Kaka D. Iralu
All down the centuries of our existence as a people and nation, Nagas have never bowed down to any foreign invasion of our lands by any neighboring kingdoms or external invaders. Long before the white man (British) or the black man (India), ever set their feet on our lands, we had fought all our yellow (Mongolian) neighbors for centuries. In this history of resistance and defense of our ancestral lands, we had fought the Manipur, Tripura Burma and Ahom kingdoms from the 3rd century to the end of the 19th century (For brief details, see “The Naga Saga” pp.3&4). In all these centuries, we Nagas have never surrendered one single village to any of our neighbor kingdoms.
Then with the dawn of the British Colonizers, under the shadow of their protection, our immediate neighbors began to annex our lands under this pretext and that pretext. While we were fighting the white man from 1832 to 1947, (altogether 115 years), our own neighbors began to assimilate our lands into their own lands through all acts of treachery and unjust means. In this context, don’t ever think that we Khonoma people have forgotten how our warriors were driven away from our own village with heavy casualties when over 2000 Manipuri mercenaries under the command of Colonel James Johnstone attacked our village in 1880. This was after the battle of Kohima where our warriors had encircled the whole British garrison in Kohima and nearly wiped out all British presence from Naga lands. We also know which Manipur Rajas were given arms by the British to harass and even tax some of our Naga brothers in the then British administered Manipur.
We also know how our Assamese neighbors dissected 22 of our reserved forests and 40 of our tea estates into Assam with the assistance of the British under the guise of administrative convenience. As for the Kacharis, we know who they are and where they came from and settled in our lands when their own brother drove them away from their kingdom. In their hour of desperation and need, our Zeliang forefathers gave them our lands to settle down on the banks of the Dhansiri River. Then again, there were those Mikiris from Meghalaya who came seeking for lands from our Rengma ancestors when they fled persecution from their own Khasi kings who were treating them as their slaves. Do not let the Mikilris ever forget that they today are living on lands where our ancestor’s bones are buried.
We Nagas know our own history and that of our neighbors well because we were all educated in our Morung institutions from time immemorial where our elders had taught us from generation to generation. We also know that in our traditions and customary laws, it is taboo to take back lands that have once been given away to others through acts of compassion and mercy. But if these former beneficiaries from our good will challenge us today and even burn our houses and order us to get out of our own lands, then we have other laws for giving befitting answers and honor bound duties from the same customary laws.
On our part we want to live in the friendliest terms with all our neighbors. But never let any of our neighbors ever forget that we have defied and even challenged foreign powers from across the seas and also from shore of oceans adjacent to our lands. Please do not let any of our neighbors ever think that they can occupy our lands under the protection of these foreign powers. We are neither scared of them nor their foreign protectors. Over 900 years of our modern history stands testimony to these facts of our courage in documented historical records.
Therefore, to our immediate neighbors who are shouting “Not one inch of our state boundaries will ever be given to Nagaland”, we want them to know this: We know our ancient territories and you also know our own ancient territory. Beyond that, we Nagas will never let go any of our territories that you have acquired through your former protectors to whom you surrendered your own territories. We Nagas will never accept our territories that were dissected into your territory by some white or black former colonizers of your kingdoms. These foreign dictated boundary lines shall never be allowed to form the final boundary lines between us.
