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02/04/2008: "Funny Side of Democracy in Nagaland morungexpress"



Funny Side of Democracy in Nagaland morungexpress

Election! Election is the IN word now in almost every Naga Household or individuals. Even I am infected by these germs at this point since the virus is spreading very fast. After getting this virus I got so many things lingering in my mind, which I want to share with some of you who take out your precious time to read this crab BUT true, using my fundamental right “Freedom of speech and expression.”
Nagaland is so different in many ways, our culture, traditions, language, history etc. we are indeed different from the rest of the world. Coming to the election or political scenario at the present era, everything is also totally different from the rest of the world. What is Democracy Is the first question? Well many people describe it as the Government of the people by the people for the people. In other sense it is the Government Ruled by the general public or people’s Government, but as I said earlier even the system of Democracy or the adult franchise rule in Nagaland is so different from the rest of the world. Few of my findings why the system of our democracy is a bit different:-
1) Even a Kid has a Voter’s card with fake age. My cousin brother’s age is 12 but in the electoral card its 37 yrs. (Adult Franchise 18 Years and above).
2) The village Chief or so called GB’s vote for the entire village. (Not all but those who do) (Ultimate Warrior)
3) Three persons having same face in the electoral card. (Identical twins)
4) The head of the family’s vote is the ultimate for the whole family. (My daddy is a hero)
5) Even the dead rise from the grave to cast vote. (Scary movie -7)
6) The gun Barrels decide the rulers oopps!! Sorry the leaders. (Rambo-VI)
7) The leader/party who gives me more money can be a good leader.
8) Women who are active in politics are considered Cheap and not good housewives, Men are always better than Women. (Equality of Right)
9) The parties who have the “Gun people” favor have a good chance of winning the election. (Tax free leaders)
10) Dada or Uncle who can protect me from getting beaten up from some local lads is a good leader too and his candidate is better than others. (Apun Bole toh! Munna Bhai)
There are more but I am making you boring so let me stop here for today. Please do not mind if you don’t do what I say, but am sure now you can proudly say that indeed our Nagaland is “very Different.”
AB Naga Politics for Fun
Sleepless nights for business community morungexpress
Dimapur, February 3 (MExN):In the shadow of abduction, extortion and intimidation that has occurred in the past few months, the business community of Dimapur is experiencing many sleepless nights. Such situations are not new; a similar trend occurred many years ago, owing to which many prominent businessmen left Dimapur. The recent wave of violence has caught many a business in a grip of a fear psychosis. And should this current trend continue, it is likely that the commercial hub of Nagaland will soon turn into a barren hub.
The latest victim of such anti-social elements was a chicken whole-seller of New Market who was abducted, and later shot dead as the family was able to pay only part of the entire ransom demanded, for the victim’s release. As a collective protest against the murder of the abducted businessman in Dimapur, the shutters of almost all the business establishments remained shut down on Saturday while the numbers of vehicles plying on the road was minimum. Sources informed that Saturday’s closure was in reaction to the murder of the businessman and maintained that if the administration does not take proper measures for the security of the business community in Dimapur, the shutters would remain down indefinitely.
While talking to a few businessmen at the outskirts of Dimapur, they said that as the town was closed, they had also closed their shops as nobody wanted to get into trouble. A prominent businessman while talking on condition of anonymity said that “Who is going to speak against abductions, extortion and intimidation and who is going to register complaints to the police. Everybody wants to be safe and sound and wants to live with his family and if anybody complaints against these, then the person is sure to die.”
“The cancer of abductions, extortion and intimidation is killing the businessmen in silence,” the businessman underlined. Few young businessmen within the town lamented that none of the organisations and civil societies condemned the brutal murder of our fellow colleague, and also questioned why businessmen are not being treated as human beings. They alleged that the police and the district administration are not taking safety measures to protect the business community. “If these things can happen under President’s Rule than what will happen to us after the elections,” they stated. Saturday’s bandh in Dimapur was a protest against the suffering of the business community, who for many years have quietly endured all the pain and hardships.
The sudden bandh has affected the life of many who come from adjoining villages of Dimapur and other districts. While talking to a group of people who came from adjoining villages, they said that they were unaware of the bandh, and that only “after getting down from the bus we saw that the shops were closed”.
They also maintained that they were helpless, as they could not even buy their grocery. “We spent around Rs. 25 to 30 to come to Dimapur but what has cost us more is the time and not the money”, they lamented, and added that they would have to return to their villages. After hearing about the murder of the businessmen, the villagers have strongly voiced against such anti-social elements that create trouble to normal people.
Some students have also protested that the auto rickshaw drivers were charging too much as the drivers claim the petrol pumps are closed and they have to buy petrol in the black market. Speaking against the murder of the businessman, the students also said, “If we want to see our State as a developed State than we have to stop such inhuman practice. Rather killing one another or abducting businessmen for ransom, these people should work together for the peace and progress of the State.”
Freedom under the barrel of a gun Achan Ramsan Perspective morungexpress
What if Cease-fire is extended for another 100 years? Ten more factions? If one were to gauge from the present trend, Nagas would have only themselves to contend with. The advent of another faction does not bode well for the Nagas at this critical period. However, this exposes the Achilles’ heel of the Nagas. ‘A war to end all wars’ proved wrong – gun culture is here to stay. Nagas now used to the gun could not easily forsake their habit. Talks for peace and reconciliation just sounds like an empty vessel with deafening sound without much headway. Otherwise, why has the road to unity taken the Nagas so long to achieve? ‘Unity’ is a sweet sounding word but impossible to attain like ‘utopia’, a romantic idea. But unity in the sense of agreement to live together with dissent and disagreement within certain context without violating another’s rights is the principle of all civilization. Thus, absence of disagreement is without any present and future reality and viability. So, unity in the sense of mutual respect and agreement is not only possible but a necessity for any harmonious existence and for a meaningful future. Thus, there is unity of purpose, but not a one track mind or uniformity of everything.

