Khekiye K. Sema
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he writer hopes that the readers do not have to deploy the use of a magnifying glass to read this headline. Given a choice the font could have been made even smaller but the laptop had reached its limit to smallness. The thought that dictated that exercise is this: On the 04-02-2014, all the Nagaland dallies carried the news in a microscopic corner of their front page that ex-gratia relief has been granted to the Mukalimi victims. The fact that a controversial issue such as this was given a minuscule coverage through an intermediary, more or less depicts the picture of a dishonourable Government acting in the sly...almost akin to manoeuvring under cover of darkness. Despite this questionable scenario, we shall first give thanks to the Government where it is due and so: Thank you Mr. Chief Minister of Nagaland, for finally doing a modicum of the right honourable thing... belated as it may. Having said that, the question persists as to why there has been such a desperate attempt to keep a good deed under wraps sooo extremely contrary to a politician’s inherent attitude towards publicity? The case of ex-gratia relief for the families of the Karbi carnage at Dimapur was rightly, boldly and promptly announced and the situation review was even had with the Union Home Minister, GoI.The Rengmas who also suffered the same nature of carnage in the hands of the Karbi militants did not figure in the ex-gratia grant meted out. The simple principle of fairness demands that if the Karbis’ case has been considered then the circumstance also dictate that the case of the Rengmas, who have suffered the same identical fate, should equally be considered. This has still not been addressed. All the Nagas frontal Organizations apparently lacking in scruples, remain complacently and indifferently silent on this. Are we all a bunch of retards with questionable honourable attitudes? This is the picture of unfairness that ought to agitate the minds of the fair. One wonders whether the Karbis suffered more pain while dying than the Rengmas, thus reducing the merit of our Rengma families from the consideration of relief...but at the end of the day both the Karbis and the Rengmas had died didn’t they. It is for the Government to exercise its unfair paralysed mind to discern and redefine fairness in this situation as well. The continued subject in review is now on the initiative (or the lack of it) of Government of Nagaland vis-a-vis Mukalimi aftermath. According to the confirmed field information, the ex-gratia grant was supposed to have surreptitiously been paid to the families of the deceased and the injured on the 29th December 2013 by the Deputy Commissioner, Zunheboto. The official copy of the payment receipts were passed on to Mr. Hovishe Arkha, the President of the Sumi Hoho only on the 3rd February 2014, by the Deputy Commissioner, Zunheboto after a lapse of 35days. Such a slimy manoeuvre provides fertile ground for speculations. For instance, one wonders why the Sumi Hoho was not invited to witness the disbursement since they had been in the thick of coordinating the entire operation. The improbability of such of ex-gratia payment being made on the 29th December 2013 itself is rather unbelievable for the fact that the families were grieving with the masses over the mortal remains of their loved ones on that day. The possibility of backdating the date of relief disbursement, is more practically believable. So why all this charade? The seeming embarrassment of the Government is what puzzles the mind about this whole sordid affair. As a politician, the Chief Minister would have been more inclined to beat his chest and beat his drums to let world know how gracious he has been. Did the involvement of the NSCN(IM) in this shameful affair abnormally impair his thirst for publicity? This is strangely out of tune with the inherent character of a politician, especially when this is compare with the promptness in the Karbi carnage case, publically trumpeting an ex-gratia grant for them. Then followed the front page coverage of his views in the recent Arunachali boy, Nido Tania’s murder case. In the case of the death of the Sumi youths at Mukalimi, no such vibrant announcement of ex-gratia was made. Leave aside relief grant, the Chief Minister seemed to have found it beneath his dignity to even offer an official condolences to the families of the dead during or after the funeral. As a Chief Minister representing the whole Naga population of Nagaland it was his protocol duty and a responsibility of his office to fulfil this obligation...more so for the fact that this was not an insignificant stray matter. It had involved the whole Sumi Tribe. This was a fight for the honour and dignity of our women folks. That it happened to the Sumi Tribe in this instant incident is irrelevant. The same could have happened to any Tribe now or later and it was a matter of principle that such wrong doing deserved to have been officially and unambiguously condemned by the Government irrespective of Tribes that suffered it... there and then. What prompted the Chief Minister to abstain from this responsibility. Some accuse him of a tribalistic intent...but I personally doubt that. The problem lies elswhere. While acknowledging the fact that the Republic Day speeches incorporated a reference to the Mukalimi incident with a condemnation, there is a significant difference. Making a policy statement of the Government at the upper end of indifference is fine. The humane aspect of interacting with the grieving parents in their hour of loss is quite another. The deafening silence of the Office of the Chief Minister of Nagaland in all of this developments even after such a long lapse of time has to have a very compelling but uncomfortable reason beyond tribalism. It does not require the assistance of Mr. Einstein to guess at the truth. It is a public knowledge that the NPF purchased its way to power with a tacit blessing of the NSCN(IM). The difficulty of the Chief Minister