Recently one of our acquaintances was taken away by the workers of a prominent group for no particular reason. When his poor father came to know of this, he thought of rushing to the nearest police authorities. But then he was advised by some people to talk, instead to the freedom fighters themselves.
While the local leaders agreed that the boy was innocent, yet on a flimsy account a demand for a substantial amount was made. Till a couple of days back, the father was running around trying his best to prove that he did not have that kind of money to part with and would be most grateful if the group released his son the soonest. In a different incident, another person was also detained for almost a week, though he was not involved in any untoward activity. Fortunately he came to no harm. It is quite sad to come across such instances of high handed behavior of cadres at the behest of their local bosses for no rhyme or reason at all.
Strangely enough, sometime ago, we all read in the papers that a boy, who had been abducted by unknown persons at Dimapur, had been freed by a group after almost two months. Hopefully, the father who had approached the group must have been blessed with adequate means the release. We often wonder as to what role the police, the supposed protectors of law abiding citizens have assumed for themselves in all this? Are they only bystanders, as are most of us? What has our beloved Naga world come to, that the common men has to pay for protection money to remain free and go about his daily chores? Or is all this worry misplaced? After all it takes only a visit to the Oking, a meeting with some friends from ones region, exchange of an amount that may be made up later and to behold, there are now a set of new people, one is acquainted with, who could be asked for assistance in times of need! Instant service, Naga style at the doorstep. Quite cool indeed.
So who is making all the fuss? And if the story does not end like this and the person abducted dies or is maimed due to the whims and fancies of the abductor? A helpline has been established recently to complain against such happenings. Hope it is functioning well. In fact, on the contrary, it appears as if everything is well organized at a higher level. We sincerely pray that the leadership will put an end to all this immediately and pull out the errant cadres or bigwigs to task.
Let reasons prevail. Let not the poor and feeble fall prey to the greed of those with the gun.or else, one day, more Nagas will take to arms, setting up a vicious cycle indeed. Do we want to destroy our beloved Naga society? If not, ‘Let us join hands abduction now.’
R Yanthan
