The Nagas are a small people but though small they are, the truth is that they are not Indians and they have separate entity. So in 1929, the Naga elders representing the Nagas submitted a Memorandum to the Simon Commission stating that after the British left India, the Nagas will remain as what they were before.
Based on the Memorandum, the Nagas conducted a Plebiscite in support of Independence in 1951 as the Nagas declared Independence on August 14,1947.
The policy of the Naga National Council was non-violence but the Government of India dealt with the Naga issue militarily to suppress the movement. So the Nagas were compelled to raise a Naga Army for self-defence by forming the Nagaland Federal Government on March 22, 1956.
Fearing Military Forces who perpetrated atrocities on the Nagas, majority of the villagers fled to the jungle and the villages were burnt down.
In 1957 a Naga People’s Convention was held at Kohima and declared a General Amnesty as a result, the villagers gradually went back to there villages for resettlement.
Losses of lives, properties and sufferings of the people cannot be described.
What is the cause ? The cause is for their own Right For the Right of the Nagas, thousands of people laid down their lives.
For the second time. Indo-Naga political talk was going on and the uniqueness of the history of the Nagas and the situation was recognised by the GoI and both sides mutually agreed to have a settlement honourable and acceptable to both sides.
The Nagas are small but their right is not small and the price paid by the Nagas is not small and when the separate entity of the Nagas is recognised, the Nagas have to have their own flag. If it is not acceptable, the settlement may not be acceptable to the Nagas. But I hope that the settlement will be really honourable and acceptable to both sides.
Rev. L Suohie Mhasi
rev.suohie_mhasi@yahoo.com
