KOHIMA, JUNE 28: The Naga Students’ Federation (NSF), the apex Naga students’ body, has demanded the Government of India to “immediately” abrogate the Suspension of Operation (SoO) arrangement with the “Kuki narco-militant groups under which countless atrocities and gross human rights violations have been committed with impunity by armed Kuki narco-militants”.
The NSF said this today while outrightly rejecting the recent statement made by the Kuki-Zo Council concerning the “brutal killing of six innocent Naga civilians”. The NSF said that, far from advancing accountability, the Kuki-Zo Council statement was a blatant attempt to divert attention from the fundamental issue, the cold-blooded abduction, torture and murder of six innocent Naga civilians whose families continue to await justice.
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The NSF said it was deeply disturbed by the “divisive and derogatory terminology” employed to loosely project the Naga people as “Kacha Naga”. The NSF said it is outrageous that organizations representing the Kuki-Zo community should seek to classify or redefine the identity of the indigenous Naga populace. The NSF said the use of the term “Kacha Naga” exposes the irony of those whose historical presence and settlement in the Naga homeland barely a century ago during the British colonial period, who were brought in as porters and coolies for administrative and logistical purposes only, now presuming to classify and redefine the identity of the indigenous Naga people. “By what authority do such groups question the identity of the Nagas in their own ancestral homeland?”, the NSF asked. It added that the “deliberate attempt” to compartmentalize the Nagas into “Southern”, “Northern”, “Eastern” or “Western” Nagas based on shadow lines is a “narrative which is no secret to us but which has long been propagated by our aggressors to further fragment and weaken the collective identity of the Nagas as one people”.
The Naga student body then said, “Our ancestral homeland may today be scattered by subjugation and militarization, but no artificial frontier can alter our common history, shared identity or our collective destiny as a Naga”, adding, “The Naga nation has existed long before these imposed boundaries and it shall continue to exist beyond them”.
The NSF said it saw through such narratives for what they are. The NSF also stated that there are attempts to fracture Naga unity when “our people stand in pursuit of justice and our legitimate political standing”. The NSF, therefore, cautioned any organization and individual against becoming instruments of agendas that seek to weaken the Naga identity and “national movement” by sowing seeds of discord and falsehood.
The NSF then reminded all concerned that the Naga people have, throughout history, extended hospitality and coexistence to numerous communities, including various Kuki groups residing across different parts of the “Naga homeland”. However, the NSF said it will not allow this generosity to be exploited to advance the interests and agendas of few vested individuals and groups that seeks to undermine the rights, dignity and identity of the ancestral dwellers, nor takes account on the well-being of its own kin and kind who continues to coexist and thrive across the Naga homeland and off the warm hospitality of the Naga people.
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The Naga student body then said the issue “before us” is neither political propaganda nor competing narratives. “It is the brutal loss of six innocent Naga civilian lives. No carefully worded statement, however crafted, can substitute for justice. No expression of regret can erase the horrifying reality of abduction, torture, murder and the inhuman desecration of the victims’ bodies. Attempts to rationalize, dilute or justify these atrocities have only deepened the wounds of the bereaved families and the Naga people”, the NSF expressed.
The NSF, therefore, reiterated its demand that every individual responsible for the abduction and killing of the six Nagas, including all “armed Kuki narco-militant groups” as well as every civilian found, through due process, to have participated in or facilitated these crimes, must be identified, arrested, prosecuted and punished in accordance with law.
The NSF also reiterated that the Naga people desire neither conflict nor hostility with the Government of India. It stated that the Nagas have consistently aspired to coexist peacefully and honourably with all nations and every neighbouring community based upon mutual respect, justice and recognition of each other’s ancestral, historical and political rights. However, peace in the region cannot be secured through denial, distortion or selective narratives, it further said, adding, “The Naga issue is not and has never been a secessionist movement but a response to the existential oppression faced by the Naga people in defending our identity and our political rights. Therefore, lasting peace in the region and the sub-continent can only emerge through truth, accountability and an honourable political resolution to the long-standing Naga-Indo political issue”.
The NSF once again affirmed its unwavering solidarity to the bereaved families of the six slain Nagas. Their pain is the pain of every Naga. Their demand for justice is the demand of every Naga, it added.
The Naga student body then said that, until truth prevails and those responsible are held accountable, it will remain steadfast in the pursuit of justice.
