We are humans, not Naga, Kuki, Meetei, Pangal, Loi, Bishnupriya

James Heisnam *

Various ethnic group of Manipur representation during Manipur Sangai Festival 2017 on 30 November 2017 :: Pix - Lamdamba Oinam

We are born as human, but we are entitled and recognized as Naga, KUKI, Meetei, Pangal, Loi, Bhishnupriya and so on. Men's tradition of nomenclature gives us different names and in the similar way, we are again made existing in different rooms; Manipur, Nagaland, India respectively, but if we look at our home by standing on our courtyard or from a particular distance then we would see only one common home called motherland earth.

In this phenomenon, some of us want to get separated from this collection or the common home. They want to spend their lives within a boundary of sovereignty of their own. It may be the result of their dissatisfaction or grievances they get under the supervision of the head of the common family.

However, we often forget or ignore one famous line- "United we stand, divided we fall," I also do ignore this line sometimes and consequently I left my family due to the misunderstanding between me and my family members.

Today I'm not telling the whole story of mine because it will cover more than the whole of this page if I tell. In short, they want me to do only what their wants.

A similar case was also happened to Buddha too (Enlightened one) he left his father's palace for he wanted to loose the worldly pleasures, the royal life. How and why such a great spiritual leader left his family is debatable on whether it was right or wrong, but actually what he did was to find the truth.

The point here is everyone has his or her own purposes for he or she wants to leave his or her family and Budha was no exception. He left the palace by leaving the royal life, his wife and he didn't beg anything from his father at the time of his departure. When he got enlightened, he started preaching his teachings to his disciples and then became a saint later.

From the story of Budha and other some great spiritual leaders and according to my experience, I cannot say it will wrong to get separated from your family if you are suppressed, oppressed or subjugated, if your life is going to ruin due to the oppression by the heads of your family and if you are not able to extract your own potentials due to their oppression.

But in the case between NSCN-IM and the government of India on the issue of integration of all Naga inhabited areas, there is a big possible outcome of an actual war if the demand is approved by the government of India as no one wants to give his or her belonging to the invaders easily.

I think it will very right to predict and anticipate that no one of the neighbouring states of Nagaland where the Nagas inhabit will remain silent if the government of India approves the demand of integration of all Nagas inhabited areas.

However, demanding sovereignty from the hands of Indian government is your own aspiration, you may have a lot of grievances like we the people of Manipur suffer under the political system or the governance of India since we are one of the north-eastern states.

So we are not stopping you (NSCN-IM) in demanding your sovereignty, but thousands of freedom fighters will come out equipping with their ready souls to stop you, fight you if you demarcate on others' land.

Let's talk together on one assumption, If you say all the lands or the areas where your group or Nagas inhabits are your land then will you be dare to say everywhere across the globe where the Nagas inhabits are your land too?

Stop demarcating others' land, stop creating any form of war among your own brothers and sisters it may be either cold-war or actual-war, but both are not good. Look, we are humans; we are not Naga, Kuki, Meetei, Muslim, Loi or others. Trust me, when you trace the origin of your forefathers, you will only find a person named 'Human' as the oldest one.

Do consider what will be the outcome if you demarcate others' land when the others have the weapons not less than yours. The outcomes will only make us chopping each other's limbs, limbs of our own brothers.

There has never been a descent outcome of war ever since the war came into existence in the human civilization, the only thing is if you win the war, you will be entitled as the winner, but you are supposed to lose hundreds of your dear ones, your wife, your children and many more. So make decision wisely, this is an era of technology, weapons, it would takes only seconds to destroy everything.

I know many writers have written many detailed columns on this issue, but apart from theirs, let me put a new one:-If the government of India approves the integration of all Naga inhabited areas then the outcome may be undesirable. And at that time the government of India cannot suppress the people of Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and of Assam.