Grassroot Reality of the Oting Massacre

By Ellen Konyak Jamir

This past weekend, Nagas woke up to a horrifying reality – the death of 15 young men.

The name Oting was unknown to many Nagas and the outside world until this past weekend. Suddenly, #Otingmassacre is everywhere!

Coffins of the 14 people who were killed by security forces, during their funeral in Mon district of Nagaland, on Monday, December 6, 2021. Photograph: PTI Photo

    I am a native of Kongan village, although born in Wakching village of Mon District.

Kongan, Wakching, Naginimora, Tiru, Oting are all in the same mountain range touching the plains of Assam, where in the recent years coal mining has become the main source of income for the villagers. My friend, Dr. Dolly Kikon, an Anthropologist based in Melbourne has done an extensive study on this practice and Autonomous rights in Nagaland (Refer to Dolly Kikon, Cultures of Coal: Extractive Resources and Tribal Aspirations in Nagaland and Kikon, Dolly, Living with Oil and Coal: Resources Politics and Militarization in Northeast India, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2019).

Many natives of these villages are into this mining business mainly for their livelihood. There are many levels of operations, likewise the people who work there. Unlike the land owners, contractors, or wealthy investors, the coal miners of Dec 4^th are daily wage earners who work in dangerous conditions and risking their lives in the rat-hole mines. Like any other Naga, they want better lives, they want to sustain themselves, they want to send their children to better schools or colleges instead of sending them to the shabby government schools. And most importantly, these villagers are the custodians of our culture. They take care of the ancestral lands. They are the ones who keep our hearth warm and welcome us home.

So killing these young adults in the most inhuman way is causing much grief and anger. I hear many commentators saying that there has never been an outpouring of emotions and reactions of this magnitude. This massacre has touched us to the core and we are still trying to come to grips with this horrible reality. I cannot even begin to imagine what the families of the slain brothers are going through and how they will live on.

The impact:

1. These young adults whose names we will never forget are gone forever – W. Thakwang, L.Thapwang, L. Langwang, L.Pongche, M. Langtun, Phaokam, W. Hokup, W. Manpeih, C. Shomwang, S. Khawang, P. Ngampho, M.Yinjong, L.Leiong (from Chi) and Bipul Konwer. With them, precious lives have ceased. The hope of their families, the breadearners of the families and dependents are gone. For example, the father and son duo, the twin brothers, the newly married and another one soon to be married, Pongche from Jakphang was working as a handyman far away from his family. By the way, majority of them are from Oting, one is from Jakphang village, and another one from Chi village. There are three villages deeply affected.

There are a dozen more currently receiving medical treatment for their injuries. Who will help them? Two of the seriously injured are recent graduates. We are anxious about their future.

2. The families and relatives of the deceased are in a state of mourning. And because this massacre happened within the grand narrative of the geo-political struggle of Nagalim, people from all over the country and overseas are interested in this tragedy. So we have these humble, simple folks coping with not just a profound loss but never-before- experienced interviews, probes, investigation which could be overwhelming.

3. There is a probability of normal grief turning into complicated grief in our experience of this trauma. We are not well equipped to provide emotional and mental health services to so many people. The tendency of our people to resort to traditional or unhealthy means of coping is there.

4. Because of the timeframe of the massacre and the resultant reactions, there were much turmoil and confusion in the initial stage. I have to give huge credit to our elders, the Konyak Union, Konyak Student Union, Konyak Nyupuh Sheko Khong, the Konyak Baptist Bumeinok Bangjem and members, the various Organizations and Administration, for stepping up and doing what was necessary on December 4^th, the 5^th and this whole week. Managing the situation which involves several villages and Mon Town, is no easy task. Those friends visiting ground zero talk about the amazing hospitality in the midst of pain, the resilience of the humble villagers and all they encountered.

5. For many Nagas, it is reliving past traumas – poems, songs, social media rants, that recount deep, vivid pain have emerged within this week. Vigils are held in so many places, with hundreds and thousands of people participating everywhere even beyond our Naga borders. The slogan to remove or revoke AFSPA is everywhere, even louder this time round.

This is a very pivotal time in our history. We need to centre ourselves and come together to have the right narrative shared. This is no time to fight amongst ourselves but to address our plight which our 14 innocent brothers have paid for. It calls for all of us irrespective of our age, gender, tribe, party, faction, and denomination – to come together!!

Let us retrospect and honestly see where we are as a people. For many of us, we were born into this system where military presence in civilian areas is a norm. The atrocities acted out against our parents, brothers and sisters are somehow tolerated because of the culture of impunity in our system. The experts will tell us that this is totally wrong.

In a democratic country, we should be able to achieve our aspiration in non-violent ways through sincere negotiations and dialogues. We need to do away with mistrust, apathy and fight for dominance. Can we aspire towards peaceful co-existence?

Our historical narrative is one that is broken, confusing and complex. We should support the current investigation into the massacre – that the responsible parties look into the rightness of the incident, the truth, and that the Konyak people demands are fulfilled. We should not let this case be compromised or fade away to oblivion or apathy.

Consequently, we should continue to reach out to the Oting, Jakphang and Chi as well as Tizit and Mon Town people. We should uphold the dignity of their distress and walk with them as they seek justice and healing. We should hold their hands and walk with them.

How can we transcend our confusion and pain? How can we reconcile with this bitterness and pain? What can you and I do in this pursuit for peace and justice?

Kuknalim.

Ellen Konyak Jamir is a senior faculty at Oriental Theological Seminary, Bade, Dimapur, Nagaland. The above presentation was shared during the Virtual Roundtable Discussion Repeal AFSPA: Perspective from the North East India and Beyond organised by the Naga Scholars’Association on December 11, 2021.