As this is written, an uneasy calm prevails in Nagaland&’s Tuensang district. According to reports, a 15-year-old boy was killed during an attack at Chingmelen village on 6 February and a woman and her child were allegedly abducted. The latter were, however, freed upon a tribal court&’s intervention. The incident reportedly took an ugly turn when some miscreants beat up a policeman in Tuensang town and, even as he was being removed to hospital, the irate crowd was said to have grabbed and hacked him to death.

It appears that tension had been brewing in the region since November last year between two villages. According to the Eastern Naga Students’ Federation, incidents of violence could have been averted had the government implemented the “Longkhim peace agreement of 21 January”. Given that tribalism runs deep in the Naga psyche, chief minister TR Zeliang should have known better and acted without the least hesitation, but he was too busy protecting his loyalists from dissident marauders.

The government&’s responsibility does not end with announcing compensation to the families of victims — in this case, a paltry Rs 1 lakh. It must also look into what caused the flareup, and, if need be, help settle the dispute to the satisfaction of both sides. Community clashes hardly augur well for the future of tribal harmony. It has to be admitted that sporadic inter-tribal clashes are not uncommon in interior Nagaland where headhunting was prevalent until the 1950s. In 1951, when 99 Nagas were killed in clashes between two tribes in the Mon area (those days it took 10 days on foot to reach Mon from Mokokchung), an Assam Rifles team sent from Kohima was able to establish an outpost at Mon, which is now a district.

Tuensang has always been a troubled area. In August 1990, clashes between two traditional rivals, the Konyaks and Changs, left 29 dead. Earlier, in March 1987, five were killed by a group of Changs over the construction of a morung (a bachelor&’s dormitory). All this over Tobu village, on the border of Tuensang and Mon districts, because its inclusion in Mon left many questions unanswered. While Tobu&’s upper reaches, inhabited by the Konyaks, was shown in Mon district, parts of predominantly Chang areas were left undefined, creating confusion.

Today, the Changs and Konyaks and for that matter the Yimchungers and Changs (involved in the latest dispute) are no longer ferocious or warlike,like their ancestors. Some of them have even served as ministers after Nagaland attained statehood. The Naga communities must realise the futility of nursing old hatreds. This will be to their mutual benefit and even go a long way in creating a congenial atmosphere for peace, so vital for progress and development — something that has not received the attention it deserves in that area.

In this connection, it is worth recalling reports way back in 1989 of how a change of heart helped settle a 56- year-old dispute over the Dikhu river between the villagers of Yochem in Tuensang and Changtonia in Mokokchung. With no solution in sight, the matter was referred to the High Court, which forbade villagers from either side from encroaching on each other&’s territory. A revival crusade by church leaders then prompted a sudden reversal of attitude and, realising their mistake, the people of Yochem and Changtonia decided to forgive and forget.

jbl@thestatesman.net