RETROSPECTION
At first the Nagas fought with their enemy. As cease-fire took hold, fighting among them intensified. Einstein was once asked the nature of the 3rd WW. His curt reply was his ignorance. But he was prompt enough to answer his certainty of the 4th WW as to be fought with spears and stones – since enough destruction would have been wrought on this world to revert civilization back to the Stone Age. The same situation seems to ring a bell for the Nagas too. First, the war with India; second, the talks with India; third, a likely settlement with India and fourth, fights among themselves become inevitable – back to the headhunting days with one tribe pitted against another, if no corrective measure is instituted now.

WHY IT IS NECESSARY TO AVERT BLOODSHED
Whether the cease-fire collapses or succeeds in finding a solution, blood-feud among the Nagas tantamount to their inability to live together. The Nagas’ talks for self-determination and freedom will be meaningless without finding peace in the differences among their own people. What is the use of freedom that enslaves them to bitter feuds? What is the use of peace pact with India, if there is no peace at home? Bondage will be preferable to liberty to kill and liberty to wanton destruction and robbery. If necessity is the mother of invention, then a common ground for the peaceful co-existence of all the people and their ideas become necessary. Take this, or be sure of mutually assured destruction (MAD).

THE MEANING OF FREEDOM – RESPONSIBIITY AND FREEDOM
Freedom allows one to commit daylight robbery, if one wishes and has the means and capacity to do so. But this kind of freedom negates the freedom of the masses. Freedom entails justice – justice to and of the people at large – the greatest good to the greatest number of people.
The undergrounds or the national workers have so far been running a parallel government or a virtual government. So, the uppermost question is, if the power they wrested from the government is used to give justice to the people or is it for their own gratification? And if the present trend in-vogue in the rank and file of the undergrounds is a feeler of things to come, then there is going to be a difficult unity, difficult co-existence of the people. One has only to listen to the murmur of the public in order to realize this. Well, I am not judging anyone: either the public or the undergrounds. But my primary concern is the image perception of the people. The high esteem people had of the undergrounds, the faith they reposed on the underground seems to have given way to murmur and silence of conscience. Because, at a time like this (– too many factions, too many diktats –) people are uneasy, afraid of their voices being silenced – a sinister backlash of the Nagas’ movement for self determination. Do not all these alarm the national workers to introspect and retrospect themselves? This writing may be interpreted as being given an economic twist and tilt. But from the practical position with a leaf from the Marxist standpoint too, it does justice to first interpret from the economic perspective because bread and butter is the primary concern of human – then, freedom.

THE MEANING OF FREEDOM TO THE PEOPLE
More than any others, people want freedom from fear, freedom from wants, freedom from exploitation, freedom from unfair practices. In short, the struggle of a people to secure freedom is to ensure justice and equality as the first basic necessity. Liberty, equality and justice are inextricably linked together that one cannot do without the other.
However, the present trend of reference is rather poor. Indeed a government formed by revolutionaries will not be based on merit and competency but its basis will be rather on ideals and loyalty to their front. Having an ideal is one thing, and the art of governance another; ideal alone does not equip a person to be competent. Thus, when a revolutionary is empowered by his/her authority to fill in the existing government structure and hijack power to fulfill its own objective, then there is bound to be confusion and chaos. First, the revolutionary spirit is muddled and enmeshed in power politics and nepotism: by the very act of a revolutionary’s appointment to intrude into the government itself, the act of favor is shown. Secondly, the share of the people for development is diverted to fulfill the agenda of the undergrounds. This leaves the people in the lurch to question, if they have been fairly, equally and justly treated.
The Nagas’ long battle of blame against New Delhi for curtailing and inhibiting their freedom will not be much worthwhile, if maximum freedom to the masses is not guaranteed by the ‘to be Naga government’. True, the struggle is political but that does not legitimize subversion of the people’s interest into suppression. As an outcome, people envisage, people reckon the kind of ambiance they are going to be in the event of a final settlement with the government of India. And rightly so, for if the future is not envisioned from the present context and foundation, then a blind future is a future not worth the name.
Naturally, people have high expectation and that should not be drowned in petty politics. What people want is for the revolutionaries to be above politics. Peoples’ expectation should be taken into confidence, if a nation is to grow at all. A despotic rule filled with nepotism and inept handling of vital issues to the community is more than what the Nagas have bargained for. At this critical juncture, it is advisable for the undergrounds not to handle issues where they would not be competent enough to lead. For instance, moral judgment against those who drink alcohol by thrashing them is more than the undergrounds can handle by the very presence of such person in their ranks and files; the eyes of the public being upon them, a perception will be formed of their hypocritical action as unjust.
On the other hand, don’t the local people have competent authority to deal with petty crimes? Undermining their authority is a bad policy and contrary to the principle of empowerment, enabling them to deal with almost all cases by their own genius; any interference is not only against the spirit of local autonomy but infringes their rights as a power vested authority of the people. The best the undergrounds can do is to strengthen the authority of local body by assisting them in the smooth discharge of its functions whenever help to that effect is sought – under careful consideration. Sometimes, more harm is done than good by their intervention. There are instances where inter-village dispute takes on an uglier turn after the underground’s meddling in their cases. In the absence of written laws and rules in such field or area, it is a better option to maintain distance till such time when the customary and traditional laws are codified to the extent of instituting proper courts and laws. Practical (as opposed to theory) trial just for the sake of it without concrete basis of reference smacks of double standard, devoid of any justification and thus without any coin of legitimacy. So, the present status of the department of laws and justice should not be unnecessarily strained with practical exercise in the absence of any framework – as any judgment without any meter is likely to violate the rights of a person or group of persons in the absence of any framework to the rightness and wrongness of the judgment.
In short, the cry of the people is for liberty, equality and justice as the three most important keywords. But in order for all these three words to sink into the national psyche, it becomes imperative to understand the term nation in its own denotation or the basic primary meaning. This small meaning seems to have been much abused and misunderstood.

