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08/12/2010: "Rejoinder to Muivah’s statemen Nagaland Post"

Rejoinder to Muivah’s statemen Nagaland Post

Instead of healing the mind of dear and near ones for the loss of my loving father, late Venyiyi Rhakhu, who was massacred along with many more precious lives during the end of 1979, it is shocking that the perpetrators are rubbing salt into the injury even after 30 years of his assassination, in APO consultative meeting with Th. Muivah on the 9th July'10. Muivah have attempted to justify killing of my father, alleging that late Vamuzo and Rano Shaiza has sent to assassinate him. The allegation is unauthenticated and lacks evidences. Knowing a dead man cannot rise to defend himself.
Therefore, I am compelled to issue this statement to clarify the position as much as I know. After he refused to sign the Shillong Accord, my father attempted to move to China and my elder brother and I have joined him in his entourage/ Alee Command to Tibet in 1977.we have stayed for nine months at Lhasa. With assurance from China we returned to mobilize our people. Thereafter we traveled to Bangladesh stayed at Silheite and returned home. Eastern Nagaland also did not agree with the Shillong Accord, which was conspicuous. During this period at home in Nagaland, deputed him from time to time to Eastern Nagaland ( Myanmar) perhaps to keep the relation at home ( Nagaland) and Eastern Nagaland (Myanmar).
I know my father as true God fearing Naga National Worker. I do not believe that anyone would be able to employ my father as an assassinator. He works in his conviction and unless he is very clear he would not act. He is more careful because his paper qualification is low. He refused to join the revolutionary government in 1970's. He refused to sign the Shillong Accord after verification and re-verification through interpreters.
While writing this clarification, I also wish to put our record straight before the Nagas, that late Vamuzo and Rano Shaiza and our family knew them as our sympathizers. Similarly they have extended their thoughtful courtesy towards the other Naga National Workers family equally. Over and above we also knew both the leaders as conscientious and God fearing leaders. Therefore, the allegation of their role in hatching criminal conspiracies in any manner are erroneous and beyond our imagination.
Lastly, as stated above, baseless and outrageous public utterance made by a leader of stature has pushed us to give this clarification. Otherwise, after the gap of 25 years, when the mortal skeletal remains of my father late Venyiyi Rhakhu was restored at Thuvopisu village from Eastern Nagaland, I the writer of this press release on behalf of the family members have already declared to forgive the perpetrators of the crime whoever they maybe during the memorial service on the 12th Dec' 2004. As such, this sordid episode that haunted the conscious of some Naga national workers for the last three decades may please be put to rest in a true Christian spirit.
Dezoto Rhakho, Thuvopisu village.

The Immaterial Treasures of Nagaland Gopal Talukdar
Nagaland, one of the seven sisters of the North-east India, is extravagantly gifted by Nature. The variegated beauty of the land creates envy in the other parts of the country. Therefore, Nagaland must have the pride of being one of the most naturally beautiful states of India. She should also have the pride of being one of the most beautiful plots of land in the whole world.
The material treasures which the land has in possession are not taken into consideration in this succinct piece. Only the immaterial treasures are put into focus here. To be very frank, the people of other parts of the country who have never been to Nagaland have the wrong notion that Nagaland is not a place worth-visiting. They even express that people here are very short-tempered and are emotionally different from them. Such remarks excite my rage and at the same time make me ashamed as I have been staying here for several years without experiencing anything adverse. I vehemently come at cross with such remarks of those poor people who are still ignorant of Nagaland even in this age of internet. In my angry moment I feel pity for such people for being unexpectedly ignorant.
My candid expression of the remarks of the ignorant people should not make anybody feel bad. My several years’ experience of dealing with the students and my friendly association with the parents, educated elites, general public including literate and illiterate masses has reinforced in me the belief that the Nagas are very nice tribes who have a lot of immaterial treasures in them. Such treasures give the Nagas a distinct and unique identity.
Years back a Chandigarh-based national daily remarked, “Hasi hi pahechan hai Naga bachcho ka.” It means that smiles on the faces are the identity marks of the Naga children. Yes, it is true. It is true not only of the children of Nagaland but also of the people of all ages. A smile, an endearing smile, a disarming smile is truly the identity of a Naga. Such smiles make a free flow of the innocence and hospitality of the Nagas. Such smiles are the testimony of their human and humane feelings and also their open-mindedness. This is a very unique treasure the Nagas have. People should be proud of the Nagas for this treasure.
The Nagas are so open-minded that they never feel reserved before the unknown faces. From my experience I say that anybody I happen to meet on the road, in the market, in the bus stand, in my school campus or elsewhere ask me: “Bhal achche?”, “Khaichhe na kha nai?”, “ Kote jai ache ho?”, etc. It does not matter whether the person knows me or not. I feel very happy with them for such inquiries. It is the sense of hospitality and open-heartedness which make them do so. This is also a very great treasure I experience and have experienced in Nagaland.
