PM Dr. Manmohan Singh’s April Fool's Statement In Guwahati Contradicts The Indo-Naga “Joint Statement” of January 31, 2006 In Bangkok: Negative Implications On The Human Rights Of The Naga People
By Yaronsho Ngalung
One of the latest narrow and aged-old political moves of vote-bank politics has been amply demonstrated by none other than the Indian Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh when he addressed a press conference during his two-day election campaign for his party, INC, in Guwahati on April Fool’s day. It has surprised many sensible and rational people in the Indian sub-continent in the context of the ongoing almost nine years Indo-Naga Ceasefire Agreement which has reached a crucial stage. Dr. Singh’s statement read as follows: “the territorial integrity of any State in the northeast would not be disturbed without its consent.” “The territorial integrity of the northeastern States will not be disturbed unless there is a consensus among them. We are committed to protecting the territorial integrity of all States.” This statement was told to the Media when asked about the persistent and genuine demand for integration of all Naga areas made by the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN), which represent the Nagas, in the ongoing political negotiations with the Government of India (GoI). Dr. Singh’s statement is contradictory and problematic in so far as the 31st January 2006 Indo-Naga “Joint Statement” in Bangkok for extension of the Ceasefire for six months is concerned. The statement is directly contradictory to the 31st Jan. “Joint Statement” which has categorically stated that, “as both the Parties recognize that there has been insufficient progress in the talks it was decided to carry the political negotiations expeditiously forward taking ‘new initiatives’. Dr. Singh’s statement has totally gone against the letter and spirit of the “Joint Statement” talks of taking ‘new initiatives’. His statement “we are committed to protecting the territorial integrity of all States” has created a fixed type of political situation which means the Indian Government is not all committed to upholding its assurance given to the Nagas of taking ‘new initiatives’. This is simply a demonstration of its insincerity and dishonesty towards resolving the 59 years of Indo-Naga politico-military conflict. The statement is problematic to a great extend in the sense that Dr. Singh’s assertion of ‘consent’ or ‘consensus’ has even out stepped the Indian constitutional framework for the Indian Constitution under Article 3 never enshrined any such thing as ‘consent’ or ‘consensus’ in regard to increasing or decreasing the areas of State or altering or changing the names or boundaries of any State. What is required by this Article is only to afford an opportunity to express views of the concerned States whereas the Parliament is the sole authority to decide by a simple majority for such changes to be made of the States. His statement is problematic in so far as the history of drawing boundaries is concerned. When the contiguous Naga areas were divided by India and Burma, they have not asked for any consent or consensus from the Nagas. The Nagas were divided by the British, India and Burma solely in their own desires and interests. And now Dr. Singh is trying his best to reverse the history to the advantage of the neighboring States and to the disadvantage of the Nagas. This is uncalled for especially when the Indo-Naga political negotiations have reached a crucial stage. PM should be reminded of the fact that because of the forcible occupation of the Naga people and their land without consent or agreement that there is still conflict between the GoI and the Nagas. Moreover, Dr. Singh’s statement is unhealthy and unconstructive because he has made this statement for a short-term gain i.e., for getting more votes from the people of Assam in the State Assembly election in April. It is regrettable that the Congress to which Dr. Singh belonged has once again indulged in its favorite game of appeasement policy in Assam by making such statement against the interest of the Nagas. Such statement came out from him only to please the innocent voters. He has tried his best to play with the emotions and sentiments of the people. However, his individual opinion will have no consequent on the historical rights of the Nagas over their land. The Nagas are the owner of their land and such short-term gain utterance does not have any meaning for Dr. Singh himself does not belong to the Naga areas. The Nagas will always be the owner of this Nagalim. By making such a statement, he himself has exposed his weakness in front of the whole world. We come to know of his talks of seriousness and sincerity regarding the political negotiations as nothing but to buy more time to suppress the rights of the Nagas. Different Indian Prime Ministers have been uttering of their seriousness to resolve the conflict through dialogues. But the recent statement has let us into believing that they want to only pay lips service to the given issue. We have failed to observe any positive inclination from different Indian leadership to resolve the political issue. It is unfortunate that we are living in a time when there are no able Indian leadership having statesmanship and charismatic. The present Indian leadership is too much worried about winning election and coming to power without taking any remarkable step to resolve important problem and issue faced by the people. The Indian politics is ridden with caste-based politics, money and muscle powers, criminalization of politics; bureaucratic-politician nexus etc. and so on and so forth. The Indian State’s priority in the Indian sub-continent is its so called Indian national security