NATION VIS-À-VIS THE NATIONAL WORKERS
Understanding of what a nation is in its essence is fundamental and primary to what a nation should be. Without the people, there can be no nation. Even before the Israelites had possessed Canaan, they were already called a nation (people). So, nation and people are synonymous. The New Shorter Oxford Dictionary on Historical Principle (1993) defined Nation as a large aggregate of people so closely associated with each other by a factors such as common descent, language, culture, history and occupation of the same territory as to be identified as a distinct people, especially when organized or potentially organizable as a political state; and defined People as, a body of persons composing a community, nation, ethnic group, etc. In short, the national workers may be a Naga but not the Nagas as a nation. ‘The Nagas’ refers to all the Naga people. However, in the Naga context, there seems some misconception prevailing. The national workers as the name itself implies, are part of the nation and not the nation itself. It is the people, with or without the national workers that has been in existence and will be. True, the national workers may claim themselves as making up the core. But, the question is, the core of what? An egg is an egg with or without the core – perhaps, an egg without the core – nobody calls a yolk an egg.
Thus, the true worth of the national workers as self-sacrifice for the better tomorrow of the Naga populace will be better understood, acknowledged and appreciated in its full measure’ if there is a mutual this basic understanding of this. Some national workers tend to think of themselves as the sole entity to claim Nagalim as theirs and theirs alone. This is unfortunate, as this is likely to spawn a military/dictatorial government. The problem with India is their inclination or rather failure to consider India in terms of the various hues of people inhabiting the land. They tend to think of India in terms of her geography and thus, treating the British colonies as its inheritance and thereby, inheriting all the suppressive elements.

THE FUTURE IN ITS ESSENCE
The future is not an option, it is for everyone. It is a frame of time and space that welcomes everyone who comes into it, accommodating all ideologies and interest – whether free or slaves, good or bad. None of the Nagas are to be deprived of the future – only obliteration of the person will deprived the person’s future. Only commission of heinous crime warrants a person to be separated from his /her future – that too in the absence/exhaustion of all other resorts. Ensuring everyone’s future is not a solution or the end, but it’s a means and it’s what is due to everyone and the responsibility of all welfare states for reform, reconciliation and reconstruction. Or better still, to see the reason and merit in the contrary stands of others, so that a more comprehensive policy could be evolved and adopted to give the best to its people by their government - to give maximum freedom to all the people, in all their pursuits - a suiting accommodation.
Therefore, understanding the nation and its accompanying spirit will be the architect of any future development.

