Simon Denyer
August 25
KHONOMA (REUTERS): The tiny village of Khonoma in the thickly forested hills is littered with war memorials including a memorial to British officers who lost their lives when Naga tribesmen ambushed them in 1879. Memorials to scores of villagers killed in five decades of resistance to Indian rule.
Today, there is peace in Khonoma, but there is growing concern that it might not last. Eight years of ceasefire between Christian Naga rebels and the Indian government have brought little sign of a solution. “We had high expectations when the ceasefire started, that there was going to be a solution after long years,” said village council chief Vishulie Mor. “But people are not very confident now. And if the ceasefire breaks we are back to square one.”
In the valley below, farmers tend their rice paddies, the bright green terraces contrasting with the dark green of the steeply forested slopes above them. For half a century, Naga tribesmen fought the army in these mountains, before agreeing to the ceasefire in 1997. Few places symbolise the Naga independence fight like Khonoma. The village was burned down by the British in 1850, resisted a fierce British assault after the 1879 ambush and was home to the first leader of Naga resistance to Indian rule.
Farmer Lhulie Mayse does not know his birthday. Records, he says, were lost when the Indians burned down Khonoma when he was seven, in 1956. Today, the army is trying to win the hearts and minds of villagers by distributing medicines, the rebels gradually losing support by only showing up to collect “taxes”.
“In our childhood, we used to hear the sound of the Indian army vehicles and we would run and hide. But we would welcome the undergrounds,” he said. “Now it is the other way round.” But Mayse is not quite sure he believes the Indian army’s claim, written beside every camp of the Assam Rifles, that they are the “Friends of the Hill People”.
“After the ceasefire the Assam Rifles have become friendly, they don’t molest our women now,” he said. “But we know that if the ceasefire breaks they will go back to being hostile to the people.”
In July, the main rebel faction -- the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isaac-Muivah) -- extended its ceasefire with India for only six months, instead of a year, frustrated by the lack of progress in talks, and India’s reluctance to give ground.
At the same time, the NSCN-IM has been extending its grip over Naga society, and is recruiting hundreds of new fighters every year. It is probably the strongest rebel group in northeastern India and a settlement in Nagaland is considered critical for a broader peace in the under-developed region.
“Time is running out,” warned Neingulo Krome, secretary-general of the Naga HoHo. “Within these six months something new must come, and I don’t know how the government of India will do it.”
But of even greater concern to most Nagas is the lack of unity in the “freedom movement”. Three factions, partly divided along tribal lines, claim to represent the Naga cause. Instead of fighting India, though, they often seem to be fighting each other.
“You can’t really say the conditions for peace have been built,” said one Naga intellectual, who declined to be named because of rebel threats in the past. “Violence could happen at any time, and the worst will be between the factions.” In Khonoma, 33-year-old schoolteacher Ronald Meru says many of the younger generation want peace above independence. “I am a Naga,” he said. “But those of us who have seen the outside world, seen Delhi and Calcutta, we feel we are just a small part of our country. We don’t have so much to boast about, we should just obey the rules and live our lives.”
In many other hearts, especially those who have lived through the darkest days of the insurgency, the dream of an independent Nagaland burns as strongly as ever. One thing is sure, the government can ill afford to take the Nagas for granted. “People are fed up with the violence, the killing, the fratricide,” said the intellectual. “On the other hand the overall sentiment for independence is still there. Something honourable has to be worked out.”
Council chief Mor says his “blood” is Naga: “That is God’s decision. That does not mean India is bad, but we are different.” “In 1956 our parents would say freedom first and peace second,” he said. “Now in 2005, peace and unity is the first priority, then comes freedom.” Mor pauses for a moment. “But if the rebels were united,” he added, “I would fight for them tomorrow.”
