On 11 August we were talking to one renowned Reverend from Scotland. He came to the office of the Naga Support Group (UK) to request us to say the Lord’s Prayer in our native languages, thereby giving his mostly British congregation the joy of hearing that prayer said by different nationalities in their unique tongues. As he has to explain our background to the church, he wanted to know about the Naga Nation. I told him about our struggle for freedom, the strength of Naga Christianity which first began among the northern Nagas by American evangelists and southern Nagas by Scottish missionaries. He was surprised to know that the marble statues of these God’s servants from Scotland grace the front compound of my Ukhrul Phungyo Church and that educational institutes are named after these first Scottish missionaries. He was so amazed to know the religion and history of Nagalim that he has decided to talk about the Naga people on 19 August after we finish pronouncing the Lord’s Prayer in our languages. Also, following his suggestion, it was arranged that we tell the story of the Nagas’ quest for self-determination in a service on 16 September and the church would pray for the success of the ongoing Indo-Naga talks. Besides, he volunteered to introduce us to one senior church leader who till recently was the head of a church assembly which covers the whole area of northwest Britain. We were thrilled. Kindly pray for us for the two services and the meeting with the church leader who is keen on peace and justice.
Secondly, Indians and Burmese snatched away our self-determination and for over half a century they have been harassing, torturing, raping, sodomizing, burning churches and villages, blazing forests, and stealing properties in Nagalim. These arch-terrorist states of India and Burma wantonly maimed and butchered thousands upon thousands of Nagas. In stark manifestation of its beastly character, India for one shamelessly employed the notorious Armed Forces Special Power Act in Nagalim. Being given the license to loot and kill with total impunity by the parliament of the so-called biggest democracy, the occupation Indian armed forces turned the scenic mountains and valleys of Nagalim into burning and killing fields. The outside world could not know these acts of barbarism perpetrated in Nagalim because foreigners were kept at bay by India through imposition of an inhuman travel limitation system called Restricted Area Permit. But the Indians and Burmese covered their crimes against humanity by shouting from the roof-tops that they practice non-violence. The world unfortunately believed the lies of these rogues!
For many agonizing years Naga believers prayed and waited for their brothers and sisters in Christ in other parts of the world to hear their cries somehow and come to their rescue. Then the Nagas collected whatever little they had and smuggled out a few Naga leaders to Britain in the 1960s. Nagas at home expectantly waited for them to tell Great Britain and the UN of their anguish and let them make the Indians and Burmese marauders repent for their sins of turning Nagalim into a house of slaughter. However, other than sending meaningless statements during some red-letter days of the Nagas, these people did nothing. Those who are alive continue to do nothing other than repeating the same thing and criticizing those who are doing whatever they can for the Naga Nation through God’s help. These disobedient Jonahs must wake up and start working for their suffering people at home.
India and Burma are poor countries where so many disasters are taking place. The time is here for the Nagas, especially those of us who go out often or are staying outside Nagalim by the grace of God and are thus true ambassadors of the suffering Nagas, to be obedient Jonahs and let the people of India and Burma know directly or through others that they are waiting for more disasters if they do not stop robbing and killing the Nagas and recognize their self-determination. Today’s Jonahs of Nagalim must obediently tell the world as well as confront the Indians and Burmese wherever they are to repent for their crimes against the Nagas, so that “God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster” (Jonah 3:10).
Thirdly, in spite of the many odds against them, the love of God continues to enable the Nagas to get the friendship of international organisations and rights activists. But in recent days we are seeing that some of these friends have become shaky in their support for the Naga national cause after reading Dr Rev Tuisem A Shishak’s “Confession”. The points Tuisem mentioned in his article were devoid of connections. I am an archaeologist and in archaeology things are not considered worthy if their contexts are not properly established. NSCN Steering Committee had given a rebuttal to that article, and I wish to add three points as a Tangkhul community member:
1. Through the support and participation of Er Ashiho, Minister K Zhimomi, late Rev R Hungyo, SNUNS President C Daipao, Minister Thenucho, O Kathipri, Dr R Shaiza, Naga Hoho leaders, etc., for years we worked for Naga unification. To our joy we found the Tangkhuls always passionately ready for the territorial integrity of Nagalim and the emotional unity of its people, whereas I remember with dejection the cold receptions we were given whenever we met Tuisem. He was not enthusiastic enough about Naga unity and integration of Nagalim. As a Tangkhul, I was ashamed that one of my own fellows acted unpatriotically in front of the volunteers who love Nagalim.
2. India being the most corrupted country in the world according to the BBC, it is not surprising for some Nagas in the Indian-occupied Nagalim becoming corrupted as well. Also, we all know that with the passage of time people and churches grow up and they become independent of their parents and mother churches. Hence, southern Naga churches grew up and became independent. In other words, no one church can say that it is cleaner than the Tangkhul churches and therefore it does not want their friendship. Actually all the Baptist churches remain equal and united under the banner of the MBC. Tuisem has disgraced the Tangkhuls by stating otherwise.
3. Contrary to Tuisem’s insinuation, Tangkhul community as a whole is quite meek. In truth it is him who is arrogant; otherwise how can he condemn one big community inhabiting more than 300 villages and large towns? Tangkhul country in Indian-occupied Nagalim has five sub-divisions, and my Ukhrul sub-division alone has over 50,000 population. What about the Tangkhuls of the other four sub-divisions? What about those thousands of inhabitants in twenty-eight Tangkhul villages in Burmese-occupied Nagalim? And what about those hundreds upon hundreds of Tangkhuls who had obediently and unselfishly laid down their lives for Naga freedom? Is it correct for thousands of brave martyrs and innocent living Tangkhuls to be criminalized by Tuisem and tender uncalled for apology on their behalf? Who gave him that power? Our apex social body Tangkhul Long must ask Tuisem to tender an apology and undo the damage he has caused to the Tangkhuls. And, importantly, the Tangkhul Long must judge him as per our customary law.
Lastly, and most notably, the Naga Nation must praise God for giving us another ceasefire and peace process which has a good chance of bringing peace and justice. However, instead of working hard for it to bear fruits, it is sad to see that we have chosen this time to indulge in communalism, challenging and cursing those who are doing their best to end the agonies of the Naga Nation and bring about an honourable settlement to the Indo-Naga conflict. Let us not allow this precious opportunity to go waste. Let us not forget that all the Nagas are in a boat where everyone is required to lend helping hands to overcome the stormy seas and row it to a safe harbour.
KUKNALIM
Professor, Timothy Kaping,
President, Naga Support Group (UK)