A Naga’s bird’s eye view of Nagaland- Nagaland Post
The question that Nagas often ask is, "Where is God when Nagas exist in this present situation?" But I think that's not the right question; it's perhaps the other way around. The question is,"Where are we and not where God is?" On finding the answers to that question, I guess the Nagas can identify the point where we stand. We the Nagas live like the westerners, talk like the westerners, eat like the westerners, dress like the westerners....good for us. At least we are aware and certain about how civilized people deal with life. But what we missed out to mimic from the world is, "The way the westerners think". I don't think our mindset isn't that well-westernized. It's really a shame to claim to the Indians that we are Nagas and that Nagas are not Indians. How ignorant are we even to think like that. But the issue here is that, neither am I that stupid to claim that I am an Indian. I am a Naga. That's it. But what matters here is what does it really takes to be Naga and not to be Indian.
We the Nagas can't even make a match-stick and look at the way we live! People get educated not to make money but to realize the depth of ignorance one has. Did the Nagas ever intended to do that? Only the Nagas knows! Maybe not all the Nagas are too enthusiastic to work for the betterment of Naga society. That's fine. No one insist upon you unless you volunteer yourself. But if ever Nagaland becomes a prominent nation, won't you be getting the profit and enjoy the life that Nagaland offers to you? I can even walk away not only from Nagaland but from India and go somewhere to the west where I can live my life forever, raise kids and make the better of my life. But that's it? Won't I still be a Naga even if I am so far away....so out of reach that I can't even imagine to think how far away I am from Nagaland, the place where I really belong to, the only homeland I am proud of no matter how hell-like the condition is? Am I that cheap to walk away from my homeland in search of a better life somewhere else and not in Nagaland?
My dear Naga brethrens, it's not about you not-being-interested to offer your service for the betterment of Nagaland, it's all about how you feel being living a life in Nagaland getting all the life and benefits of infrastructures around you when you didn't even think of letting a single drop of your sweat down on the Naga soil in labouring for the cost of a life better than where you are today. God bless Nagaland!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Along Ozukum.
Shamed, girl back to fight ‘animals’ OUR CORRESPONDENT The Telegraph
Guwahati, Feb. 2: Stripped naked on a street of Guwahati and photographed as she ran in fear and shame, an Adivasi girl returned today in search of justice.
“Guwahati to me is a land of animals,” said the shaken teenager who had to be taken to hospital and given sedatives on her way here. “Our people in the villages are more educated in the real sense. They know how to behave with women. Here, they have only degrees,” she told the media before giving evidence to the Justice Manisena Singh Commission.
She had not appeared in public since the horror of November 24 and had vowed never to set foot in Guwahati again, but changed her mind so that truth and justice would prevail. The commission, which held a closed-door hearing for her and a woman who said she had been gangraped that Saturday, is to hand in its probe report before the month-end on the Beltola violence when local mobs had attacked tribal marchers. One person was killed and 200 were injured. The daughter of a farmer who had joined the tribal rally because it would give her a chance to see Guwahati recalled how she was chased by two motorcyclists and then stripped naked as some other men beat her up and threw stones at her.
“In that state, I ran to a few women seeking shelter but they chased me away,” she said. Running for her life, she might not have noticed the smiling youths who clicked away with cellphone cameras. “It was finally a gentleman who offered me a piece of cloth.”
