Markson V Luikham
New Delhi
Dear Nagas & National Workers in Christ,
Hope this letter finds you all hale and hearty. First of all we would like to let you know that we are all at eternal peace in our heavenly abode with angels. Here, there is no sadness nor tears but just eternal joy and love.
We wanted to write to you because we never got the chance to tell you (our near & dear ones) that we love you, nor did we ever get the chance to say goodbye when our souls left for our heavenly abode. Through this note, we would like to recount our untold stories that may encourage and embolden you to live life to the fullest in the interim world you live in. Kindly lend us your ears and hearts for just a moment, dear Nagas and Comrades.
Unfortunately, many of us died helplessly in the jungles from mysterious diseases or injuries. There were no doctors or medicine, otherwise we could have been treated and our lives saved. We were just ill-fated. Some of us were tormented to death in the hands of enemies. There was none to save us nor hear our agonizing screams and cries when we were mercilessly beaten, raped and mutilated in the most inhuman ways. Some of us fiercely fought our common enemies in different parts of our Lim as well as in foreign soil and breathed our last. Many of our bullet riddled bodies were left abandoned in the jungle, decomposed and eaten by maggots and insects. The skeletal remains of our bodies are still scattered in the wilderness unburied, and even the last rites for our souls are yet to be performed customarily or religiously. Nevertheless, we knew it was bound to happen the day we bit the bullet. We took an Oath and made a commitment to God that we shall protect and defend our Motherland come what may. Hence we bit the dust for Her cause.
However, it is regretful that, many amongst us fell victim to savage factional clashes. We became the scapegoats of the Naga political strife exigency. Were we cursed or dammed forever? Were our lives on earth all in vain or were our sacrifices meaningless? We questioned ourselves remorsefully and cluelessly as we await the judgement day. We failed to discern as to why and how such ferocious strife and cold-blooded fratricidal killings could have ever occurred among the Nagas? While we were embroiled in antagonistic and treacherous infighting among ourselves little did we know that it was suicidal and self destructive beyond human comprehension and beyond life. You know, here in heaven, there are no tribes or castes, rival or enemy, poor or rich, inferior or superior but we all are one and equal before God.
Dear top ranking officers of the Naga National groups/factions, while we want to thank and hail you for your unwavering dedication and efforts in bringing the Naga political movement thus far against all odds, we would also like to grievously remonstrate our dismay for your unwarranted decisions and mis-directions that have exacted heavy toll on all Nagas. Years of cold blooded fratricidal killings under your command has not only sowed the seeds of hatred and animosity among the Nagas but it has also begotten thousands of widows, orphans and cripples in our land. Don't you feel a sense of responsibility and accountability for all these, as leaders? People instinctively follow your lead regardless of your motive. Which means it is up to you to make peace or war, right? Jesus said, “But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.” – Luke 12: 48. It talks about your responsibility as leaders. You have been given much, and God desires you to use what He has given to further His Kingdom and proclaim His glory. That is the purpose of your leadership.
Have you hearkened the wails of thousands of living Nagas for whom you pledged to be faithful till the last breath of life, on the day you kissed the bullet, your palm placed over the Holy book that, you would, come what may, give up what is worldly, and that, you willfully undertook the oath that, the Nagas would be your first and the Nagas your last until the stolen freedom of the Great Naga Race and their Sweet Land be fully restored? We, your forgotten comrades, would have refrained from writing this letter of anguish but watching your actions and way of living down there have compelled us to do so. Lest you forget, where we came from and where we are heading to. Did your conscience not prick when you entered the inaugurated building adorned with effects that are afforded with the taxes from the people? The taxes you levied in the name of redeeming Nagas’ freedom ever since the invaders intruded into your Land!
Dare you pretend not to remember your comrades abandoned in the wilderness mortally wounded, forlorn and to be left there never to return? Have you forgotten the last pledge of your comrades as we parted our ways with the resounding pledge, though this terrible death may part us now, our spirits will forever yearn for Naga freedom and hearts will never give up but go with you till the finish line? Though forsaken here under the mercy of environmental furies, remember to tell our Naga people that we withhold nothing in order to give them everything and the freedom to live a free people in a free Nation. Will you please remember us, of our shared sweetest hope and fondest dream that one day we would walk down our village road with our heads held high, breathing the air of freedom bought with the blood of thousands of souls sacrificed at the altar? Will it be fair, on your part, to feign ignorance and not be bothered by the next door agony and grief of thousands of fatherless sons and daughters as you climb into your luxurious cars today?