being called upon to bite the hand that had propped up his Government is by no means an easy proposition, knowing well that it could have an adverse ripple effect. With the Chief Minister now eyeing the lone Lok Sabha seat, the problem seems to be getting further compounded where it is getting increasingly difficult for him to openly and officially condemn the incident and displease his erstwhile benefactor in order to win his election. The end result is that the Sumis has been made to instead appear more like a dishonourable scapegoat defaulter in this case in as far as the Chief Minister personally is concerned. A community defending the dignity of the women folks no longer seem to be considered a virtue in his eyes for the simple reason that he cannot bring himself to officially condemn this dastardly act of the NSCN(IM) cadres against our daughters, sisters, mothers and aunts. With all the promptings the Chief Minister seems to have crawled deeper into his shell rather than come out boldly, render his apology to the people for his temporary lapse and officially condemn the molestation episode and condole the death of the Mukalimi victims. The Chief Minister is not being called upon to perform a social service by officially condemning the incident and condoling the death of Mukalimi incident in the aftermath. The least he is expected to do as the Chief Minister of Nagaland and as a matter of his protocol duty, is to restore the honour of the Sumi Tribe and enable the Nagas to reaffirm their faith in the system. However much his personal political survival is involved, the people of Nagaland do not deserve a Government that is exposed to ransom to be manipulated through a remote control of a shadow organization. This cloak and dagger enactment in the payment of ex-gratia relief and the glaring failure to instil a wholesome feeling of reliance in our own elected Government for not doing the right honourable thing at the right time, is absolutely abominable.
On an official plane, Chief Minister represents all the Tribes of Nagaland without exception. The action taken by the Sumis against the NSCN(IM) at Mukalimi was perpetuated by the Government’s inability to take strict cognizance of the crime committed and have the culprits promptly apprehended whether they belonged to A or B or C factions. The Government compounded the problem by trying to persuade the Sumi Frontal Organization to negotiate a settlement in coordination with the perpetrator organization instead, without sensitively appreciating the public outcry against the crime so committed. The icing on the cake was the decision of the NSCN(IM) refusing to acknowledge the existence of the State Government and refusing to hand over the culprits to the Civil Administration. Choosing to prosecute the defaulters within their own organization defines their retarded thinking process totally detached from the ground reality. The Government of Nagaland exists...whether they acknowledge it or not. This status will remain unaltered as long as the final settlement is not arrived at. Until such time therefore the acceptable human decorum and status quo has to be maintained. The NSCN(IM) had the example of what the NSCN(K) had done in Kiho GB’s beating case. They discharged their defaulting cadres, washed their hands off them and left them to the District Administration carry out their responsibility independently without further interference. No one suffered a loss of reputation. It was most unfortunate that this tested amicable approach was totally disregarded and instead the NSCN(IM) took a more negative high moral confrontational stance, grievously hurting the sentiment of the Sumi Tribe. Alienating the whole Tribe, whichever Tribe it may be, is a counterproductive endeavour detrimental to the Naga cause as a whole. That they failed to exercise their wisdom and their judgement beyond their nose has been an irreparable loss for all the Nagas alike. Taking the whole picture collectively therefore, the Chief Minister had a personal responsibility to make appropriate amends by simply owning up to his Government’s lapse and condemning the crime of the NSCN(IM)’s cadres and their inept handling of this situation. All would have been well thereafter. Failing to do this, however late, will forever tarnish his image as a biased individual steeped in tribalism. The consequences could be unfortunate.
On a human plane, the Chief Minister may perhaps try and envision the desperate circumstance of the parents who now stare at the emptiness and loneliness of their lives, having lost their loved ones. Through no fault of the theirs, these boys had unfortunately been drawn into the conflict zone and got blown away. They did not do what they did for an unnamed adventure...it was for the honour and dignity of the Sumi daughters, sisters, aunts and mothers being molested by “National goons”. They did what they did because the Government they elected to power failed to do what they were duty bound to do. That is the simple truth. Like any other parents they too would have had dreams of a future with their children and grand children. Their dreams have been rudely and abruptly snuffed out. Why should it become such an insurmountable proposition for the Chief Minister to show a Christian compassion to the grieving hearts with a soothing word of condolence? The present imbroglio is the litmus test in evaluating the general honourable standard of our leaders.
The important question that many have in their minds: why is the Chief Minister of Nagaland finding it so difficult to offer official condolence to the fathers and mothers of the victims of Mukalimi? In the backdrop of a common sentiment within the Sumi community across the board that ‘life without honour is not worth living’ , why has he failed to officially acknowledge the action of the Sumis as the right thing to do in the face of a degraded behaviour of the erring NSCN(IM) cadres against our women? We await his break of silence with his answers to these questions...if he is a fair minded human being.