Even the policemen at the police station where she had sought refuge had made her kneel down although she had little to cover her. “They are not human beings,” she said, eyes blazing.
Four youths arrested for stripping her have since been released on bail.
“She is my only daughter and look what those animals have done to her. They must be punished,” said her father, who accompanied the girl to the hearing at Circuit House.
On the 250km journey from her Biswanath Chariali home to Guwahati, she broke down and threw up repeatedly. “We took her to hospital where she was administered an injection and given medicine. Finally, she was able to reach here,” said Binod Digal, an office-bearer of the All Adivasi Students Association of Assam. The rally that was attacked on November 24 had been organised by the association to demand Scheduled Tribe status for Adivasis.
Trouble had started that day after a motorcyclist hit a girl who was one of the marchers, she said. “Some of our members beat him up for reckless driving and all hell broke loose.” Two more victims gave evidence today, one of them a woman who said she had been gangraped in an open field after she fell down. “I remember nothing after that and later found myself in hospital.”
Leader drops Beltola bomb - Blame on rebels for Adivasi rally A STAFF REPORTER The Telegraph
Guwahati, Feb. 3: The root of the street violence that stripped this capital city of its honour on November 24 was not some protesters going overboard or residents retaliating shamefully, but a plan probably hatched by two Adivasi militant groups.
This stunning revelation came from the vice-president of the All Adivasi Students’ Association of Assam a day after the Adivasi woman who was disrobed and forced to run naked through Beltola told the Justice (retd) R.K. Manisena Singh Inquiry Commission that Guwahati appeared to her a “land of animals”.
The arrested vice-president of the student union, Raphael Kujur, said after appearing before the same judge that he and other leaders of the organisation were in the dark about the Adivasi procession through the streets of Guwahati to demand Scheduled Tribe status.
He had told Singh the same thing, that the procession was organised by “unknown elements”.
“There is the possibility of militant groups like the Adivasi National Liberation Army (ANLA) and the Birsa Commando Force being involved in bringing out the procession,” Kujur said.
The student leader was arrested recently on charges of taking money from the ANLA to organise the rally.
Kujur said he was unaware that the ANLA leader who had approached him to donate funds for a rally was the leader of a militant outfit.
The ANLA member, Bijoy Munda alias Bikash Munda, allegedly gave the money to Kujur in a city hotel.
Kujur told the judge that Munda called him on November 20 and introduced himself as a bamboo trader from Karbi Anglong. “He expressed his willingness to make a financial contribution for the rally we were planning. I did not know that he was an ANLA activist,” Kujur said. He accused some Congress leaders of using the militant groups to incite violence and sabotage the union’s campaign for Scheduled Tribe status.
Earlier, while recalling the sequel of events, Kujur told the commission that he reached Beltola “late” and saw the procession. “On seeing the procession, I went to the meeting venue to ask other leaders to ask who had brought out the procession as it was not on the association’s agenda. Even they were not aware of it and did not know who had given the order,” Kujur said.
He then indicated that militant groups brought out the procession. The commission, however, did not record it as it was a “mere presumption” and he had no evidence to substantiate his claim.
The commission asked the police to produce Kujur to depose before it after AASAA president Justin Lakhra on Wednesday in a petition requested the probe panel to record Kujur’s statement as he was one of the prime witnesses to the Beltola incident. Kujur was arrested last Sunday from Khowang in Dibrugarh district. He was then handed over to city police.
Murder spree baffles cops - 13 unsolved cases in a month OUR CORRESPONDENT The Telegraph


