Women pray for peace at Khuza village in Nagaland. Picture by UB Photos

Dimapur, Jan. 8: The sprawling Kevichusa family home here is a picture of opulence and contentment. But scrape off the veneer and you find sadness in every corner.

Very few families have paid a higher price for peace in Nagaland than the Kevichusas. The distinguished political family from the Angami tribe lost two sons, Chalie and Tobu, to bullets just when they were coming into their own as politicians.

Anguish was writ large on the face of the slain siblings’ eldest sister as she recounted the circumstances in which her brothers were killed. Those were the days, she said, when bigotry shadowed the very objective of the Naga movement.

However, Chalie and Tobu’s sister does not hold any grudge against those who snuffed out her brothers’ lives. “Being Christians, we do not hesitate to forgive anyone who is repentant, even if the crime is snatching lives,” she told The Telegraph.

On the efforts to restore peace in Nagaland, the cherubic woman said reconciliation between warring groups was the most important aspect of the process. However, there would be no unity unless those who claimed to be Naga leaders changed their mindset, she added.

“Our family has always spoken of the need for tolerance. At the funeral service of Chalie, R. Kevichusa said that the family, the clan and the tribe would not let violence and blood flow again. He said those who killed our brother were also our brothers and that there was no scope for vengeance.”

Kevichusa said the tears of hundreds of Naga mothers, wives, sisters and daughters had yet to dry up. “Many have grown up without knowing their fathers.”

Khesheli Chishi, general secretary of the Naga Mothers’ Association, said everyone in Nagaland had pinned hope on the Centre and the NSCN (I-M) leadership to restore normality after decades of violence. “We all yearn for peace and it is a good sign that both sides are showing urgency. It would be a travesty of justice if the Naga mothers of today and their children were to suffer as our mothers and grandmothers did.”

Tiala Sapu, president of the Naga Women’s Hoho, joined the cry for peace on the eve of the historic peace talks in New Delhi. “We hope the Centre will maintain its sincerity and restore peace in the state with a mature approach to the dialogue with the NSCN (I-M).”

Like Kevichusa, she stressed the need for unity among various Naga organisations, “based on the spirit of forgive and forget”. She said Nagaland would not be the place everyone wanted it to be unless all groups spoke in one voice.

“I am sure God will show the way to peace and progress if we repent for our mistakes and forget our differences,” Sapu said.