NSCN-IM cadres at a camp near Dimapur. Picture by Eastern Projections

Conflict & peace defined

The history of conflict in the Northeast began with what the Nagas believe is termed by “India” as the Naga insurrection. The Naga people, never mind how the word “Naga” is derived, believe even today that their fight is genuine because India has failed to acknowledge their unique history.

Every ethnic group in the Northeast is grappling with its own history before Indian Independence and the narratives following the “imposition” of the Indian Constitution by rudely discarding their existing systems of governance and considering them as dispensable elements.

One of the first books to record the atrocities unleashed by the Indian army on innocent populations of Nagaland who allegedly gave shelter to the rebels from the Naga National Council (NNC) led by the legendary Naga hero A.Z. Phizo and later to the “national workers” of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN) led by Isak Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah, is written by Kaka D. Iralu, grandnephew of Phizo. Iralu spoke to men and women, many of them now old and fragile, who suffered on account of the army action and record their tales of woes.

In his foreword, Iralu says: “This book is not written with any assertion of cultural superiority but neither do I write with any inferiority complex. I write with a heart as big as Gandhi’s and Nehru’s as far as our national and human rights are concerned. India may be a hundred times bigger than Nagaland but that does not make Nagaland’s rights any smaller than the rights of India or for that matter, the rights of any nation on earth.”

Iralu writes with a passion that only one who has seen his family members perish from the bullets of the Indian army could. Iralu has spent over three years in research before putting the book together, but says he might have still failed to record some stories that were more horrifying and also more heroic than the ones he has written.

Perhaps Iralu’s arguments in writing what can be called an essentially one-sided account of the “52 years (of) war between India and the Nagas” is that while there are several accounts by retired army officers of the counter-insurgency operations in Nagaland, there is as yet not a single book to give the Naga side of the story.

For the tribes of the Northeast, history is largely an oral tradition. The problem with oral history is that romanticism replaces hard facts and every new generation tends to see its history in more glorious terms than the previous one. Another factor that makes ethnic communities of the Northeast so possessive and therefore subjective about their histories is because they see themselves and their communities under threat of being swarmed by the larger mainland “Indian” population which they perceive as being more intellectually and economically advanced.

Ethnic groups or tribes living within a larger state ruled by dominant non-tribal elite perceive a great deal of insecurity, hence the assertion for ethnic homelands. But this is also a form of political instrumentalism which the more advanced tribes use to appropriate the loyalty of the masses and get their support when they raise militias to make demands for autonomous homelands. Several states of the Northeast are today seen as conflict zones and each conflict is rooted in selective memory of history and selective amnesia about not very honourable aspects of the same history.

Conflict gives the nation state the legitimacy to ride roughshod over the human rights of ordinary non-combatants. The continued use and abuse of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act despite repeated appeals by a responsible section of society, shows up the iron fist that the state uses to suppress dissent to safeguard its authority.

Dead end

What Kaka Iralu terms as a war between Nagaland and India has transmogrified into an unidentifiable monster. Today, the Nagas and the Indian army are not at war. Indeed the guerrilla warfare is over but the guns are still trained at select individuals.

What the Naga national workers are doing today can no longer be considered an honourable expedition. Recently, a Naga gentleman speaking to this writer said he was confused about the situation in his state. The underground leaders, he said, had constructed palatial buildings around the Rangapahar area. These buildings are well secured and only select visitors are allowed. But what is surprising, he said, was that the “Indian” army officers are frequent visitors to these mansions.

So what is really happening? Often, the masses are unaware of the (mis)deeds of their heroes. They continue to support the extravagant lifestyles of the insurgent leaders through their hard-earned money paid as taxes. People still believe there is a pie in the sky at the end of the movement.

Recently, the NSCN (I-M) had categorically stated that no other groups should be included in the talks with the Indian government. This clearly is an attempt to appropriate the movement. Otherwise, one would assume that the more stakeholders there are in the talks the better and more transparent they would be. Inclusiveness is never a bad thing. It suggests large-heartedness and a democratic process at work. Exclusive talks mean that one group takes the decision on behalf of all the Naga people. Is that fair and just? What are the hidden agenda behind this need for exclusivity?

While appreciating the hard work that Kaka Iralu has done to document the blood and the tears shed by his people one also feels that the book requires several sequels. It would be a good idea to look at the movement from contemporary lenses. We have read what India has done to the Nagas. But what have the Nagas done to themselves today?

It is true that all ethnic groups are very possessive of their histories. It is also true to reiterate that the tribes of the Northeast live in a perpetual state of insecurity about losing out to the large, more populated plains people. This sense of insecurity prevents any objective self-criticism. If any member of the tribe even attempts to laugh at his/her tribe’s idiosyncrasies, that person is immediately labelled a black sheep and a traitor of the community’s historical heritage. Yet this honest self-appraisal is as important as the need to critique the wrongs committed by the nation-state.

History’s burden

Attempts to bring peace in the Northeast would also mean bringing in correct perspectives of history so that debates are realistic and steer away from subjectivity. The younger generation is no longer swayed by emotion and rabble-rousing. Many are academically astute and know history as it should be written; not as a romantic epic constructed by unreliable oral tradition but as a factual piece of work where the blame and honour are given where due.

This is not to undermine the great sacrifices made by the ancestors of the present generation of Nagas. History is often a documentation of ruthless acts unleashed by mighty despots on harmless populations. What the Indian state did in 1947 in forcefully subjugating the belligerent Nagas and other tribes of the Northeast cannot be called honourable by any yardstick. But will a nation state ever admit this? And can we go on waging war because we want the nation state to recognise our unique histories? There are so many unique histories in the Northeast. How will India deal with each of these if it decides to deal with one?

The choice is to either move forward or get stuck in a rut. Doing the former may seem like an act of treachery to our ancestors. But being stuck is worse because we are preventing the future generation from finding their legitimate space in these very challenging times. We are making them carry the psychological baggage that we are ourselves find too heavy to lug. Is it fair to dump on our youth the load of our guilt, pain and despair and thereby construct another gloomy future for them? The burdens of history must be jettisoned sooner than later.

(The writer can be contacted at patricia17@rediffmail.com)