Imphal, Feb. 3: As many as 13 murders in just over a month and not a clue to any of them. Residents of Manipur convulsed in anger and insecurity after two more unexplained killings last night — that of a school watchman in Imphal West and the owner of a roadside kiosk in Thoubal. A third target escaped with injuries in the capital town.
Watchman Nongmeikappam Shyam, 40, was found dead near a bridge at Shamurou Mayai Leikai in Imphal West the morning after being abducted from his residence. He was an employee at Oinam Sawombung High School and a resident of the nearby Shamurou Mayai Leikai locality.
The paan trader, 35-year-old Mohammed Taliabur Rahaman, died in an attack by a solitary gunman at Lilong Bazaar in Thoubal district around 8pm.
Rahman was in his shop when the gunman fired at him from close range. He was taken to the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences but died on the way.
The man who escaped with just a bullet in his right thigh is Konthoujam Pilot Singh, 27. Like Rahman, he was in his shop when the attack occurred.
Between December 30 and yesterday, there were 11 unexplained killings in Manipur and the police have yet to come close to cracking a single case.
Residents of Shamurou were as angry as they were shocked at Shyam’s death. They blocked the Mayai Lambi Road, which connects Imphal with Thoubal, from noon till dusk. Shops in the locality were closed, too.
The protesters, mostly women, went from Wangoi to Shamurou in a procession, shouting slogans against the police and demanding punishment to the killers. A joint action committee of the residents demanded a clarification from the group responsible for the killing.
Forced to make a statement, the police took the easy way out by saying a militant group was the main suspect.
The joint action committee will hand a memorandum to chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh tomorrow. “We will launch an agitation if the government fails to identify the culprits and punish them,” a spokesperson for the committee said.
The police team investigating Shyam’s killing said he was physically assaulted before getting a bullet in his head. The body was at the mortuary of the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences till late tonight since Shyam’s family refused to accept it without the killers being arrested. However, the family could not provide any clue to the police about the men who abducted Shyam around 7.30pm yesterday.
Assam had witnessed a spate of “secret killings” between 1998 and 2001, the term alluding to the lack of proof about the identities of the killers.



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