Guns and Crosses

First things first: we submit due apology to rock music’s perennial wild child, Axl Rose and his mutinous brothers-in-destruction of the notorious Guns N’ Roses outfit, for the terrible pun. But desperate times, they say, calls for desperate measures. Or in this instance, desperate puns. We have suggested in an earlier editorial that armed confrontations between the Naga groups and the Indian security forces will continue to find their own versions of justification as long as there the obvious loopholes within the ceasefire text exist. While the hostility between the two parties at the extreme ends of the political agenda continues to persist in different manifestations – despite the existing ceasefire agreements – it must be said that the relationship between the security forces and the Naga people, within the same context, has also presented us with an equally persistent case study. And in a much wider context, this represents a much deeper form of questioning because it – beyond the military contexts – it engages the spirit of humanity from both the sides. And it is in this spirit that this column recalls the exchange of words between the Assam Rifles and the Lotha Baptist Churches Association, in the aftermath of the recent Okotso shootout incident. The Assam Rifles, let us be reminded here, was first raised as Cachar Levy in 1835. It wears the proud distinction of being the oldest central paramilitary force in India. Their tag-name is self-explanatory: Sentinels of the northeast. According to their website, the Assam Rifles was raised “mainly to guard the alluvial plains of Assam from the wild and unruly tribes inhabiting the surrounding hill tracts.” Today, according to its own manifesto, the country’s oldest paramilitary force has come to regard those “wild and unruly tribes inhabiting the surrounding hill tracts” as their friends. Their website claims that the sobriquets like “Friends of the Hill People” or “Sentinels of the northeast” are simply reflections of its “fond” and “long association with the region”. As quite rightly claimed in their website, the Assam Rifles has indeed “always extended a helping hand for humanitarian causes and in natural calamities” and “made a significant impact on development activities in the North-East by way of construction of roads and tracks, water supply schemes, schools, community halls, playgrounds for village children and repair/maintenance of buildings in the remote areas.” But what has been jarring in the aftermath of the Okotso firing incident is their claim that the allegation of the Assam Rifles occupying a church at Mekokla village is a “blatant lie”. According to the Assam Rifles, the accusation of “disrespect ( being shown) to the church is a blatant lie being spread by some vested interest for some devious notions to cover the wrong doings of UG (underground) Cadres.” Let us be reminded here that the first information of the troops of the Assam Rifles occupying the said church came from the Lotha Baptist Churches Association. The allegation has already been published in the newspapers. The Assam Rifles, intentionally or not, has just called a church organization as “blatant” liars. Yes, they did not name the organization – but the conclusion is simple arithmetic. Now, if the Assam Rifles are really what they profess to be – Friends of the Hill People – we shudder at their temerity to call our church as blatant liars. Because we expect them as friends, to understand the sanctity with which we treasure our churches. And as a consequence, the magnitude of their accusation. The allegation is not against an individual, but against an entire church organisation. If our friends from the Assam Rifles are really what they claim to be, we expect them to understand that so long as there is a drastic paradigm shift, the church will continue to be the foundation on which we seek to erect our identity. Thankfully, the church association concerned has not dignified the “liars” accusation by replying to it. It is in times like this that silence resounds louder than any amount of words. After all, friendship is cultivated only through mutual respect. The barrel of the gun is no shortcut to true friendship.