Kaka D Iralu
As a non invitee to the meet, I shall not be there, but never the less, I wish to put the following facts on record as the Indian Civil societies and Naga civil societies meet at the India Islamic Cultural Centre in Delhi on 12 and 13th Jan. 2013 “to analyze towards a possible resolution in the context of the intended settlement between the government of India and the Naga people.”
1. To begin with, the Indo-Naga-Burma conflict is not an internal Indian or Burmese affair which can be resolved by either the Home Affairs (Or Home Departments) of the Indian or Burmese Governments.
2. The conflict is not an internal affair of either countries because, prior to the transfer of power in 1947, when Naga national opinion and political stand were sought by the Simon Commission in 1929, the Nagas had, in their one paged memorandum to the Commission, clearly stated their wish to remain independent and free of both Burma or India in the new political developments overtaking the Asian continent.
3.Starting from February 1947, the Naga National council (NNC) further reiterated this Naga national stand by submitting six more lengthy memorandums to the then British Government before the Transfer of Power took place in 1947. As for India, The NNC submitted up to ten memorandums to the incoming Indian Government before India officially became an independent nation on 15th August; 1947.These Naga political memorandums are all under record and had clearly stated the Naga national stand that they did not wish to join the Indian Union of 1947. In order to make their national stand very clear to both India and the world, the NNC also hoisted the Naga national flag on 14th August 1947, one day prior to India’s declaration of her own independence. A cabled message of this Naga independence declaration was also sent to the UN headquarters in New York on the same day and an acknowledgement was duly received from the UN0.
4. As for the dissection of ancient Naga Territories into Indian and Burmese territories, these dissections and so called boundary lines were done by Britain, India and Burma without the prior permission or even information of the Naga people. The Nagas therefore do not recognize these boundary lines as Naga Indian or Naga Burmese boundary lines. The Naga territorial boundaries are clearly defined in the Naga Yehzabo under Part-1, article 1. It is stated as follows: “The Naga territories shall comprise of all the territories inhabited by the Naga tribes from time immemorial.” Nagas will absolutely reject any foreign powers to demarcate their ancestral boundary lines for them.
5. The so called Indo Naga political problem or the Burma Naga political problem are not Naga created problems. These problems were created purely by Britain, India and Burma after the 1947 Transfer of Power Act by drawing new boundary lines and dissecting Naga lands. On the part of the Nagas, in consonance to their declared independence, they did not participate in the first Indian general elections of 1952. However, in October 1955 the Indian Government sent in fifty three thousand Indian troops and forcefully occupied Nagaland. This occupational army, after burning 645 Naga villages to ashes in 1956-1957, forced some Nagas too, to vote in the second Indian elections in 1957.
As a result of all these aggressive acts on the part of the Indian and Burmese governments, a protracted war has been going on for the past six decades.
6. Therefore, in the light of all these historical and political facts, the right place for resolving the Indo Naga Burma political conflict is in the forum of the UNO. This is so because the Naga rights to sovereignty and independence is a right established in conformity to international political and legal norms. This legally established nation has been invaded by both Burma and India in the early 1950’s and has suffered terrible atrocities for the past over half a century.
