Col. Isak Sumi
At the foot hills of the great Himalayas, in the harsh wilderness, the steeped terrains, cold mountains and steaming valleys, the beckoning call of the last Patriarch resonates, urging ever to march forward, to raise higher the flag of freedom, to take one last step before the dusk descends, just another step before the dawn breaks.
Here in the mountainous landlocked country Nagaland inhabited by warrior Naga tribes, the free spirit of the green hills and mountain’s so dear and natural, every Naga’s endowed with an innate patriotic zeal, each generation speaks of its lore and each generation inherits a legacy of freedom, however, the second half of the 20th Century... brought to the fore the testing decades that threatened this very freedom. The generation was to also witness the birth of many legendary warriors.
SS Khaplang from a Naga tribal Chieftain clan was a born warrior. Though reared up at Chieftain father’s comforts of home, he chose the wilderness, the chilly caves, gorges, jungles and thick forests for home to wage war of liberation.
Always at home in the wild, for 54 years he bore the cross of the Naga’s struggle for freedom, steered the wheels of liberation almost singlehandedly and sustained the Naga nationalism with sheer perseverance even when all his contemporaries grew feeble, despaired and were lured away to the glamorous world of wealth, luxuries and privileges.
Had there been no Khaplang, the aspirations, hopes and dreams of our people would have been betrayed and bartered away long ago by the vested sections. To our dearest ‘Baba’ there is no substitute but the difficult, the narrow and the least travelled path where even the most powerful enemies fear to tread, the life where the mind would be free and the heart detached from daily family obligations and material fascinations that the commitment could be whole and un-distracted yet physically challenging and taxing with hunger and thirst as usual routine.
Frugal meals in thatch cottages, discussions besides crackling wooden fire, trekking across dense jungles touring one makeshift camp after another, motivating fellow patriots and comrades, dispensing wisdom and justice, sharing hopes and dreams, trials and sufferings alike, for 54 years not a single day invested on his own, he had but a family of revolutionary comrades, no possession to claim, no house of his own to assert a home or assets to show for. All he owned was indeed the NSCN/GPRN Chair and the Naga cause for which he lived every moment of his life.
Forging alliances, strengthening friendships, mediating peace and understanding among various ethnic revolutionary movements of the region, another distinct hallmark of his Patriarchy, a stroke of diplomatic ingenuity in not only conceiving but successfully forming with himself as the Chairman, the United Liberation Front of Wesea (UNLFW), a conglomerate of ethnic freedom fighters of West South East Asian region. Your proud legacy it will ever be “Baba”.
His vision stretches far beyond our comprehension, his dream of one people and one Naga nation, his aspiration to even unite all the oppressed indigenous people of Mongoloid origin in WSEA, his profound love and generosity to all the suffering people and races, his last will reiterating each of us as “Soldiers of Christ” and to live by the pledge “Nagaland for Christ”, prayer for the Nagas even at his last dying moment and his call to the younger generation Nagas to shoulder the task of national liberation and indeed his selflessness is even more poignantly portrayed...that, bringing all his personal material possessions together, this astonishing amount of cash recovered, Rs.7000 (Rupees Seven Thousand) in all. Had he been bedridden for long, but not, quite conscious to the end, just Rs.7000 I repeat, thus speaks it all. For a moment even death could not hold sway over him, heartbeat had long stopped and pulse down to zero, practically dead, yet audibly prayed for more than half a minute even when he was already dead. Mesmerising was he to the end and after.
What was Che Gueverra to the Latins, SS Khaplang was to Mongoloids and indigenous people of West-SE Asia. The lover of freedom and patron to every freedom loving people, the protector and the benefactor of the oppressed.
Amid the season of lashing rain, thunder, lightning and cloud, for that one last moment, the skies held back, the clouds dissipated for the Sun to gleam down, the wind became still and the rivers stood calm, silence descended over the entire wilderness where you once roamed. Rainbow appeared over Lahe, the Head Quarter of Naga Self-Administered Area. Indeed the heavens and supernaturals took notice too. Rivals and friends pay respect “Baba”. The end of an era un-rivalled.
Until then.
