Naga youth pitch for non-violence to solve their problems

Youth in insurgent-hit Nagaland are keen to end the decades of rebel-related violence, but in a non-violent manner.

By Vibou Ganguly

Kohima, Sept 24 : Youth in insurgent-hit Nagaland are keen to end the decades of rebel-related violence, but in a non-violent manner.

A majority of them feel that violence and an internalised fear has affected their development as a region, and now, they are looking to the principles espoused by Mahatma Gandhi to solve their problems.

"Mahatma Gandhi's non-violence doesn't imply that if the opposition is at your door, you will sit quite by, and suffer or surrender, but will use the moral force within you, which encourages the fighter to fight back for his pride and duty," said one of the speakers.

Speakers stressed on the need for non-violent methods to solve any problem.

"We have to be willing to change, to see the change, we will have to make the change, as it is not possible to change collectively but will have to change individually first," said another speaker.

"We Nagas are living under a cease-fire, but we can't say we have it. Everyday we see violence. There are reports of clashes and killing of people," he said.

The younger generation of Nagaland, which has been at the receiving end of violence in the State for the last five decades, stressed on the need for negotiations.

"History is the testimony to the fact that all fights, have created new and more complicated problems. We must use negotiation, as there is nothing in this world which can't be solved through negotiation," a seminar speaker said.

"Many of the problems that the world is facing today is due to violence. Therefore, the only solution is to propagate non-violence in our lives," he added.

ANI