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Rag Tag Army ?
However, we are pained to note, the careful cultivation of their image, is reduced to naught when some undisciplined, uncouth and yes highly uncivilized cadres of the NSCN (IM) start harassing media persons without rhyme or reason as happened on the night of August 28 on NH-53 near Nungba . The media persons were coming after covering a story at Jiribam and even after their identities were established; it did not stop the NSCN (IM) cadres from unnecessarily harassing them.
Whether one subscribes to their view point or not is besides the point, but what has become increasingly clear down the years is the fact that Messrs Isak Chisi Swu, Thuingaleng Muivah and Khaplang have managed to internationalize their struggle against the Indian Union and no one, least of all Mr. Muivah and Mr. Swu, will disagree with the point that they have managed to catch the attention of the public and remain in the eyes of the international community because of the media.
The need to be media savvy and this means not only utilizing the services of the media but also striking up mutual respect for each other cannot be over emphasized especially if one is waging a war against a country as big and as powerful as India and this, Muivah and Swu appeared to have learnt well. Who can forget the cover picture of the two leaders in the popular magazine in the region, The North East Sun, when the peace process was at its infancy stage? Equally noteworthy too were the numerous stories and interviews compiled by Deepak Dewan and featured in the named magazine.
Of late the emphasis seems to have shifted from the North East Sun and we have the redoubtable Sanjoy Hazarika writing exhaustively on the IM group in The Statesman. That the leadership of the NSCN (IM) understands the importance of the media, especially the print media, in getting across their ideas and aspirations to the people can be borne by the regular and number of press releases handed, e-mailed, or faxed to the press here. Even the pro-NSCN (IM) lobby group, the Amsterdam based, Naga International Support Group has been using the services of the media through its numerous fax messages and write ups.
No movement or struggle against the establishment is going to succeed if it is not highlighted to the international community and also to the very people for which the struggle has been launched and as leaders fit to speak out on behalf of the Naga people, Messrs Thuingaleng Muivah and Isak Chisi Swu realized the need to be media savvy.
However, we are pained to note, the careful cultivation of their image, is reduced to naught when some undisciplined, uncouth and yes highly uncivilized cadres of the NSCN (IM) start harassing media persons without rhyme or reason as happened on the night of August 28 on NH-53 near Nungba . The media persons were coming after covering a story at Jiribam and even after their identities were established; it did not stop the NSCN (IM) cadres from unnecessarily harassing them.
To cut a long story short, the media persons were subjected to totally irrelevant interrogation and even the Tata Sumo in which they were traveling was not spared as one of the more ‘enthusiastic’ cadres took it for a joy-ride (of course without even an ‘excuse me’ ) and nearly sent it tumbling down a deep ravine. We do not know what message the cadres of the NSCN (IM) were trying to convey to the world but their misbehavior and indiscipline is worrying.
The NSCN (IM) is a group which has laid claim to the mantle of representing the Naga people and leading the Nagas to their promised land or state of existence is on top of their agenda. However to be worthy of this claim, the collective leadership of the outfit has to start paying more attention to the discipline and civility of their cadres. The media persons traveling on the highway were not their enemies and if reporters representing newspapers can be harassed with such impunity then we shudder to think of the fate of the others who do not have the media to fall back on.
The NSCN (IM) leadership should realize that in chalking out a deal for the Naga people, it is equally important to instill some discipline and civility amongst their cadres. Surely Messrs Muivah and Swu would not want to lead a rag-tag bunch of gun toting men.
(Courtesy: The Sangai Express)
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