DIMAPUR, MAY 4 (MExN): The United Naga Council (UNC) has issued a call to several apex Naga organisations, urging collective action and solidarity in response to what it described as a grave situation unfolding in parts of “Southern Nagalim.”
In a statement addressed to organisations including the Naga Hoho, Global Naga Forum, Naga Mothers’ Association, Eastern Nagaland Peoples’ Organisation, Naga Students’ Federation, Eastern Naga Students Federation and Naga Students Organisation, the UNC stated that Naga-inhabited districts such as Ukhrul, Chandel, Tamenglong and undivided Senapati are “enduring severe hardship.”
The Council alleged that the situation goes beyond a breakdown of civic order, asserting that “what we face is not a breakdown of civic order, but an undeclared offensive carried out against the Naga people by armed groups under the Suspension of Operation framework, with the involvement of sections of the Assam Rifles.”
Describing the present condition, the UNC claimed that “our communities are being coerced, our settlements are under pressure, and our right to exist as Nagas in our own homeland is being contested through the use of arms,” adding that the developments target both “our physical presence and our historical identity.”
The statement further alleged an attempt to distort Naga history, stating, “there is a deliberate effort to distort our past, to manufacture a false narrative about the Nagas, and to undermine our standing as a people.” It added that “if our history is taken from us, our claim to our land is weakened. If our land is taken, our future as a nation ends.”
Raising concerns over demographic changes, the UNC claimed that the “present aggression is intended to exhaust Naga resolve so that our domains can be opened for illegal immigrants to enter and settle,” asserting that “to forfeit our land is to forfeit the Naga nation.”
In its appeal, the Council called on the organisations to act collectively, stating, “the injury to one Naga area is an injury to all. Let the unity of the Naga family be seen in action, not only in words.” It also urged them to document and speak about the developments, saying, “record what is happening. Speak of it in your assemblies, your institutions, and in the public domain.”
The UNC further appealed for both spiritual and material support, stating, “provide prayer backing and material backing to village defenders and to families who have been displaced,” and called for prayers for “the elders, the mothers, and the young who keep watch over our villages.”
Warning of the consequences of inaction, the statement said, “if we remain passive today, the assault now at our threshold will reach every part of the Naga homeland tomorrow,” adding that “a people who exchange their land for temporary calm will possess neither land nor calm.”
It also cautioned that future generations would question the present response if such developments continue, stating, “future generations will ask of us: Where were the Nagas when their history was being rewritten and their land seized?”
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