Naga Solidarity Walk culminates with hope for Naga unity

July 30, 2022 57 Views No Comment

DIMAPUR, JULY 30 (MExN): The Naga Solidarity Walk from Kohima to Tahamzan (Senapati) under the theme ‘One People, One Destiny,’ which kicked off on July 28 was completed today as a “hopeful physical enactment of a journey toward Naga unity across the artificial barriers and boundaries put in our way by the powers that be.”

Nagas in large number, young and old, most of them in their traditional attires, walked for two days in monsoon rain and summer heat. As they walked along the national highway the number of ‘walkers’ swelled. They were greeted with cheers, drinking water, food and banners carrying encouraging words.

They held a night at Maram where an evening gathering programme was organized. From there, the ‘walkers’ proceeded for Tahamzam (Senapati) early this morning and reached the destination around noon where a programme was organized.

Solidarity messages were presented by many Naga organizations including the United Naga Council (UNC) at the Tahamzam public ground.

A Public Declaration was also issued reiterating that the Naga People have repeatedly declared and defended their right to freedom and self-determination in their ancestral lands in battle and in writing against the British colonial occupation.

However, it said that ignoring the expressed Naga declaration of freedom from colonial rule in 1947, postcolonial India and Burma continued to impose colonial rule over our lands and our ancestors, so that till today, in 2022, in gross violation of human and indigenous peoples’ rights, the Naga Homeland lies divided in four states in India and a province in Myanmar.

It lamented that thousands of Naga patriots have sacrificed their lives in the seven-decade long struggle for political self-determination “against the continuing colonial control of our lands and lives, especially by Indian military forces going back to the 1950s and still operating in our homeland under protection of extra-judicial laws like DAA and AFSPA.”

It declared that time has come, “yet again, to insist on an immediate peaceful resolution of the Indo-Naga political problem, which must include a constitutional structure and timetable for recognition and implementation of the Peoplehood of the Nagas in a self-determined governance system in an undivided ancestral homeland comprising all the Naga territories.”

A leader representing Nagas in Myanmar, while delivering a solidarity speech at the Tahamzam public ground, said that it was a celebration in breaking regional ideologies and barriers. The leader appealed to the rest of the Nagas not to forget the hardship faced by the Nagas in Myanmar. He also said that the unique Naga history and culture will be incomplete if the Nagas in Myanmar are excluded in the Naga political settlement.

Prof Rosemary Dzüvichu, Co-Convener of the Global Naga Forum (GNF), which facilitated the walk, said the Naga Solidarity Walk is a “unity walk for all Nagas, a walk for a better future together as one people in an undivided ancestral homeland.”

She described the Naga Solidarity Walk as a community celebration of the Naga homeland. Dzüvichu pointed out that the choice facing the Nagas today is “too real and clear to ignore.” “Every Naga must ask oneself this question: Am I for the survival of the Nagas as a People with a precious salvageable heritage? Or with the small vested interest groups in Naga society whose main preoccupations are power and wealth?” she added.

Dzüvichu reiterated that it is a walk for peace and transformative change; it is not against other people; it is not anti-Indian or anti-Myanmarese; and it is pro-Naga rights of self-determination and for peace in the Naga homeland.

The GNF Co-Convener hoped that this “positive community-based action will grow into a burgeoning journey for a brighter future for all Nagas.” The forum invited every Naga to “proudly exercise your right to walk in your God-given homeland, no matter what anyone may say to the contrary.”

She stated that the Naga people are in need to heal themselves from the “wounds and offenses we have inflicted on one another.” “It is true, the past doesn’t die; it continues to live in us. But we know the present is alive in us too, even more so, in the here and now,” Dzüvichu said.

She stressed that the “possibilities of that future beckon us to forgive one another and to bestow the gift of grace, which may not be deserved.” This, Dzüvichu maintained, is the “critical transformative choice we must make as individuals and as groups.”

Source: https://morungexpress.com/naga-solidarity-walk-culminates-with-hope-for-naga-unity