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02/08/2005: "Reaction to Kaka Iralu’s article"
Reaction to Kaka Iralu
Dear Kaka,
Nisc lauds you fro traveling to the Eastern part of Nagaland which is neglected for even being more isolated then the Naga Homeland that has been invaded by India. You must have been a feat indeed to travel over these hill paths with the weight you had to carry. Luckily some villagers at least took some of it of off you, something that shows how hospitable and considerate the Burmese Nagas are as well. I am sure they told you a lot about the Burmese/Myanmarese repression they have to endure. As we understand from some reports and interviews, it is even worse than the humiliation Indian (officially still) Nagas have to live with. When we received your article we hoped that you would be reporting on that mental and physical repression first hand.
We agree with you wholeheartedly that Nagas who kill Nagas are deplorable, It is atrocious and inhumane to kill your own kind and we are not talking clan, village, tribe but then the Naga nation of course.
You say that the Nagas you met and who were the clansmen or relatives were killed for the sole reason they were NNC people and were killed by the NSCN. You are right to hold the culprits responsible, but then your article also shows some omissions. Allow us point out to you what we mean:
1 – NSCN was formed after the Shillong Accord which though neither denied nor affirmed, but was signed by Phizo’s brother, set off a movement that led to the disarmament of the Naga Army. The militia deployed, were responsible for that. Those who did not abide by the NNC disarmament machinery were disarmed by force, imprisoned or were otherwise dealt with harshly. The leaders of the NNC who did send letters to Phizo in London in which they asked the NNC leader to denounce the Shillong Accord did not get an answer, yet the letter of the Accord was being followed and the Naga soldiers loyal to the Federal Government under the NNC set up Peace Camps. Not all of the NNC members in high office thought that the Shillong Accord was the solution for the Nagas as they had to live under the Constitution of India. Nagas have the Right to Self Determination. That right was sold out with the Shillong Accord. Of course it can be claimed that that accord was not valid for it was not signed by the highest in the office of the NNC, but then it should not have been carried out and that is what was done. Both that and the negation of the NNC leaders who were arrested, imprisoned, tortured and threatened to be killed led, after five years o deliberations to the formation of the NSCN. The fighting among Nagas thus started really with the Shillong Accord and led to retaliation on both sides NNC and NSCN.
Having said that it might very well be true that the NSCN attacked the villages you mentioned, but then if they were NNC as you said it could be that they were deployed by the NNC Naga Army and have committed atrocities on their fellow men, or it happened in open combat. We think that though it looks like you write from the heart that indeed the truth should told and that thorough investigations to that effect, impartial ones, would lead to that. We say impartial ones for you are either part of the NNC or are associated with it. There of course is essentially nothing wrong with that, but f you report to you what people say and from your standpoint would like to hear then we believe that your report is one sided at best and a mean to discredit the ongoing peace talks that are with a lot of difficulties at had going on.
Do not misunderstand us by thinking we are taking sides. We say that the Nagas should be free to determine their own future, free from India, free from Burma. And, we call for impartial investigations for many bloody things that happened in the past and which has bearings on how the Nagas see themselves divided. We agree with you that this has to be cleared up. Nagas fought and killed, they did each other wrong, NNC played a vital role in that and is not free from committing atrocities. You point your finger to the NSCN, which then meant both IM and K, and now it looks like it that NNC is as pure as a virgin.
You know the history of the Nagas and we have seen you talking with the leaders of the NSCN in Bangkok some years ago. In Chiang Mai you shared a room with the then secretary general of the Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights. That you uphold human rights like Nisc had been established for leads us to the idea that you will agree to fact finding missions, impartial, that will establish without a doubt what really happened and who is responsible.
We do realize this is not possible under the circumstances Nagaland is in, which means that Nisc would not like you to use these strong accusations unless you can prove them without a shadow of a doubt, for what you are doing now is more than pointing your finger; you create dissent among those who want what most Nagas want:
To be free of alien domination, to be sovereign.
Because this is what the NNC stood for from it inception we do not believe that with this letter you wanted to prove that the ones who after the NNC left that right and ideal and are still standing up for it are a bunch of murderers than cannot be trusted. Then again you may be right and intervened properly and to the point. Yet it would be wise not just to point a finger but to tell the whole story. That whole story might be enlightening to all.
With warm regards
On behalf of Nisc
Drs. F.A.M. Welman
Secretary Naga International Support Center, Nisc
Attached: SOME THOUGHTS ON THE FATE OF OUR EASTERN NAGA BROTHERS AND SISTERS
