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05/23/2005: "Review on the Forbidden Land the Quest for Nagalim by Athili, Eastern Mirror Kohima Nagaland State"
Enter the Forbidden Land
From the Eastern Mirror Kohima Nagaland Statew
Review on Book release on June 18 in North America
Athili
KOHIMA, MAY 23 (EMN)
“Enter the Forbidden Land: Quest for Nagalim” is a story about the three attempts made by a Dutch photojournalist and his companions to enter Nagaland in the 1990s, each time failing.
“Although all three efforts ended in failure, the attempts demonstrate how India and the lesser-known Burma, now known as Myanmar, have been successful in keeping foreigners out,” reads the book that is set for release in the United States of America on June 18 next.
Frans Welman is a photojournalist and documentary filmmaker from Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Starting out as a clinical psychologist with a preference for cross-cultural psychology, he went on a journey that carried him from West Papua to Peru, and eventually to the doorstep of Nagaland.
He dedicates his latest book “to the courageous, resilient and beautiful Naga people.” Welman is inspired by what he called the Naga peoples “desire for basic human rights and the freedom to determine their own future not beneath the domination of foreign powers”.
The highly anticipated book that is set for release in a country that views India as a benevolent entity and land of the Mahatma, is sure to set ripples across the globe.
It further reads: “This war, forgotten by the international community, was the challenge for Welman and his companions. Their goal was to check on the rare yet compelling accounts of the land and people that told of beauty and democracy among the Nagas and their tenacity to not give in to a powerful alien master. The three journeys enlighten the reader to how fifty years of domination make a people believe that what has been done, including genocide, is genuinely defined in true terms. These journeys open eyes to see the beauty and the beast within. They will lead to the fascinating Nagas, who are in dire need to be assisted in their quest to be free.”
With a cover design that cannot be easily overlooked, considering the encounters with Nagas limited only through individual meetings and photographic materials, the description of the ordeals the writer and his friends went through while trying to enter Nagaland is expected to raise uncomfortable questions for the Government of India.
Considering India’s current attempt to secure a permanent seat at the United Nations basing on her political and economic clout, such a revelation about a hitherto little known and neglected issue means trouble.
The book includes letters that were written to prominent Congressmen, including known India sympathisers, by Nagas during past years.
It also includes select writings by Luingam Luithui, Meredith Preston and Akum Longchari, all of whom have made tremendous contributions to issues of peace, justice and reconciliation.
Costing 18.95 US Dollars, the American publishers are considering launching editions that would enable Naga watchers across the globe get a hold of the politically inclined travelogue.
Frans writes: “To the credit of the Nagas, they have been able to hold their ground for over 50 years against an overwhelming majority of soldiers. That has been recognized by the leaders of India and, perhaps grudgingly, India has agreed to bring the conflict to the negotiating table.”
“Landlocked and inaccessible to outsiders because of India’s travel restrictions, the homeland of the Nagas has been practically isolated. This is the main reason why the international community knows little about a war that has taken the lives of approximately 2,00,000 people,” it declared.