which allows the policy makers to make the N.E States a strategic location. While the Indian State in its efforts to shield off the whole northeast States from the influence of the neighboring countries like China, Burma, Bangladesh and Pakistan, it has committed a lot of human rights violations against the northeastern people especially against the Nagas. Until yesterday more than 250,000 Nagas have been killed by the Indian and Burmese States so as to crush the Naga National Movement. The Naga areas have become a training ground of killing for the Indian Army in the so called counter-insurgency operation. It is sad to recount the history that so many Naga women have been raped, unaccountable men folk have been tortured to death, several villages have been razed, so many granaries have been destroyed, religious institution like the Churches have been used for molesting our women, electricity has been used for electric shock during interrogations etc. All these atrocities, rapes, electric shocking etc. have been committed to the Nagas for establishing Indian national security. From the humanitarian perspective, these are so inhuman and beyond human forbearance for no fault of the Naga people. The Nagas genuinely aspire to live honorable and respectable lives in their own land. Why can’t the Nagas live together under one political system by integrating all the Naga areas? Shall we restrict ourselves to talking only the Indian national security? Shall we totally keep under the carpet the Naga people’s security in their own land? And in the name of counter-insurgency, let the reign of terror of Indian and Burmese continue to be let loose among the innocent Naga civilians? Where is the Commitment of protecting the human rights of the people? Where have the rights of the people gone? Don’t the Nagas have the legitimate and inherent rights to live as a people in their own land? Where is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 10th December 1948 of which India is a signatory? The universal belief of the human rights clearly stated that, “violation of human rights in any part of the world is a threat to the human race as a whole and protection and promotion of human rights anywhere is a concern for all.” It is pertinent to point out here the grave human rights violation of the Naga people by artificial boundaries across the Naga areas. History of drawing boundaries between India and Burma was done arbitrarily by the British Company Government since the Treaty of Yandaboo in 1826. The British separated out Burma in 1937 from the Indian sub-continent under the Government of India Act, 1935 after which India and Burma decaled their independence in 1947 and 1948 respectively. However, there has been no clear-cut boundary between them and the separation of Burma from the Indian sub-continent gives rise to serious problem in the frontier areas especially that of the division of Naga Hills along with it. In order to find a permanent settlement for this problem of this common ill-defined border where these Nagas and other nationalities are to have a more rational frontier, a boundary agreement was signed on 10th March 1967 by India and Burma. By this agreement the Nagas were divided to live in two countries. In Longwa village, in Mon district, the so called International Boundary between India and Burma actually split the Angh’ (village’s Chief) house into two with kitchen in India and bedroom in Burma. This arbitrary boundary has been drawn by India and Burma without the consent of the Naga people. Separation of the Naga people by this artificial borders have not only caused disunity and discomfort but also have gravely violated the human rights of the Naga people to live together as one people in one administrative system. The matter of human rights violation does not end there. Worsen human rights violations have been committed against the Naga people by creating more artificial borders across Naga areas between the two countries. In Burma, Naga were made to scatter to live in different townships in Sagaing division and Kachin State. In India, Nagas are divided arbitrarily by borders of different Indian States. These artificial States’ boundaries have made the Nagas to live in Nagaland, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. Before the Bigge-Brown boundary between Naga Hills and Manipur in 1842, the British has sold the Kabo Valley of 700 Sq. miles to Burma on 8th January 1834 on agreement that the British would make the Meitei/ Manipuri King an annual payment of Rs. 500 only as compensation for its lost. To appease the Manipur, the Company Government incorporated Senapati or now Tahanjam, Ukhrul or now Hunphun, Tamenglong or now Lenglong and Chandel or now Chamdil into Manipur in 1842. However, after the merger of Manipur into Union of India on 15th October 1949, the British and the Indian Government stopped paying the compensation. Again different British administrative Orders, Notifications and Acts since 1826 in the North East has transferred the Naga areas of North-Cachar Hills, Karbi-Anglong, and parts of Golaghat, Sibsagar, Nagaon, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia to Assam. Nagaland State was created on 1st December 1963 after the Naga Hills and Tuensang-Mon areas under NEFA were brought together. However, Tirap, Changlang, Lohit and Dibang Valley which are Naga areas were left out from integrating during the creation of Nagaland State by the Indian Government. All the aforementioned tactics of division of the contiguous Naga ancestral territory have been done to suit the administrative convenience of the British and to crush the Naga National Movement by the Indian and the Burmese States since their independence. All these have been done without the