Kaka D. Iralu
This article is not written for every Indian soldier who has died in Nagaland from 1955 to the present. I cannot write such an article because out of those thousands who have died in our lands; many were guilty of war crimes against our people. Many under the protective umbrella of the Assam Maintenance of Public Order Act 1953, The Assam Disturbed Area Act 1955 and the hated Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958 etc, raped tortured and murdered many of our people. Many of them had also burned most of our Naga villages to ashes in the 1950’s. Many also most cruelly assisted their government in imprisoning almost the whole Naga population in 1957 through the groupings.For such guilty persons, rather than mourning their deaths, I would even appeal to the International court of Justice to dispense justice on those who are still alive. Yes, I condemn every Indian Officer of any rank who knew that Nagaland was never a part of India and that Nagas were never Indians by race culture or history; yet still assisted the Indian Government in invading Nagaland and occupying it for all these years under its puppet state of Nagaland.
But on the other hand, how can I not mourn the deaths of all those hundreds (If not thousands) of Indian soldiers who did not know history or geography or politics and came and died in the six decades killing fields of Nagaland. How can I also not mourn even those who are now dying in our midst even as we nonchalantly go about our daily chores of life? Are their deaths something we should ignore as inconsequential and none of our business? When their parents, wives and children would be mourning their deaths, are we to go about life’s pursuits as if nothing is happening?
As for me, from the depths of my heart, I mourn them. Like me, they were also ordinary human beings. Like me, they also have families who were dear to them and for whom they also wanted to live. I mourn their deaths with all their kith and kin.
I mourn their deaths more so, because their precious lives have been sacrificed on the altar of the Indian politician’s lie that Nagas are Indians and Nagaland is Indian territory. Many of these slain soldiers of India-especially the ones in the 1950’s and 1960’s- most probably did not have sufficient education to make their own independent decisions from their knowledge of history, geography and politics. They most probably came, tutored by their political leaders and military officers, that the whole South Asian sub-Continent is Hindustan and Bharat and that they have a duty to suppress and even kill any dissenting voice from any regions contagious with the Indian land mass. I hope the children and grand children of these slain soldiers who now have education, know the real historical and political facts. They have every right to sue their own Government for compensations for sacrificing their parent’s lives with their government’s political greed for a bigger and wider India.
This bloody Indo -Naga war has for too long gone on, costing too many innocent lives in both Nagaland and India. When will honest Indian politicians finally acknowledge the real facts of history, geography and politics and bring the war to an end. I for one, am utterly tired of writing about violence, counter violence and the deaths they bring to families in India and Nagaland. When will the war end so that Nagas and Indians can live in peace as friendly neighbors?
N.B. The same thoughts from different angles and aspects have already been expressed in my (2001 published) book “The Naga Saga” in pp. 353-370.
