Longrangty Longchar
Dimapur | November 2
Its not every day, that Kashmiri journalists get to visit northeast India especially Nagaland where the longest running political conflict in South Asia is on. There is a parallel: both the regions are heavily militarized and have a long history of political conflict with India. The states of Kashmir and Nagaland recently had an unusual opportunity of opening up each other’s socio-political and economic situations during a Panos South Asia study trip of veteran Kashmiri journalists.
They visited the north-east, particularly Kohima, Mon and Lungwa village bordering Burma recently in October. The Kashmiri journalists did apparently draw a parallel between the Naga political struggle and the Kashmiris, much as there is a similarity there are stark dissimilarities.
The most significant difference that the Kashmiri journalists noted (with a sense of regret, in the context of politics) was that the Nagas are Christians while the Kashmiris are Muslims when it comes to political struggle. “Unfortunately we are Muslims,” said Khurram, a very eloquent and soft-spoken man who has lost one of his legs to a blast in 2002.
Delving into the sense behind the lamentation about being Muslims, Khurram said there is a war on terrorism and the Muslims are being branded as ‘terrorists’. So world bodies like the USA are not keen to openly support the Kashmiri cause. However, this is not so with the Naga political problem as Nagaland is a Christian state and that any form of forceful repression would be strongly condemned by European countries and America. However, going by the international status of the conflict, Kashmir is on the upper hand as the United Nations Organisations has also recognized the dispute as an international issue.
“In no UN map, Kashmir is depicted as belonging to India or Pakistan…it is always marked in red…as a disputed area,” the journalists said. Khurram’s friend Hilal, attached with the Greater Kashmir daily said just like Kashmir, Nagaland is also a militarized state. However in Kashmir the ratio of soldiers and civilian is 1:14, he said. Khurram, who lost his leg during the last Kashmiri elections in 2002, asserts that the Kashmiris simply want “independence”. They don’t want to be with India nor with Pakistan. It’s simple as that. But the Kashmiri did display some admiration about the Nagas and said that the Nagas are very ‘diplomatic’ and ‘political’ when they talk about the Naga issue, which is not so with the Kashmiris. The Kashmiri are blunt to the point of being ‘brazen’, the journalists said.
The role of women in the Naga society also caught the attention of the Kashmiri scribes. They lamented that it is not so with Kashmiri women as they are not encouraged to take the lead, for Kashmir is a Muslim-dominated society. Though Kashmiri woman play a pivotal role in their political problems, yet they are discouraged to take the lead, unlike the Naga Mothers’ Association and such various Naga women organizations.
The rich culture of the Nagas did get the respect and admiration of the Kashmiri people who have only heard of the Nagas through the Media. It was a rare chance for the people of the two states to meet face to face and learn from each other during the trip which was closely monitored and followed by Intelligence Bureau agents. The Naga way of life, culture and tradition earned the respect of the Kashmiris who confessed to have never seen the Nagas in their lives.
