The Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) in collaboration with the Naga Students’ Union, Delhi (NSUD) will be organizing a “People’s Rally” under the banner “A Call for Peace” on the 11th of June 2022 at 8:00 AM in New Delhi. The march will proceed from Mandi House and conclude at Jantar Mantar with solidarity messages from different Naga Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and well-wishers.
The rally is aimed at raising the genuine concern and aspiration of the Nagas who were and continue to be subjugated by the colonial forces. This rally aims to convey the message of the Nagas to the Indian government and the world at large.
In light of the above resolve, the Federation and Coordination Committee of the Peace Rally seeks the cooperation and prayers of the mass nagas in ensuring the call of the Naga people for peace and justice so that this message is conveyed to the government of India and the whole world.
Press release issued by the Naga Students’ Federation (NSF). Camp: New Delhi,
Peoples’ Rally: “A Call for Peace” Organized by NSF In New Delhi on June 11, 2022.
Ever since the dawn of civilization, Nagas were confronted with British colonialism for over a century which saw its culmination with the last battles of World War II fought in the “heart and soul” of the Naga homeland, known to the rest of the world as the “Battle of the Kohima”. Both Britishers and Indians know better than the rest of the world, how Nagas contributed to the victory of the Allied Forces and how Nagas endured the “scourges of war” – a pain that the rest of the world did not want to live through again and thereby founded the United Nations, but leaving the “gallant Nagas” into oblivion. “Many British and Indian Soldiers owed his life to the naked and head hunting Nagas, and no soldiers of the fourteenth army, who meet them never think of them, but with admiration and affection” – Field Marshall Sir William Sims of the Royal British Army.
All said and done, the British Colonials left the Naga Country and the Indian sub-continent simultaneously and again leaving the fate of the Nagas to the most unthinkable and inhuman atrocities of the Government of India, who unleashed the “dogs of war” in the form of the Indian Armed Forces, equipped with the most draconian laws, including the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) which was and is worse than the Rowlatt Act of 1919, which the then British colonials used against India, to quell Indian agitations, a case in point is such as the “Jallianwala Bagh Massacre”. But in the Naga homeland, this Act was used and still used against any breathing Naga person and not so much for agitations, the latest examples being the Oting incident of December 4 & 5, 2021.
However, during the last 75 years after India became Independent, and the entire Nagaland was militarized, we have heard of 2 (two) Ceasefires and Peace negotiations between the Government of India and the leaders of the Naga National Movement. As for the first Ceasefire, we have heard only stories while in the second Ceasefire, we the present Naga generation are now living through it. We have also heard and read about earlier Agreements and Accords, which were imposed and super-imposed to bring in so-called “Peaceful Solutions”, which only created more problems and conflicts, rather than solving problems. And we as of today’s Nagas, certainly do not want a repetition of past mistakes which are still fresh in the memories of our elder generations and which are now causing more conflicts.
Needless to say, it may be worth recalling, that even from the early years and days of our ancestors, Nagas lived in independent village republics, where head-hunting and war-like situations were the “order even of those days”. This is to say, can’t Nagas be allowed to live in peace for once and lead a normal life? History cannot be undone, but the future can still be shaped if all of us in the present day situation can live and act responsibly.
We are therefore convinced that; even though there may be many differences among the Naga people, on the question of Indo-Naga Political issues, we are one and united and shall remain so till the end of time. We also would like to remind the Government of India to honour its political commitment that since there is only one Indo-Naga Political issue, there will be only one solution too. And that the proposed political settlement should be based on an inclusive honourable solution that recognises Naga People’s identity which should be brought to its logical conclusion at the earliest.
The Naga Students’ Federation, therefore, on behalf of the present-day Naga generation Calls for Peace and echoes the universal aspiration of humankind to say; GIVE PEACE A CHANCE through this People’s Rally.
KUKNALIM