Sibsagar, January 6 (MExN): The Ahom Royal Society (ARS), in expressing concern over the ongoing violence affecting lives of communities in Karbi Anglong, has offered its services and help to ensure that “Naga and Karbi sisters and brothers” can begin a dialogue for peace.
“It pains us to see that political machinations and cynical manipulation of emotions have led to death and displacement of innocent Naga and Karbi people,” stated a press release from the secretary of the ARS, U.K. Baruah, and its central education secretary, Dr. Chandraditya Gogoi, on behalf of the ARS central committee. The ARS is a ‘socio-economic cultural and educational organisation’ based in the Sibsagar district of Assam.
“We offer all our services and help to ensure that this dialogue can take place, either in Karbi Anglong, or Nagaland, or in any other part of the region,” the ARS asserted.
Reminding that the past is rich with stories of solidarity among the indigenous Karbi, Naga and Ahom peoples, the ARS noted that “Our concerns are even more heartfelt as both communities are dear to us and have lived in amity since the time of our ancestors. We have eaten food cooked from the same hearth and lived in a landscape that forms part of our shared history.” It is the past, it said, that “reminds us of the respect that our ancestors had for one another. It is a past that we have to revive, if we are to survive the relentless efforts to divide us in our modern times.”
The ARS has, thus, appealed to “Naga and Karbi sisters and brothers” to “lay down the spear and begin a dialogue for peace.” Though it acknowledged the difficulty for the many broken and affected lives to think about peace at this juncture, the ARS prayed that “our wise sisters and brothers will try and do.”
