Even before India and Burma (Myanmar) became independent from the Biritish Colonial rule on August 15, 1947 and January 4, 1948, respectively, Nagas declared their own Independence on August 14, 1947, clearly asserting that Nagaland, which is situated in the tri-junction of India, China and Burma/Myanmar, covering an approximate area of 120, 000 Sq. Km that lies between the Longitudes of 92.5 and 97.5 East and Latitudes of 23.5 and 28.5 North of the Equator, were never a part of India or Myanmar (Burma), nor even China for that matter, the Naga territories were turned into “killing fields” by both India and Burma/Myanmar. And all this while, the Burmese/Myanmarese army would raid, burn and destroy Naga villages every year, plunder their homes and fields, and plant land-mines on their retreat, leading to death and destruction among both humans and animals alike.
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In one such incident, when Naga villages were burned and destroyed and the villagers had nowhere to live or find food, they came to Pangsha Village and Noklak Town seeking food and shelter. This was sometime in January 1990 when Naga People’s Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR) had to mobilise medicines, clothes and food from Kohima and Dimapur and rush it to Pangsha, and saw these villagers and children with no clothes to wear and were scavenging the jungles for food, doing manual works, collecting firewood and what not to barter for food and shelter etc. under the constant watch of the Indian military Paratroopers, who were airdropped from helicopters and stationed in Pangsha village at that time, and our NPMHR members had to pretend that we were from the Red Cross with relief materials to give aids to the displaced Naga villagers.
Later on in 1998, after ceasefire was declared between the Government of India and the NSCN-IM, NPMHR and Naga Students’ Federation went to Throilo and Hoyat Villages and met with the Late. Chairman S.S. Khaplang and Late Gen. Kholi Konyak along with their ranks and file to discuss Peace and Unity amongst the Naga political leaders. Even at that time, we saw houses that were re-build upon burned wooden pillars, cows and pigs with shattered and amputated legs, including women and children, who had stepped on the land-mines planted by the Burmese army. Very pathetically, the villagers had to even hide their cooking pots and kitchen utensils in the fields since the Burmese army would seize the good ones along with their chickens and other eatables while their domesticated animals would be slaughtered and eaten after burning down their villages.
This section of the Naga people who have not yet truly seen the “lights of the day” in its true sense even while the rest of the world are basking in the comforts of the 21st century, are now being used by the Indian Army as targets for testing their modernised weapons – the drones.
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What happened on the 20th of October at Khenmoi-Loiyi village, was a deliberate drone attack on the house of Maj. Gen. Peyong Konyak, where his eldest son, Khampei Wangsa was killed along with an 8-year-old minor girl, and injuring several others. And when the Mon District team of the Indian Red Cross Society wanted to go over to Khenmoi-Loiyi village to give medical assistance to the injured, they were stopped by the Indian army at the Longwa border junction, saying if the Indian Red Cross Society goes in openly, it may attract international attention. This incident was preceded by a previous similar drone attack at Hoyat village on July 13, 2025.
In the Oting massacre of December 4 & 5, 2021 too, the Indian army used some of the latest Israeli Make IWI Tavor Rifles. Perhaps, India is trying to outdo the Israeli soldiers in eliminating chosen targets and terrorizing anyone who disagree with them by randomly killing innocent civilians using drones as the latest sophisticated weapon of death and mass destruction. In the Oting massacre, the Indian army sneaked into Nagaland from Assam to the shocking realization of their own counterparts who were stationed in Nagaland, while in the recent drone attack on Khenmoi-Loiyi Village, the attack was launched from inside Arunachal Pradesh.
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The NPMHR feels frustratingly inadequate to just condemn such brutal and sadistic acts of human degradation, and calls upon all Nagas to ”get their acts together”, if we are to survive as a people, even as we mourn the deaths of our brother Khampei Wangsa and our little sister Phiphot, and pray for the speedy recovery of all those injured.
Also read | UNPO Condemns Drone Strike on Naga Village in Myanmar
In the meantime, NPMHR sincerely thank the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO), for the very meaningful interventions they are making, for the sake of all human kind and particularly the unrepresented nations and peoples of the world.
(Issued by NPMHR, Kohima, on October 24, 2025)