The Naga hearts are filled with the profuse kindness and fellow-feelings. A man can not eat if another goes hungry in front of him. This is a very praiseworthy characteristic of the Naga people. That is why there is no beggar and rag-picker in Nagaland. Helpfulness and fellow-feeling are the important treasures which enrich the Naga culture.
The ways the Nagas organise various social institutions like marriages, funeral rituals, festivals, etc. bear witness to the high level of social responsibilities each and every Naga has. If there is any occasion in any house, all the relatives, neighbours, near and dear ones come and join and extend a helping hand morally, physically, economically and make the occasion a great success without putting any pressure on the hosting family. This sort of fellow-feeling is a rare treasure seen in Nagaland.
The Nagas are pious and sincere God-believers. They are spiritually rich. Cheating, lying, stealing etc. are considered to be great sins before God. They have great conviction in the power of honesty. They are idealistic, not materialistic. Evil principles and prejudices have no room in the Naga hearts. All these great principles are the immortal treasures of Nagaland.
Many a time I happened to travel in the same taxi, bus or train with Naga fellow passengers. Every time they happened to ask my introduction and become friends with me. I also used to enjoy their company and friendship. The most unforgettable part of the instant friendship is that they used to pay my bill for what I ate in the hotel or restaurant. I can not forget such instances of Naga hospitality and generosity. Such hospitality and generosity is a priceless treasure of Nagaland. All the treasures mentioned above are the immortal immaterial heritages of Nagaland. They make the Nagas very great before the people who can make right observation and assessment of the Naga tribes. Let the treasures not be dropped down in the process of going forward with modern technical and materialistic civilisation.
Gopal Talukdar, PGT (English)
JNV, Kohima

Real Unity Possible in Christ T.L. Angami Morungexpress
•-Recently two articles appearing in the esteemed dailies touch the core of every discerning heart. They are 1) “Nagaland for Christ and Reconciliation" and 2) “Public debate on issue of vital concern to Nagas". Whoever has written the above deserve our highest appreciation without any reservation. Theirs is the clarity of statement and fearlessness of heart to stand for the TRUTH and only for the TRUTH. They are in reality, Nagas for Christ quite in contrast to most of us. The truth is we've already committed so much atrocity within ourselves and have continuously violated the Word of - God. Therefore, we must first humble ourselves to God and turn away from our wickedness and seek for forgiveness- and then and only then reconciliation or peace and unity will be restored to- us by God-who knows our every weakness.
The present situation is too uncertain and cannot go on forever for we will be inviting curses to be upon us like an unexpected storm. Therefore, let us realize that today is the day of Salvation and the only way to avert Cl1rse is to reconcile with God through Christ Jesus without further delay.
Nobody can come to God except through the Way the Truth and the Life. Any attempt to device our own way will only end up in death. Is this not what is happening now in our land? Let us ask ourselves; Is it right to indulge in extortion, kidnapping, killing, collecting illegal taxes, banning, criticizing, threatening and condemning each others etc etc? Or does it give us sufficient excuse to commit such corruption ourselves? Anybody who profess to work for the Naga National Movement are not expected to resort to killing fellow Nagas, extortion and kidnapping etc. No nation however strong it may be can stand against its enemy if it is divided and fractured into disunity.
Therefore, unity is a must and it must be achieved at all cost through Jesus Christ. To achieve ~t we shall have to turn back to God in humility who has promised to heal our land. Peace and unity is the ground reality of Jesus_ Let us clearly understand that the real peace will not come from Satan. While the Nagas are ever ready to support the National movement, it also desires that there should be only one National Movement for one freedom only. The Naga people are already fed up of supporting too many factions for the same Sovereignty. Let there be only one National Movement and you can count on us.
T.L. Angami
Dimapur
Clamour to fence Myanmar border - Arunachal minister appeals to Centre OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT


Tako Dabi
Agartala, Aug. 10: The demand to fence the region’s borders is fast becoming stronger with the Arunachal Pradesh government urging the Centre to begin fencing of the 1,643km border with Myanmar to act as a deterrent against trans-border movement of militants.
Disclosing this, Arunachal Pradesh home minister Tako Dabi said, “Different militant groups from the region are using the jungles of the state as their corridor to go to Myanmar and China and vice versa.”
Dabi was here for the 103rd birth anniversary celebrations of Tripura’s first chief minister Sachindra Lal Singh.
He said it was extremely difficult to curb trans-border movement of militants across the sprawling and thickly wooded areas of Arunachal Pradesh, which has a total area of 83,743 square km.
