DIMAPUR, JUNE 2 (MExN): The Naga Students Organisation (Myanmar) has urged the governments of India, Myanmar and parties involved in the current conflict at the Naga Self Administered Zone (SAZ) to either take into consideration the plight of the people living there or leave them alone peacefully as “we have been for several decades.”
A press release from the NSO (Myanmar) President, T Mankshat Konyak urged all parties against using business in the expense of innocent people’s lives, adding “we want to see joint development and not joint operations.”
It reminded that for almost three months now, the region has witnessed the “repetition of bitter days where innocent people are not able to move out freely from the village because bombing in public areas, and blank firing around when they fail to find that they are looking for.”
The NSO said that the “Nagas never occupied/ snatched from someone else and we are the sole-owner of our land up to the “roof of south east Asia” which has been blessed through our forefathers.
It recalled how the Burmese Army had on August 30, 1985, “for the first time set fire on three villages (Chen Hoyat, Nyanching and Throilo) and burnt down to ashes for the reason they know. Since then, the consecutive burning down of the villages continued. In 1983, 1992 and on 23rd October 2000 the attack and merciless killing of innocent people happened for the last time.”
The NSO further said that “the Indian army and authority from Mon District had entered beyond the so called international boundary and burnt down the same village for the first time on 20 January 1981, second time on 12 August 1982, and the third time on February 20th 1988 consecutively.”
“Since then and till today, Nagas living in the particular region lived a life of uncertainty all over; made to feel like mouse in the hands of cat. Peace was nowhere to be found, even in our own kitchen,” it stated.
The NSO pointed out that during the junta regime in Burma, “outside intervention was strictly barred, even the UN or international rights groups were also prohibited to interven, saying ‘we don't need outsider to deal with our kitchen /domestic problem.’”
It conceded that “there were some six and seven years” where “some rays of hope” arrived with the “dawning (of) democracy in the country.”
However, presently, the NSO expressed concern that the “Myanmares Army is being blessed by their Indian counterpart with some rice and potatoe bags as complimentary for dismantling its own kitchen successfully. Now, innocent people are forced to carry loads without paying even a penny.”
The NSO also expressed sadness at the nature of the NLD government in Myanmar, which it stated has turned “deaf ear and blind eyes.”
It said that the organization had with “much hope” submitted a memorandum to Aung San Suu Kyi during her visit to Khamti on September 25, 2015; and her visit to Lahe on March 6, 2019 urging her to “remember the Nagas when your kingdom comes.” "However, everything seems to be going down to a bottomless pit at this moment of dark hour,” it lamented.
The NSO also questioned the logic of the India-Myanmar friendship if it causes “injury for the wounded Naga Public again.”
“India is sponsoring 5 million US Dollars per year which is in the name of Nagas, also almost all goes to the mainland and only operation battalion will reach our area. People there are always targeted and use the area as battle field or burial place. If India-Myanmar friendship means for destruction of our kitchen, what more thing shall we expect from these two nations?” the NSO questioned.
It therefore asked both governments and the “present warring parties” to “measure us with good sense and not always judge with negative perspectives.” “And if we are too far away for you to reach out with developments, leave us alone peacefully as we have been for several decades,” it stated.
Meanwhile stating that both India and Myanmar have “turned insensitive to the cry of human rights victims,” the NSO sought immediate intervention from the international community and international rights groups.
