Archives: Northeast

Speech of Isak Chishi Swu, Yaruiwo (President) of the Government of the People's Republic of Nagalim (GPRN) on the occasion of the 65th Naga Independence Day celebrations, August 14, 2011. My dear Naga people, Six decades ago on this historic day, the 14th of August 1947, the Naga people took a historic decision to remain as an independent nation and subsequently held a plebiscite in 1951 in affirmation of that decision. Since then the conflict started between the Indian Armed Forces and the Nagas. The Government of India (GoI) initiated a systematic military campaign to crush the...

A "hidden" language spoken by less than 1,000 people has been discovered in Arunachal Pradesh by researchers who at first thought they were documenting a dialect of the Aka culture, a tribal community that subsists on farming and hunting. But they found an entirely different vocabulary and linguistic structure. Even the speakers of the tongue, called Koro, did not realise they had a distinct language, linguist K David Harrison said Tuesday. Culturally, the Koro speakers are part of the Aka community in Arunachal Pradesh, and Harrison, associate professor of linguistics at Swarthmore...

For a man on a mission of reaching out to his people, the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN) general secretary has been a busy man. The backdrop of talks with the Indian government makes Thuingaleng Muivah busier still. But he doesn’t keep you waiting. He doesn’t keep you waiting because he is not the kind. The glint in his eyes is unmistakable, as he comes forward to greet me. As he exchanges pleasantries, it is evident he doesn’t forget things. He recollects my interactions with him long before the NSCN signed the ongoing ceasefire with the Indian government in...

A week ago an unsettling incident occurred in Assam that went largely unnoticed in the Indian media. Over a thousand suspected illegal migrants crossed the Dhansiri river and, with impunity, took over parts of Orang National Park in Darrang district in the early hours of May 6. They came from the innumerable chars (riverine islands) that dot the Brahmaputra river. They did not come empty-handed – they brought along building materials and cattle. They apparently had come to stay. For good. By the time forest guards spotted the invaders that afternoon, the migrants had already...

With curtains of mist on its blue-green mountains, the land is home to a haunted cliff, a demonic lake and a skully cave. You will actually feel the thrill in your bones as you learn of the ancient lores the tiny landlocked state, Mizoram, is steeped in. They are grandmother’s tales taking you back in time and place. And as you wind your way up the steep and rolling inclines, the zestful gasps of the clean, fresh mountain air remind you of the once pristine earth. But, to reach the loftiest peak in the state, barely 2,157 metres high, one has to travel down to the southernmost tip...

Subir Ghosh: The Kuki-Naga clash will never end it seems. What do you think your role is in this context? What is your assessment of this issue? Thuingaleng Muivah: The so-called Kuki-Naga clash is a pure and simple creation of the Indian government. It is an utterly miscalculated venture since the sole motive behind it is to make the Kukis fight against the Nagas. What a proxy war! But, expecting what? And, from whom? However, most of the Indian Press took sides with the Kukis and ran unprofessional and biased accounts of the conflict against the Nagas. Yet, in spite of this scheme...

Subir Ghosh: The issue of issue of unity among the Nagas is one of the most written-about subjects. I have raised the issue of the surrenders in 1973 and 1975. Then there was the Phizo-Sakhrie conflict. Do you think such dissension has affected the Naga cause? ...

Subir Ghosh: The birth of Naga nationalism is seen by many as the submision of a memorandum to the Simon Commission in 1929. Do you agree that the formation of the Naga Club was the first concrete step towards Naga nationalism? ...

With the stage set for the February 15 Assembly polls in the Northeast, a surfeit of names crop up that extend from the ordinary to the bizarre. There are namesakes and names for names' sake. Adolf Hitler, for once, is not a member of the German National Socialist Party. He is not a protagonist of Nazism either for anybody to be alarmed of but just the Congress(I) nominee for the Rangsakona (ST) seat in Meghalaya. Adolf Hitler R Marak is his full name. The Great Dictator of the Third Reich is not the only fiend to contest in the ensuing elections in the state. The very name of a...

Subir Ghosh: There is a perceptible difference between the talks of the Sixties and that of the Nineties. What lessons did you learn from the previous discussions so that the current negotiations are not abortive once again? Thuingaleng Muivah: I would rather say that to quite an extent our approach last time had not been genuine. It was not, objectively speaking, to the point. SG: Except the NSCN chairman Isak Chishi Swu - the factor common to the two rounds of talks - everything else is different. TM: The general feeling of the people too is different this time. One has to, many...