Lemwang Chuhwanglim
Ph.D
Often, those who pose question on human rights violations in the Naga society by the Indian force, who seek attention of international human rights forum, need closer attention to human rights violation emerging from the Naga society. While crying for the justice from higher level, Nagas in general need to examine the underlying human rights violation emerging in Naga family, community and society by in large. To talk about national and international human rights violation in the Naga society is a vague unless human rights violations within the Naga society are solved. Moreover, human right has become just a language (Conde. 2004) with weak practice among the Nagas.
Religiously, human rights violation is portrayed in the primordial history of Cain slaying his brother Abel (Bahmueller. 2002). Similarly, Nagas find it in the history of war among villagers killing, torturing, and discriminating, cheating and so on among them in the past which remained implicit. Human rights violation becomes more explicit among the Nagas when outsiders like Indian force and others began to discriminate and torture the Nagas in many aspects.
When Nagas aim to portray one of the fiercest acts of the Indian force human rights violation upon the Naga people since 1958, to a larger globe, there is a vast failure in bringing justice within the society in many rights violations. The emergence of repressive rule of arm conflict among different factional groups have killed many own Naga men and women since the formation of every faction that legitimizes as freedom fighters. Men are murdered and killed blind folded, immeasurable bloodshed, injustice, discrimination, illegal taxation, distortion, corruption and so on are daily activities among factions and the State government which inevitably are nothing out of human rights violations. Politically, people killed people mentally, physically, emotionally, economically and humanity in general. Ethnicity, there are few ethnic groups of people who are fighting for their rights to ethnicity under the shadow of negligence.
There are many children from undeveloped areas thrown out by own community to other developed towns and cities in the state. In several cases, these children are denied to rights to proper education by the developed and educated families. They are leashed to captivity equivalent to slave in the name of domestic helpers. There had been several news that these children wandered in search of liberation from brutal punishment from families who captivate them as domestic helpers. If these children are under humanity, such act upon them is absolutely human rights violation. Often, their rights are cheated, sold and commercialized among the stakeholders, domestic helper seekers, community, families and others. More than the religious ethics, humanity is the utmost concern to give justice to their rights.
Based on the larger picture of human rights violation among the Nagas by the Nagas, the question is who perpetrate the rights of Naga citizens and who are the victims of human rights violation? Failures of justice bloom everyday in Nagaland, Justice becomes commodity for sale. Effort to address transparency of corruption (Human Rights Watch, 2009) and failure to bring corrupters to justice itself promulgates more human rights violation in the Naga society by the Nagas. Failure to utilize public funds, concealing distribution of development projects, manipulation of rights to claim citizens’ rights, irresponsible of serving the people and the State such as substituting teachers, irregularities of officers at posted destination, violating service laws at different institutions, schools, university and so on, are few of the strongest human rights violations among the Nagas.
The ability of citizens to know every happening in the society is subjugated and discriminated by corrupters, which includes intellectual Nagas who failed to support to fight for the rights of citizens that are scrutinized by policy makers every day. Citizens’ rights to access to how the state utilizes funds for developments are disallowed, on the other hand, citizens in general are timid and failed to act on bringing justice though they are good in talking about corruption and injustice. Very often, the states object citizens taking law into their hands in certain required situation. The state talks about legal process and ensures accountability and fair application of law, however, in many cases the state fails to fulfill justice of the citizens. In the entire human rights violations in the Naga society, both state and citizens are weak and they are responsible for the failure to eliminate human rights violation that emerges within the Naga society from the Naga people.
For centuries, since the Second World War, the so called international community and states like United Nation Organization, Council of Europe and state and others have been working for international peace and democracy and human rights as intergovernmental organization (Nystuen, 2005). Similarly, Nagaland government and non-profitable governmental organizations, including religious organizations regardless of any denominations, religions and groups required urgent attention to relegate the high intensity of human rights violation emerging within the State by the citizens of the state. Moreover, it needs explicit and active participations of the Naga intellectuals, to educate and share the significance of individual rights that should be well protected in collaboration with every citizen. The ignorance and innocents need education to identify any human rights violation emerging from the fellow Naga educated or wannabe educated and developed people. Subsequently, Nagas in general need constant fight against the state if the state engages in any human rights violation and the state should also bring justice to any citizens who discriminate the rights of any individual in any aspect. This initiative probably, supports the Nagas in general to bring justice to human rights in Nagaland prior to fighting for justice of human rights violation from outside the Naga society.
