By Kaka D. Iralu | June 12, 2015

Some Indian politicians and army Generals have been boasting that a surgical operation assisted by unmanned Drone air crafts and Mi-17-V Choppers had successfully eliminated two Naga army camps and killed 50 Naga “TERRORISTS” in the operation.

My question is this: Are these Naga soldiers terrorists? Now, if these Naga soldiers have crossed into Indian Territory like Calcutta or Delhi and butchered some Indian civilians, then they can rightly be branded as terrorist against India. But if the case is one where Indian soldiers have crossed Naga territories and gone even beyond it into Burmese Naga territories and butchered some Naga soldiers, then who is the terrorist?

On this question of territories, let no Indian politician or general ever think that Nagas do not know their own sovereign territory. Such ignorance on the part of the Nagas would be tantamount to ludicrousness when they have for centuries fought against the Burmese, Manipur, Kachar, Tripuri and Ahom kingdoms in defense of their territories. Or coming to modern history, how dare any Indian think that Nagas would have fought the British Empire for 115 years (1832-1947) if they had not known their own territory?

In this ongoing 67 years protracted Indo-Naga war, the issue has always been India’s invasion of Nagaland despite the fact that Nagas had hoisted their independence flag on August 14, 1947- one day prior to India’s declaration of her own independence on August 15, 1947. To quote the former Chief of the Indian Intelligence B.N. Mullik’s words again, he clearly stated the facts in the following words: “Troops moved into Tuensang by October 1955, and the war with the Nagas started from then.” (B. N. Mullik, My years with Nehru, p.308). Prior to this disclosure by B.N.Mullik, even Nehru had said on August 19, 1946 that: “The tribal areas are defined as those long frontiers of India which are neither part of India nor Burma, nor of Indian states nor of any foreign power.” From all these statements, it is crystal clear that Naga territories are not Indian territories and that India is the aggressor in the Indo-Naga war.

Therefore, let India, Burma or any other foreign power know that Nagas are not terrorist intruding into any neighboring county and creating law and order problems in foreign soils. Also for the same reasons, let no Indian ever say that Nagas are insurgents or secessionist. As for those 19 Nagas who asked for an Indian state on July 26, 1960 and got it, they were traitors to their own people and can even be branded as secessionist by Indians if they ever claim to be anything else then Indians.

Coming back to the recent events again, the Naga army attacks of Indian troops at Changlangshu on 3rd May or the 6th Dogra Regiment convoy at Paralong on June 4 were only self defensive action taken against foreign troops occupying our territories. And despite the fact that in terms of numbers and weapons, Naga soldiers were far below Indian standards, it was still an open physical confrontation where the casualty on the Indian side was nine dead and several injured in the first incident and 18 dead and 17 wounded in the second. As for the Indian Drone and Helicopter assisted attacks on the Naga army camps as shown in Indian TV channels, it appears to be aerial bombardment from unmanned air-crafts which were followed up by ground mop up operations after the bombs had done their damage. Now to boast over such tactics of warfare from unmanned air crafts and say that the attacks were even superior to American attacks in the Middle East because there was not even one Indian casualty, is but sheer shameless nonsense. Can a one billion plus nation boast about a so called surgical and incisive operation from the air against a helpless nation of barely four million people and still think that the whole world should applaud their actions? If the TV footages are true, the bombs fired against what appears to be a Gypsy missed the target at least three times. (Whether the fourth hit the target was not shown.)

One even finds it difficult to believe the TV footages as the terrain shown in the pictures are plain and level areas whereas the Naga terrains in the Eastern Burmese side are all steep hills and gigantic mountains where no Gypsy could be around simply because there are just no roads in these areas. On the part of the NSCN K, they had even challenged the Indian army to show pictures of the slain Naga soldiers if indeed their operations had inflicted death in the proportions of first, 15 dead, followed by 50 dead, and finally even 100 dead which was reported again and again in the Indian TV channels!

Coming back to the question of terrorism or terrorists, I do not know how the Indian Government determines or defines who a terrorist is. But in international political and legal terminology, terrorist are people who indulge in the murder of innocent citizens or soldiers of a county after crossing into their lands.

As far as we Nagas are concerned, we are not in Indian soil but are in our own lands where our forefathers have lived and defended our territories for thousands of years. As for Indian soldiers or administrators who are now in Nagaland, they are now where they never were before, prior to October 1955. To once again quote B. N. Mullik, you moved into our territories, only in October 1955 to wage war against us in territorial aggression. As for your forefathers, they had always been inhabitants of India for the past 3000 or more years. Their lands and their roots are in Indian soil and none of them so much as even own an inch of land in our country. If any one of you possesses any documentary evidence of land ownership in our Naga lands, then please show it to the world or even file any case in any international court of law for land ownership rights in Nagaland.

Indian politicians and generals can go on fooling the Indian public with this theory and that theory, but please know this, that neither we Nagas, nor the rest of the world, are ignorant of world history and geography to believe the Indian political lie that Nagas are Indians and Nagaland is Indian Territory.

In conclusion, who then is the real terrorist in this 60 years Indo-Naga conflict? Are the Naga soldiers defending their own territories against India’s invasion, the “TERRORIST or the Indian soldiers terrorizing even Naga civilians with heinous laws like The Armed Forces Special Powers Act etc, the real “TERRORISTS?” We Nagas, challenge India and the world to declare their answer to this very serious question that has already caused so many deaths on both the Indian as well as the Naga side.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Burma Link’ policy.

Notes about Naga history:

The origin of Naga freedom struggle is traced back to the founding of the Naga Club, in Kohima in 1918 by a group of educated Nagas. They submitted a memorandum to the British to exclude the Nagas from any constitutional framework of India.

With the coming of Angami Zapu Phizo, popularly known as Phizo, the Naga Movement gained momentum in the late 1940s. In 1946, the Naga Club became the Naga National Council (NNC). The NNC under Phizo’s leadership declared Independence of Nagaland on the 14th of August 1947. Phizo was arrested in 1948 by the Indian Government on charges of rebellion. On his release, Phizo was made the President of the NNC in 1950.

The National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) was formed on January 31, 1980 by Isak Chishi Swu, Thuingaleng Muivah and S.S. Khaplang opposing Phizo’s leadership and NNC. According to them, the Shillong Accord was a surrendered accord to India, although the document clearly seems to have been invalid from the start. On April 30, 1988, the NSCN split into two fractions; the NSCN-K led by S S Khaplang, and the NSCN-IM, led by Isak Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah. The split was due to Khaplang rejecting Isak and Muivah’s plan to hold political talks with Indian Government for an autonomous State based on Suisa’s proposal. The split triggered a wave of violence and clashes between the factions and different Naga groups.

The violence in Western and Eastern Nagaland continues between different Naga groups as well as between the Naga and Indian and Burmese forces.

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