Naga rebels use forced conversion for control

Posted November 18, 2003
BHAVNA VIJ-AURORA
Indian Express Newspapers

ITANAGAR, OCTOBER 17: It is not in jest that people in Arunachal Pradesh say that Naga insurgency is a bigger threat to them than China. Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani voiced the same concern, during his visit here, when he said that Tirap and Changlang districts were facing problems primarily due to Naga rebels.

But what he said in public was only the tip of the iceberg. State district and police officials reveal that these two districts are more or less under the control of Naga insurgents, especially the NSCN (Isaac-Muivah) which is backed and funded by the Southern Baptist Church.

‘‘Whatever you may hear in Delhi about the positive trend of the Centre’s talks with the NSCN (I-M), their goal of a Greater Nagaland is on course. Tirap and Changlang — bordering both Nagaland and Myanmar — are almost under the control of insurgents,’’ said an official, a fact also confirmed by Home Ministry sources.

One of the ways, by which the NSCN (I-M) is trying to control the administration of the two districts, is through conversion to Christianity. ‘‘The demographic profile of the state, especially of the two districts, has changed over the past decade. From 2,000 in 1991, the number of Christians in the state is almost 2,00,000 now,’’ said a state government official.

And according to the general secretary of Rangfraa Faith Promotion Society in Changlang, Latsam Khimhun, most of these conversions were forcible. Rangfraa is a Hindu tribal who alleges that NSCN (I-M) rebels raided Tirap and Changlang, razed Rangfraa temples, and forced the residents to adopt Christianity.

Quoting an instance, Khimhun said, some NSCN (I-M) members came to Thanyang and Kangkho villages in Changlang on May 13, and again on May 15, asking the people to convert. ‘‘When they refused, the insurgents burnt down the temples,’’ Khimhun said.

Police officers admit that while most cases of forcible conversion go unreported due to threats from rebels, many are coming forward to lodge complaints these days.

IG P.N. Aggarwal said half-dozen missionaries were arrested about five months ago when some people reported that they were being pressurised to convert. ‘‘They (the missionaries) were in jail for a month before they got bail,’’ he said.

An editor of a local newspaper disclosed that the missionaries were released only after political pressure from Nagaland at the highest level.

T.G. Rinpoche, a Buddhist priest and minister in the Apang government, tried to sound a more temperate note. ‘‘In a state where most people speak Hindi, and ‘Jai Hind’ is the mode of greeting in remote areas, conversion by force will not be easy,’’ he said.