Kohima, July 28 (MTNews): Hundreds of Naga people from across the Naga homeland joined in to participate at the Naga Solidarity Walk organized by the Global Naga Forum which kicked off from Kohima Thursday morning. The ‘walkers’ from Nagaland and the Naga inhabited areas of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Myanmar have joined in the two-day Naga Solidarity Walk on the theme “One People, One Destiny”, which commenced from Lerie Junction, Kohima.
The Naga Solidarity walk will culminate at Tahamzam (Senapati) in Manipur tomorrow after a night’s halt at Maram traversing across Angami, Mao, Maram and Poumai Naga territories covering a distance of 81 kms.
Speaking on the significance of the Solidarity walk, Advisor of Global Naga Forum Dr. Visier Sanyü, who is also the President of Overseas Naga Association, said, “In this walk, we want to show ourselves and to the world that we are one people.” He believed that this solidarity walk will “enrapture the souls of the Naga people to do the right thing for the people who love its land so much.” Stating that the Nagas and Naga family is deeply divided, Dr. Sanyü said “this is the right time to come together to build our nation as one people for one destiny.” He asserted that today, “we want to fight for our people with our heart and love.”
According to GNF, “the Naga Solidarity Walk, a modest but meaningful walk, is the start of the 21st Century Naga Solidarity Walk, the first leg of a people’s relay for unity and peace in the Naga homeland. It is not an anti-India project; this is a pro-Naga movement and a non-violent one.”
It added that the walk sends across a message converging in a common path of healing and peace for a shared journey to an undivided homeland of ‘One People, One Destiny.’ “The Solidarity Walk celebrates our being Nagas together. The concept is inclusive, non-partisan, and peaceful,” it added.
The walk hopes to “bridge the divisions and boundaries – physical and regional, ideological and political, tribal and gender; a joyous cultural enactment of Naga sisterhood and brotherhood, reinforcing community bonds as a people across the states in India and Northwest Myanmar, as well as Nagas around the world.”
The Global Naga Forum (GNF) is a group composed of Naga men and women from across the Naga homeland. The GNF said that the forum consists of young and old, in different walks of life, living and working in India, Myanmar, and other countries of the world, but who share the common aspiration for a self-determined democratic Naga society in an undivided homeland with the motto ‘One People, One Destiny.’