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06/17/2005: "The Naga International Support Center Amsterdam, Netherlands announces the launching of the book:"

Naga International Support Center, NISC www.nagalim.nl
A human rights organization

Press Release

Amsterdam, June 17 2004

The Naga International Support Center Amsterdam, Netherlands announces the launching of the book:

Enter the Forbidden Land: The Quest for Nagalim
by Frans Welman

Enter the Forbidden Land tells the story of three attempts by Frans Welman and his companions to enter Nagaland, the land of more than forty Naga tribes. 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. Neither country wants outsiders to observe the raging war that started shortly after independence from colonial Britain. The Nagas, who time and again have made it known to both former colonizer Britain and newly emerging India that they wanted to be left alone, were invaded by India in 1954. Now 50 years later the war is still on, although for the second time in its history peace talks are taking place. 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.

Enter the Forbidden Land is published in English by Publish America of the USA:
http://www.publishamerica.com/shopping/shopdisplayproducts.asp?Search=Yes
and can be ordered from Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1413760430/qid%3D1118945582/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/103-2007512-7143035
and Barnes and Noble
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=Enter+the+Forbidden+Land&userid=Ey2OtleB6Y&cds2Pid=946

and can of course by sending us an email be ordered from us at www.nagalim.nl too.

For more information visit us at www.nagalim.nl or get in touch nisc@nagalim.nl

Below are two reviews of the Forbidden Land

One from an American author
The other from a Naga journalist
Review of the Forbidden Land by Thomas Farrell

"Review of the Forbidden Land by Thomas Farrell" A Review of Enter the Forbidden Land - the Quest for Nagalim" by Frans Welman Readers of Franz Welman's new book "Enter the Forbidden Land - The Quest for Nagalim" become aware of a small but growing international movement. The goal of the movement is to expose the ongoing abuses inflicted by the Indian government on the tribal peoples living in the northeastern state of Nagaland. Indeed, it is Welman's purpose in writing this book to break down the wall of secrecy that has kept the atrocities committed by the Indian army in Nagaland hidden from world scrutiny. It is quite telling that it took a Dutch social activist, an outsider, to write such a book. Where, a reader inevitably asks, is the Indian social activist, the Indian politician with a conscience, the modern-day Gandhi if you will, to call attention to and bring a just resolution to what BBC News calls "the world's longest running conflict"? Instead it is Welman, the Director of the Naga International Support Center located in Amsterdam, who takes on the challenge. The author recounts the history of how India, once the oppressed minority under British rule, became the oppressor once they achieved independence in 1947. This, of course, is the incredible irony that Welman's book forces the reader to face, and that is why it is an important book. In direct contradiction to Mahatma Gandhi's public promise to the Naga people in 1947, the Indian government refused to give the Naga people their independence. Ever since, India has used the military might of an occupying army to withhold a people's right to freedom. In the same way the British thought of dark-skinned Indians as "the white man's burden", Indians came to think of the people of the Naga HiIls as violent savages and made their homeland a "protected area". This Orwellian use of language is used to this day to justify continuing subjugation. What Welman writes about is what sociologists call "ethnocentrism", the tendency of one social group to consider its culture superior to another India, with its long history of a caste system, is a classic example of ethnocentrism at work. The problem is that ethnocentrism can become especially evil when it turns to violent discrimination as happened in Nazi Germany's Holocaust. "Enter The Forbidden Land - the Quest for Nagalim" presents evidence of Indian army atrocities both by reference to public documents and in anecdotal interviews with Naga victims. While not on the scope of the Nazi Holocuast, the Gestapo-like actions of some members of the Indian army protected by the Armed Forces Special Powers Act have much in common with the Nazi treatment of Jews in World War II. And, as Hitler tried to conceal the abominations he authorized, so too have India politicians tried to hide their dark secret. Thanks to people such as Franz Welman, the truth is slowly being revealed. Welman's book is important, but it is not without flaws. The author's use of the third person voice is a bit awkward and, at times, the book takes on the feel of a travel documentary, it distracts from his major theme. That said, Welman's recounting of his three unsuccessful attempts to enter Nagaland underscores the point about the Indian authorities' restriction of personal freedoms. The challenge that this book takes on is a formidable one, something Welman recognizes as he writes about the skepticism that his message is likely to encounter: "Nagas? Nagas, you say? A war in India where 150,000 died? 200,000 Indian troops fighting a guerilla outfit? Man, if this were true, everybody would know about it! It would be splashed all over the news. Are you crazy?" Welman reminds readers that Indian politicians regularly refer to their government as "the world's biggest democracy" and, in fact, there is much that India has accomplished of which its people can be rightfully proud. Nagaland is just the opposite, a black mark on the country's history. One can only hope that "Enter the Forbidden Land - the Quest for Nagalim" will find distribution both inside and outside of India. The author explicitly states his goal of increasing the world's awareness of what has happened and continues to happen in Nagaland. Implicit, however, is the call to Indian reporters, writers, film makers and, yes, even politicians to reveal the reality of what has happened in Nagaland to the general citizenry. That is what happens in democracies. That is how wrongs are made right. Who knows - maybe an especially courageous Indian politician will work to see that India keeps the promise Gandhi made so long ago when he said to a delegation of Nagas: "The Nagas have every right to be independent. We did not want to live under the domination of British India, but I want you to feel India is yours . . . If you do not wish to join the union of India, nobody will force you to do that." Tom Farrell - Author of "An American in Nagaland" News: Archives Nagalim: Home


"Review on the Forbidden Land the Quest for Nagalim by Athili, Eastern Mirror Kohima Nagaland State" Athili
hima Nagaland State (5/24/2005) “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.