Easterine Kire
‘If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning,
If I do not remember you, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.’
These are the words of the psalmist in Psalms 137. Words that the Nagas can borrow in this season of horror, great grief and outrage.
The horror came from the fact that the army could once again shoot our men in cold blood in our land.
The incomparable grief is shared by the Naga family but that still fails to halve it for the families.
The outrage comes every time a tv channel or printed media pronounces a lie about the killings and uses phrases like ‘mistaken identity’ ‘botched army operation’ and ‘unfortunate incident.’ Refusal to call it what it is, murder, killings, crime – pour salt into the wounds of the family members - by their dishonesty.
It was very difficult to watch the photos of the young ones and their brides. It was almost impossible to write about because it was not just news. It was sheer heartbreak. We bottled up our grief, fearful that the flood should wash us all away and then we would be of no earthly good. But really what could be done now that mothers’ and wives’ hearts are torn out and stamped upon.
As for the lies by the government and the army, Oting, this is what we say:
Sky is our witness
Sky saw it all
And she wept
At the lies those men tell
To cover their iniquities
And reason away their guilt.
But Sky has seen it all
Silent witness over Earth
And she weeps for her sons.
The heavens wept for us
And the blood of our sons
cried out from the soil
OTING
Write, they say, write something
You must they say,
But tears
Tears make such poor ink
Maybe the words will come
When the tears stop
But if the tears should stop
Would we forget?
Let them never stop then
And let us never forget.
And if we should forget you OTING
May our right hand forget its cunning
Our tongues cleave to the roof of our mouths.
Visitors are leaving our land saying things like this: ‘I will never forget how so much violence and grief was met with dignity and prayer: "fight violence with love, fight darkness with light." I will remember this evening lifelong: I think only a very highly evolved civilisation can achieve such dignity and grace in the face of such grave provocation: anywhere else in the country, it would have been explosive ammo for political gains and sloganeering and political manipulation.’
KU pleads, don’t politicise the killings. May we heed KU.
