Imagine a situation where, an intruder from God knows where comes into your house and molests your wife and do unimaginable things to her, then you retaliate as a natural human impulse without a care of what the consequence may be and say there are three probable situations that follows-
Situation A- the intruder escapes
Situation B- the Husband kills the intruder
Situation C- the intruder kills the husband
Before we dive into the analysis let’s be clear on this metaphor, the intruder is the one we all know even without having to mention it. The wife is our civil liberty and human rights and the husband is all of us-the sons and daughters of the soil.
In situation ‘A’, the intruder escapes under the guise of AFSPA every time it commits a blunder- giving no time to themselves to review and repent for their mistakes and due to which they keep intruding time and again under the mad name of a special law that keeps them immune to guilt, regardless of how heinous their act may be. Irony is they are the same force that go for peace missions abroad as Peace Keeping Forces and yet, create havoc among their fellow country folks at home.
In Situation B- the intruder is neutralized and the sponsor of the intruder makes large hue and cry shedding a sea of crocodile tears and then calls the husband a terrorist- A terrorist for what? For protecting his home and family built on land inherited from his ancestors long before the ancestors of those sitting in the power seats of Delhi were aware of the existence of the proud Nagas living in the Naga hills.
As though that is not enough the intruder neutralized in the act suddenly becomes a Martyr- the dictionary defines martyr as one who suffers for the sake of principle or one who voluntarily suffers death as the penalty for refusing to renounce their religion.
Now in what twisted angle did the intruder attain martyrdom? That is a puzzle of which the answer lies with the sponsor of the intruder.
The recent incident at Oting Village, under Mon district of Nagaland where more than a dozen of innocent and unarmed Naga youths were ambushed and killed in cold blood in broad daylight by the Intruders and then calling the slain youths as terrorist/insurgents and the lone casualty from the intruder as a martyr is just another pixel in the big screen of the Indian mainstream media, most of which are a mere puppy fed by the government of the day.
In situation C- the intruder kills the husband and the plain explanation given by the uncle of the intruder is that, the intruder- sorry, now he is a hero with bravery awards on his chest- made the action of killing the husband purely out of self-defense. Well, it looks like the resident has no right to self defense in his own house and that’s sadly how it is and has been for so long that one can barely remember if self defense is an inherent right anymore for us Nagas’.
In any of the given situations above, the intruder has all to gain and the resident has all to lose and the saddest part of the story is the resident being held like a captive in his own land and that is the story of us- the Nagas, ever since the devil in the form of AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act) descended upon the land in 1958.
By all accounts, 63 years is a good enough year to review and repeal this draconian Act given the fact that India herself is only 74 years old as an independent nation. The endless extension of the ‘disturbed area’ tag every 6 months is sickening beyond comprehension. Let’s face it, which part or State of India is not disturbed? Delhi NCR is in fact the most disturbed area of the country, the staggering amount of crime that takes place in Delhi in a calendar year is renowned worldwide and so is the pollution of all types and kinds. Let’s take a look at the crime statistics of recent years, as per the rate of violent crimes during 2010, Delhi scored 30.4 and was placed All India fourth position in violent crime tally and then Nagaland had the lowest and the safest in the country with a score of 10.1.
Again in 2016, Delhi was adjudged the least safe State/UT with the highest cognizable crime rate of 160.4 (per 100,000 persons) and Nagaland had the lowest incidence of crime based on the percentage of share.
Even at the latest crime rate statistics of 2020, Delhi is only second to Chennai but our focus is on Delhi at the moment, why? Because Delhi NCR is the power capital where all the Netas and Babus live and if they can’t even control their vicinity then why in the world are they sitting there and endlessly extending the ‘Disturbed Area’ tag in Nagaland- one among the most peaceful states of the country. It sure makes one wonder, if the people sitting in air-conditioned offices in Delhi and extending the “Disturbed Area” tag are more disturbed than the tag itself.
One may read ‘Walking with the comrades’ by Arundhati Roy where she talks about India, a country ruled on the principle of Hindu majoritarianism by the Hindu majority and any evidence of resentment by anyone beyond the community is taken as a threat and they will take any step/measure to suppress it.
Hence, in order to achieve this crazy goal of being at the top come what may, they will send Kashmiris to fight in Manipur, Nagas to Chhattisgarh, Mizos to Jammu and Kashmir and et al.- all in the name of maintaining law and order. And that is how the ethnic and cultural minorities of the country are used as pawns and made to fight each other for the benefit of the majority- the master.
Let me say without any doubt that, India today is a world power by all standards in terms of technology and weaponry but what is the point of propagating human rights at the international platform, when the basic human rights of its own citizens are being curtailed and suppressed? Yes your military might silence a few bodies but remember, you may kill the body but never the will nor the spirit and the resonance that finds rhythm among the Naga brethren by this latest blunder of yours is not something that will die with time but rather it’s a calling to unite our spirit to a common platform of brotherhood- to stand for our people and for our land and its rich history, that come what may, we will not relent to the imperialist designs of the Indian government which they inherited from the British and are experimenting on the Nagas to this day.
I sincerely believe that, we all consider ourselves as a Naga first and then an Indian, Naga Indian in short and so people from all class and category be it underground, over-ground or mid-ground should come together and put in our thoughts together and push forward the demand for repealing AFSPA from our land once and for all because our enchanting State is as peaceful as it should be and the only disturbance we have is the one they brought upon us without we asking for it.
In conclusion, I stagger to imagine what the spirit of Khatnei Konyak, who gave his blood for India and martyred on November 13, 2021 along with Col. Viplav Tripathy in the Manipur ambush would be feeling at meeting his blood brothers at the gates of Heaven; them who were martyred by the very force that he served his life with, until the very end.
Nyanbemo Lotha Naga
Billy Graham Road, Kohima nyanbemolothanaga@gmail.com
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