consent and agreement of the Nagas whatsoever. The divisions of Naga ancestral territory were done forcibly for which the Nagas have been demanding for reunification of the same into one which would be known as Nagalim. History is the witness to this division of a people by artificial boundaries. Honorable and peaceful lives are seldom possible under such political governance where the same people are forcibly made to continue to live in different political systems without their desire and consent. Whatever argument people may advance against the integration of all Naga areas, there will be no such thing as political solution to any conflict devoid of integration of all Naga areas. It is in this brief historical context that the article has been penned to reflect how human rights violations is discernable by artificial boundaries across the Naga areas in general and Dr. Singh’s statement had aggravated and compounded the human rights violations against the Naga people for his individual statement amount to justifying the existing artificial boundaries across Nagalim in particular. It is not out of place to mention here that Nagalim was not given by any big or small country of this earth. Nagalim was and is with the Naga people since 1 AD when the Naga people come to settle there. The Naga people were the first people to have come to settle on their own. As the Nagas are the first people to live in Nagalim, the Nagas are indigenous to this land. The land belonged to the Nagas so do the Nagas to their land. Nagalim is 120,000 Sq. km in size. The size of Naga areas in the States of Nagaland, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam in the Indian side is 63,493 Sq. km whereas the size of Naga areas in Sagaing division and Kachin State is 56,507 Sq. km. It has been already pointed out that due to ‘Divide and Rule’ policy of the British, India and Burma that the Nagas are in two countries without their consent and agreement. There is no other bitter thing to experience for the Nagas than to experience the division of their land by others. History has taught the Nagas of their rights to resist such subjugation and domination for which the Nagas have taken up their cause on their shoulders till today without ceasing. The colonial British and the neo-colonial States have tried their best to suppress the rights of the indigenous Naga people from the outside world. However, as the proverbial saying goes, ‘the fire could not be covered by clothes’. As such the story of the Nagas’ struggle for right to self-determination has been carried far and wide by some politically conscious Naga patriots and the sympathizers of the Nagas. Through them the Naga story is no longer in the darkness. Rather it has come out in the light. It is a matter of fact that the Nagas are not going to surrender their rights as a people whatever the circumstances they may face. The Indo+Burma-Naga conflict is a political one for which we need political solution. In order to resolve the conflict the Indian Government and the NSCN entered into a Ceasefire Agreement in 1997.However, after eight and half years of political negotiations, the Indian Government has failed to come out with a concrete formula for resolution. On the other hand, the Nagas have put forwarded their proposal for establishing a “Special Federal Relationship” between India and Nagalim in 2005. Such a “Special federal Relationship” is possible outside the Indian Constitution or it means out of the box solution to the conflict. And this to be the best possible model as far political situation is concerned. However, the Indian Government has failed to depart from the past strategy of a possible solution or full autonomy within the Indian Constitution. It is in line with this thought of a full autonomy within the Indian Constitution that Dr. Singh’s made such a statement on the April fools day. He talked of consensus among northeastern states in regard to the integration of all Naga areas simply because he knew to himself very well that Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur States will never agree for a consensus. It is assumable that the Indian Government will use this non-consensus among the three States on the integration of all Naga areas as a weapon against the Nagas when future talks are held. And it is implicitly clear that in the failure of the talks, the Indian Government will simply make an excuse that the GoI cannot disturbed the territorial integrity of any northeastern State without its consent. It is understandable from his language that Dr. Singh has started finding for an easy escape road in order not to take any responsibility in the failure of the GoI to respect the aspiration of the Nagas for integration of all Naga areas. It is a matter of great concern to one and all that even after more than eight years of talks; the GoI is still indulging in such escapist and appeasement political game. However, it can be said in concluding this page that, an attempt, however hard, on the part of the GoI to suppress the rights of the Nagas through such tactics will not be successful any longer in this part of the world. For the Nagas know the best how they should still struggle for their rights. The vision is clear and the target has been already set for the destiny. The Naga sovereignty is on its way towards the final realization. The first step i.e., integration of all Naga areas towards the Naga sovereignty cannot be denied to the Naga people any longer. For its denial would meant denial of human rights of the Naga people. Let the scourge of war vanish from Nagalim. Let there be peace with justice and truth in Nagalim. This is a call for human rights. Human rights are for all. Who do not want to respect the human rights of a people?