“We have a long international border with Bhutan in the west (160km), China in the north (1,080km) and Myanmar in the east (440km) and the immediate threat is the porous border with Myanmar. In case the Centre cannot fence the entire border, at least the 440km section with Arunachal Pradesh must be fenced without any further delay” Dabi said.
Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram share a 1,643km border with Myanmar. It is manned by the Assam Rifles and dense forests in most parts make the border porous and vulnerable to trans-border movement. According to the minister, Ulfa, NDFB and the Isak-Muivah and Khaplang factions of the NSCN have set up their base camps in the jungles of Arunachal Pradesh.
Dabi said 37 Naga militants had laid down arms before the Arunachal Pradesh government earlier this month.
Speaking on the demand for greater Nagaland by the NSCN (I-M), Dabi said, “We have told the Centre and passed a unanimous resolution in the Assembly proclaiming that not an inch of land of Arunachal Pradesh would be spared for the so-called greater Nagaland.”
The NSCN (I-M) has been struggling for nearly six decades to create a “Greater Nagaland” by slicing off parts of three neighbouring states — Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh — to unite 1.2 million Nagas.
The minister stressed the need for joint efforts of all the states of the region to remove economic backwardness.
“All the chief ministers, MPs and leaders of the eight states must jointly approach the Centre to resolve the problems of the region,” Dabi said.
He added that there were many common problems relating to security, economy, health, education, unemployment and infrastructure and all these must be resolved through united efforts
Solid state theories Jaithirth Rao Express India
An NRI friend of mine was arguing with me that we should send the army against Maoists/ Naxalites/ whatever-you-may-call-them. I disagreed, couching my arguments not in idealistic but in realistic terms. In a large heterogeneous country like India where religious, ethnic, linguistic, tribal and caste divides exist there will always be tension between different groups and forces. Such a situation requires a nuanced approach, not a simplistic one. We need to allow for many voices to keep talking; talking is the central feature of a democracy and over time (extending into years and decades), we talk ourselves out of old problems and then start talking about new problems. It is my argument that, in our battered republic, the much-maligned politician is actually doing a very good job at this.
Consider the Nagas. Their insurrection and demand for independence pre-dates the Kashmir issue. We have been talking to various Naga leaders as long as I can remember. Nehru talked with them. Morarjibhai talked with them. Manmohan Singh talks with them. But we have conceded nothing of substance. We have separated the Naga majority districts of Assam and created the state of Nagaland. Beyond that, not much has happened. We have not agreed to their demand for inclusion of parts of Manipur in Nagaland, and rightly so — we have to worry about Manipuri sentiments, don’t we? If the decibel level gets too high, we are always willing to appoint a commission to “study the issues and make recommendations”. These commissions can extend their lives years on end; finally, they are perfectly capable of giving a set of vague, platitudinous recommendations, which again the government of the day need not implement. We can and we do go in for a “fresh round” of talks and maybe yet another commission.
Some problems go away. The Mizos seem to be relatively happy. No one seems to be asking for Khalistan. The erstwhile separatist Dravidians are ensconced in attractive ministries in Delhi and are enjoying that experience. Mind you, some problems do not go away. They go underground, simmer and come back in different avatars. This only means that we need another round of “talks” and another set of commissions. Chandigarh is unresolved; river water disputes are very much around; Gorkhaland seems lost in fratricidal blood-letting, but it almost certainly will make a comeback; ULFA and the Bodos still make the newspapers occasionally, and I am sure some honourable minister and some distinguished secretary of the great Indian Republic are having “talks” with these worthy people even as we speak. As for Telangana, which too has been around for decades on end, we have just appointed one more commission, haven’t we? And of course, there is always Jammu and Kashmir. We have had more “accords”, “talks”, “papers” and “non-papers” on this by now boring piece of geography than any of us care to remember. The ramifications of Kashmir are not just purely internal. So we have endless talks with our neighbouring country also. As far as I can tell, despite all these talks, despite the 1965 war, despite the Kargil war, our troops are pretty much where Generals Thimayya and Sen got to in 1948. As a betting person, one could argue that 50 years from now we probably will be having “fresh” talks. The only matter that we should bet about is the location of the talks: Tashkent or Thimphu or Sharm el-Sheikh!
For every Chidambaram who would like India to be a hard state, we have leaders like Digvijay Singh and Mani Shankar Aiyar who would like us to be friendly with violent insurrectionists who “after all are our own poor who have been possibly forced into violence. They may be misguided, but they are not a bad lot.” I would argue that this kind of response on the part of our politicians is a sign of extreme sophistication. It is almost as if the two sets of leaders have jointly thought up the script! We need some people clamouring for the use of the air force because this tells the Naxalites that the Indian state might get very vicious indeed. At the same time, we need the Singhs, Aiyars and a host of NGOs reaching out with an olive branch. Otherwise, we run the risk that the insurrectionists react like wounded stags at bay. Net-net, we are never going to allow a soviet state to be created in central India. But we will fight and talk at the same time; in 20 years, the Maoist movement will go away and we will have another set of issues to deal with.
