.
May we remember him not for the years he lived, but for the life he chose to give to his people and to peace.
My deepest condolences to his family, relatives, friends, and to all who mourn his passing.
Rest in peace, Uncle Niketu.
