Kaka D.Iralu
Because of the Indo-Naga-Myanmar war, my generation has not experienced peace on earth for the entire duration of their lives. Hence if there is one common cry in the hearts of my generation as well as every Naga heart, it is the cry for peace. However peace having eluded us for all this time, I am inclined to rethink whether, I have been crying for peace when actually it is a time for war.
In this context, I was surprised to discover that the Bible which is the word of God and which had foretold everything that would happen in human history never promised us a utopia on earth where there would be universal world peace. (The Bible does mention that there would be a period of world peace during the millennium period when Jesus comes back to reign with his saints on earth- Rev20:4-6) However as for the period in which we are presently living, the Bible in Matt 24:4-8 and others, foretold that in the flow of human history, there would “be wars and rumors of war”. It also states that “nations would rise against nations.” These Biblical prophecies have been fulfilled over and over again in human history since the times of Jesus. These Biblical prophecies also overtook our nation when in the early 1950’s India and Burma invaded our lands.
Now many of us Christians like to think that the Bible talks only about good things regarding our salvation and personal happiness. Yes the Bible talks about these things, but it also talks about many other uncomfortable facts of life. For example, I for one would wish that the Bible would talk only about “a time to be born” and never about a time to “die.” I also wish there would only be times of laughter and never times of weeping and mourning. But the book of reality solemnly states that under God’s sovereignty, such contrasting times would happen in human lives and human history. (See Eccl 3:1-8)
Under the same order of God’s sovereign will, Eccl 3:8 states that there would be times of “love” and times of “hate.” It also declares that there would be times of “war” and times of “peace”. Here let us also recollect Jesus’ own words where he said that there would be wars and rumors of war.
As for the causes of war, James 4:2 states thus: “You desire and do not have; so you kill. And you covet and cannot obtain; so you go to war.” Now in the case of India and Burma’s invasion of our lands, it is a clear case of coveting our mineral resources and strategic geo-political location for which they have forcefully annexed or lands to their own. Under such circumstances and times, are we supposed to go to war in self defense or are we supposed to beg for peace from them. Can there be peace in our lands when we are under invasion and two foreign flags are flying in our country? Can there be peace in our lands when foreign laws that can even shoot us to death on mere suspicion prevail in our lands? Can there indeed be peace in our lands when our very history, geography and even our liberty to live as free citizens in our own lands have been wrestled away by foreign powers?
Under the present circumstances, when it is indeed a time of war for us, are we evading the issue and obligation that we owe to God and our God given country to defend her? If instead of defending our God given country and our God given rights, we are instead collaborating with the enemy and pleading for peace with them, then we are guilty of treason both to God as well as to our country. Under the present circumstances, I would emphatically state that there cannot be peace in Nagaland as long as foreign flags and foreign soldiers are still in our lands.
Therefore, in the light of these present glaring facts, the present times cannot be a time for peace in Nagaland but a time for war. It is a time for war because we have been invaded by our neighbors. And at such times as this, if the price for peace is war than we must go to war. And I say this, because lasting peace will never come through the evasion or compromise of justice and truth. Here, only the fainthearted and the cowardly would seek peace with those who seek to destroy our freedom and our liberty.
Finally, to our own national leaders and workers allow me to say this:
In a time of war, only leaders without vision will be dividing and subdividing its people into factions and fractions. Such leaders cannot be saviors of the nation but destroyers of the nation. They are unworthy of national leadership and should therefore be removed from the helms of national affairs. Also in a time of war only insane leaders would try to start an internal revolution in order to forcefully impose a foreign political ideology upon an already broken and shattered people. Finally, it is a shameful and cowardly act on the part of any national leader to be hiding and cowering under a white flag of peace in a time of war.
Rather than all these madness, in a time of war, comrades and patriots should be tending to the wounds of injured comrades. Soldiers in uniform and arms should be standing behind trenches defending the motherland from foreign invasion. And most of all, let us get this clearly into our heads, that in times of war, only the insane and the lunatic would turn his gun upon his own fellow citizens. When will Nagas and Nagaland face these facts and truths of our present times and collectively fight back for our liberty and freedom? The need of the hour is collective reconciliation, unity and action - not collective anything else.
