The deliberate and brutal attack on a fellow elder citizen by a group of local youths in the State Capital Kohima needs to be vehemently and out rightly condemned. Killing an innocent person with villainous violence cannot be condoned in any circumstances. The calculated murder of Late Khoney Chang is a crime against humanity and for the Naga people, it is a cause for deep shame and disappointment that society has for whatever reason started producing citizens capable of such acts of violence. As Christians it is required that the highest respect for all life and demonstrating this, in protecting life itself, is the need of the hour. Rather than beget hatred, this tragic incident should be used to strengthen the Naga people’s resolve towards harmony and peaceful co-existence. The aggrieved community members on their part should display wisdom and maintain outmost restrain and not provoke the situation but to remain calm in the midst of this terrible storm. Much will also depend on the government machinery to the way it is able to humanly respond to the tragedy. The State Government should likewise leave no stone unturned to bring the killers to justice as per the law.
While it is time for the Naga people to speak up loudly against violence and hate speech of any form, it is of utmost importance that the brutal murder of Late Khoney should not be viewed on tribal lines. As rightly pointed out by the Angami Public Organization, while reacting to the murder, casting aspersions on tribal lines so as to flare-up communal disharmony, should be discouraged and done away with. Those perpetrators who committed the crime should be personally held accountable for their deeds rather than generalizing the issue on tribal lines. The APO on its part should doubly assure that it will neither stand by nor harbour such criminals in any manner. As far as the reputation of Kohima goes, there is no doubt that efforts must be made to improve the quality of life in the State Capital which cannot be measured only in terms of the number of vehicles plying on the roads or the existence of power centres and government offices. It will be interesting to calculate the crime rate across the State and more so in the State Capital, where several complaints have been raised about its safety both in terms of community living and business activities.
The right to live without terror or fear in one’s neighborhood; the right not to be victims of brutal crimes can no more be assured in a society that is fast degenerating into a violent order of sorts. The brutal murder of late Khoney comes at a time when increasing level of violence threatens to destroy the social fabric that sustains co-existence of people. The values of freedom, equality and fraternity as practiced today have been distorted to a large extent by the notion that might is right. The crisis of today is also due to the fact that it has failed to resolve the conflicting claims of freedom, equality and fraternity. Arms and violence cannot ensure freedom and peace. Similarly consumerism cannot eliminate poverty. Corrupt money certainly cannot bring prosperity and happiness to society. Hegemony cannot foster fraternity or the equal respect for each other’s rights. To imbibe moral values within the individual and society is therefore the need of the hour. And to combat this malaise of decadence, the process has to begin at the level of the family, school and the Church. Crime and violence are no longer uniquely underground problems but rather it has penetrated public space and therefore requires immediate societal interventions.
