Ceasefires and declarations aside, most Nagas consider their war with India perpetual and without pause since 1956 to the present. If acts of violence between the Naga and the Government of India are any indication, the continuous war assessment appears to be correct. Also, one can regard the Armed Forces Special Powers Act of 1958, which is still in effect throughout the Nagalim, as further evidence the war is ongoing.
Indeed, it’s obvious the violent conflicts didn’t cease after the ceasefire of 1964. The largest example of post 1960’s violence occurred in the hills of Oinam in 1987. Many Nagas remember the event as the Oinam War or Oinam Massacre. Indian authorities remember it as Operation Bluebird.
Whatever its name, the current generation of Nagas live with the events from Oinam emblazoned upon their psyche. For any Naga alive at the time, the events at Oinam continue to galvanize their resistance to the Indian government. While these events happened over a year before Cosmo Zimik was captured and tortured, they impacted him deeply and personally.
The record shows that on July 9th, 1987, Naga freedom fighters (they are recognized as such by the United Nations) raided a post of the Assam Rifles (the branch of Indian military most often assigned to border and tribal areas) near the village of Oinam, Manipur. In broad daylight the Naga troops killed 9 Assam Rifle soldiers (known as Jawans) and strode off with large amounts of munitions.
In an effort to recover the looted items, the Assam Rifles launched Operation Bluebird. But as the operation unfolded, it became widely regarded as retaliation and/or revenge more than a systematic search for stolen goods.
Over a span of four months, the Assam Rifles quarantined an area including some thirty villages and subjected their Naga residents to torture, rape, sexual molestation, beatings and summary executions. According to firsthand accounts, two women were forced to give birth to their children publicly in front of the Jawans.
Multiple accounts of these atrocities have been provided by Naga villagers and recorded by human rights organizations. In 1990, Amnesty International wrote an extensive report titled, “Operation Bluebird: A Case Study of Torture and Extrajudicial Executions in Manipur.”
Within the report, villagers describe being kept outdoors in the rain and heat for weeks on end. They claim older villagers died from the stress of exposure. More than a hundred houses, churches and school buildings were allegedly burnt or dismantled. Crops failed. Villagers were forced into hard labor building roads and internment camps. During all of this, it is believed not a single stolen weapon was recovered.
Locals and activists appealed to the regional government in Manipur, but the Chief Minister declared the Assam Rifles a rogue entity riding roughshod over the rule of law. Indeed, in some instances the Rifles imprisoned local police and threatened anyone who got in their way.
And so Operation Bluebird continued until the end of October, 1987—nearly four months. Within a year, charges were leveled against the Assam Rifles. This, in and of itself, was a historic occurrence due to the protection bequeathed them by the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. In July of 1988, the High Court of India directed the sessions judge in Imphal, Manipur to record evidence primarily consisting of eye-witness accounts.
Due to a large intimidation campaign carried out by the Assam Rifles, only 22 witnesses were brought forth. Even so, the extensive testimony of those individuals took many weeks to record. From 1988 to 1992, the Assam Rifles filed counter claims, made criminal charges, harassed countless individuals assisting the Naga, identified over 700 witnesses on their behalf, and in general did whatever they could to derail the judicial process.
In 1992, the presiding judge recorded a 10,000 page brief only to be transferred before he could record the final judgment. Twenty-one years later, no judge has been appointed to take his place, and the case is still pending.
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Empty Hand Revolution
Non-FictionBorn into a tribal war with India, violence his earliest memory, Comso Zimik trained as a black belt and street fighter from the age of nine. His vow: never show weakness. Tortured and left for dead in the jungle at the age of seventeen, Cosmo birth...