I think it is a mistake to categorise India as a soft state. It is certainly not a hard one. It is a flexible one with a deep survival instinct. Our science teacher in school would tell us that grass blows with the breeze but never gets uprooted however strong the winds. A big tree which does not bend or blow can and sometimes does fall down in a severe storm. The Republic of India and our political leaders (who, despite all their faults, need to be admired) are like grass. They have figured out that a good-cop bad-cop approach works. Sometimes we do have to use the army against some alienated groups. But even as one set of leaders are behind that effort, another set is offering an olive branch to that same group. Our greatest contemporary intellectual refers to Indians as an argumentative people. I think we can refer to our country as a “talking republic”. And that central fact is of great importance. Binary either-or solutions, while attractive on the surface, could easily destroy our country. We need both efficient toughies and talking softies. We never need to make fundamental concessions that we find unpalatable. Holding our own while talking and talking about talking is what this big fat democratic Indian republican party is about. The combination has kept us together, and hopefully it will continue to do so.
Whispering Winds … truly a travelers’ abode Chizokho Vero Morungexpress
Whispering Winds the luxury hotel located at DC Hill, Sangtemla Ward in Mokokchung. (Morung Photo)
Kohima | August 9 : With the increase in inflow of both domestic and international tourists to Nagaland, luxury hotels are registering a drastic change in term providing quality services and outlook. One such hotel is Whispering Winds in Mokokchung town. Located at DC Hill, Sangtemla Ward, this hotel has been attracting many travelers for its quality services.
Managed by Tsükti Longkumer, the hotel has all the essential contemporary amenities that ensure maximum level of ease and comfort for the guests. “It is one of the most beautiful hotels and very well managed. Foods are very tasty and excellent. Would like to stay longer,” penned D.D. Singh, IAS, former secretary, Government of India. “Very comfortable place to stay; Very clean and well kept. The staffs are courteous and helpful. Food is really good,” said Fenwis Boker, France on ICRC duty. L. Colney, former chief secretary, Nagaland and chairman, High Power Committee, Government of Mizoram also comment this way “Whispering Winds is really beautiful and clean environment. I really enjoyed staying here. I certainly admired the enthusiasm and talent shown by the young entrepreneur. We need many more young Nagas to build new Nagaland. Tsukti is setting an example.”
Adhir Sharma, IPS, IGP West Bengal maintained that it was a pleasant surprise to stay in ‘Whispering Winds,’ adding “It is truly justified its name on account of its location. The artifacts and decor have been nicely picked up and placed. The over all ambience is very comfortable as yet homely.” Lalthara, IAS, chief secretary Nagaland also penned “It is quite refreshing to stay. Whispering Winds is one of the best hotels in Nagaland. Congratulations to the owner and management staff. Keep it up.” “The building is extremely comfortable. However, the hospitality is really kind and extremely helpful. God bless,” penned David Carroll Missionary, Dr. Billy Graham Crusade and Ministries USA. Sanjay Bapna, Member of Parliament, New Delhi too penned “Wonderful! Homely hotel. The food is good. Being vegetarian the mean served is of good taste and quality.” Whispering Wings has luxuriously appointed eight rooms comprising of 3 luxury suites and 5 executive deluxe rooms, all doubled bedded. All rooms are facilitated with attached well appointed bathrooms, 24 hours hot and cold running water. This hotel gives a perfect sunrise and sunset view and proving a quite and peaceful environment which is much sought after by many travelers.
The multi-cuisine kitchen serves hearty breakfast and offers excellent lunch and dinner menus serving choicest of vegetarian and non-vegetarian India, South Indian, Chinese, Continental as well as authentic Ao Naga dishes prepared with dollops of love that makes dinning a memorable experience. Whispering Winds also offers in its ambits an evening park and restaurant; its mesmeric landscape is a fusion of indigenous architect Morung equipped with modern amenities facing a natural pond. The sitting room which is centrally located in the hotel can also be used into a small meeting hall for small group upto 25 persons.
Whispering Winds also arrange banquets for larger parties upto 800 persons in the open-air court yard facing the pond for outdoor quests. Again, the introduction of internet facility, was indeed helpful to the travelers. “Our full service hotel and well trained staff have only one focus to make your star wonderfully exotic and comfortable with all the inimitable style and mystique finesse,” according to hotel source.