Dare you join force with those pretentious folks who recklessly ravage and destroy our very existence by entering into electoral alliance and the system that you once vehemently condemned and disowned, even your own blood brothers who used to associate with? Don’t you realize that you are committing today the same political blaspheme by dining and sharing the same table strategizing state elections and the so-called autonomy under their law?
Please remember those thousands of mortal remains abandoned in the wilderness, sacrificed souls that are even denied of the least respect, or the last rite every departed soul deserves. They have been waiting for the sounding of freedom bell to be consoled by that very song of liberated voices ascending high though their flesh may not join the livings’ jubilation. Will there be a day when their names, at the very least, be called out as sacrificial Naga heroes or forever be forgotten as worthless soil while the living revel in the sumptuous hall lavish with economic packages at the expense of the shared dream of all that is purchased by blood?
We the dead and the forgotten soldiers are awfully pained, witnessing the way the Naga decision makers, both freedom fighters and outsiders’ employees, incessantly inventing excuses and interpret the course of Nagas’ most prolonged sojourn to suit their conveniences. The Nagas set sail on their journey smeared with innocent blood. The price the Nagas have paid for is nothing but to continuously say to leave the Nagas alone as in ancient times. No extraordinary political terms or utterances can add up over what those Naga elders expressed more than nine decades ago today. We are watching the steady declining process as the freedom fighters deliberately consent to entertaining the terms and fashion inserted by the adversary’s insinuation and advances. Won’t you believe that the same strength of being the Nagas can also denounce and reject any refashioned model and basis of settlement sans the will to self-determine what’s the best course for a Naga future? The incorruptible right of a free people/nation should rest only on the strength of the people and never on the leadership if the leading diverts direction towards ultimate failure.
It is sickening to watch many young Naga soldiers turning into wastrels and into substance-addicts. Who is responsible for the total absence of their worth as volunteered soldiers in defense of Naga national rights? Dare you turn away your eyes, oh commanders, kilonsers, when these young minds desperately call for your attention while you are busy planting and grooming your homestead? Are your affluent houses & cars worthier than these defence Forces? Your hollow formalities, singing praises, fasts, prayers and fiery sermons are but abominable utterances while you willfully overlook the sufferings of the soldiers and dying even for want of easily affordable medical attention which they needed most. We are watching and seeing how much engaged you are in earning and spending for your cozy and comfortable lifestyle while those at the lowest rung toil on with their routine duties come rain or shine. Is that the way to freedom?
Take heed dear comrades in the camp, the enemies have more lethal weapons than bullets, the snares to entrap and the dragnet is fast closing in as you choose to remain stupefied with money and the comfort it offers through states’ electoral maneuvers. Even your backyard is no longer safe for your offsprings to play around. Your vineyards will be soon declared as land of the state while your own brother candidates, with your so-called blessing, preach development in every homestead, gearing up for another alien popular government over the ancestral homeland you professedly proclaim to redeem!
Oh awake Naga citizens! Change your cloak stained with those states’ electioneering make-ups. Look back at the path you have traversed. You have been put on the balancing scale and found extremely wanting. Time is mercilessly against you! You have gambled away your birth right while sitting with those witty bargainers’ and across the table their own hands are set up to trap you. Believe thou not their promises and assurances. They are least bothered by the Nagas’ unsullied political history.
Beloved Naga Brethren, and Comrades in arms, take heed of this wake-up call. Lest you are caught off guard when the doomsday scenario knocks at your door. The oppressed people who have suffered so much for too long at the hands of oppressors or occupational forces become conditioned to being oppressed and they become as evil as the oppressor as a result. That's when self-destruction starts (Nagas in the current scenario) until they annihilate their historical and political legacies to become a lost people in their own lands. At this stage thinking Nagas especially Naga leaders must never allow their conscience to fall asleep. They must rise to the occasion and amalgamate their minds, strengths and resources to thwart the impending catastrophe at hand. Naga communities must rise up as one man to halt the progression of a trend that leads inevitably to their total destruction.
Naga people in Christ, lastly but not the least, God wants us to convey this message to you all; “Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.”- Colossians 3:12- 15.
Kuknalim!
