T Henthai Phom
Longleng once a home of the peace loving, trust worthy and hardworking. Tranquility prevailed in the air. It was paradise to the weary soul. Children loved playing in the open spaces, danced in the streets. People doing their own cores; undisturbed by the outside world. They loved to hum in the evening, they loved the sunsets, and they lived in accord with nature. They knew it was their home. The very place where the monolith of peace (Phom Day) stands.
A sudden change! The first bang in the air and there was general alarm. They knew it was not for them. They knew it should be stopped. But how far? It has become part of their lives! The smiles disappeared from their faces. Anger, hatred, resentment written in them. The very streets that the children loved warned them, “do not touch me, I kill…. They became infuriated with their own works. The calm evenings become nightmares. The night hell. The morning brought no new promises. There is always ‘FEAR.’
I have seen the wounds of the two women who were injured at the cross firing on 27th Jan’ 06. I have seen a kid clinging to his mother crying to be taken into her arms while she was shot near her arm. I have seen the anger and resentment of a husband whose wife was shot on the leg. I have heard a father’s cry as I attend the funeral service of a brother on 12th Feb 2006 who became yet another victim to unknown gunmen. Why such human depravity? Are such killings and reckless firings justified? Where are we heading to with such human acts of barbarism? As far as I know all three persons were innocent civilians. This is not the only case in Longleng, during the past 2-3 years many innocent bloods have been shed and many maimed.
I as a concerned citizen of Longleng and a Phom by birth deplore such change of affairs at Longleng. Longleng is becoming a place of shedding innocent blood. We are no longer feeling secure in our homes. We no longer feel safe to come back home for holidays. This is not the cry of an individual, but of a generation, of a people. How can anybody or any people grow when we have so much fear? I have my own brothers and sisters, and many friends writing their exams, and yet they could not study because of fear. There is fear psychosis among the public in general. Everyone lives under the fear that he/she would be the next victim.
I have a dream. I want to build my own home someday and have kids. I want them to grow up and dream, and live their dreams. I do not want them to become victims of unknown gunmen. One day I want to tell them to how brave and hard working my ancestors were. I do not want to tell them of how we turned a paradise into a battle field. I do not want them to hate the land which my grandfather and great grandfather toiled one day and night to establish. I would rather want them to be proud of this great hard land which has stood the tests of time. It was ‘EVIL’ that lost us Eden. Will we give way to evil again? Will we live just to see our dreams crushed? If there is violence in our land why do not we give peace a chance- a real lasting peace!
