Mental health distress is prevalent especially among the older generation Nagas, who have borne the brunt of the violence in the region since AFSPA’s inception. These tales of displacement and horror, weaving together multiple generations, have also mushroomed into intergenerational trauma.
The enforcement of AFSPA lies at the very root of psychological tyranny over Nagas not only in the region but also those outside it; it has a cascading effect. Migrants from the Northeast are looked upon by people of the ‘Mainland’ as those from regions of perpetual strife. With prevalent binaries of ‘Mainland India’ and ‘the Northeast’, the latter has ended up becoming perceived as a hotbed of terrorism. This is also another stratagem to subvert reconciliation and normalise the perception of the region being a ‘disturbed zone’. Such terms lead to the creation and continuation of stigma.
While there are some steps towards peace in the region and even a decline in recorded atrocities, AFSPA is still operational in several parts of the Northeast and its repeal remains elusive, keeping the fear of the violence alive, especially for the older generation.
There is an urgent need for an official acknowledgment of war crimes on non-combatants and the nefarious deployment of AFSPA against innocent civilians in the region. This would lead to a semblance of ‘closure’ for the afflicted and to dialogue for peace and amnesty. However, establishing the atrocities of the armed forces is a slippery slope, and especially under the vestiges of AFSPA, it would most likely remain an unfulfilled hope. Moreover, in the construction and perpetuation of the idea of ‘disturbed areas’, there is a normalisation of the routine violence, which has trivialised all civilian atrocities and mental health trauma throughout the region and so is comfortably shielded from neutral, external evaluation.
In such a situation, there is active denial, a complete whitewash of generational mental trauma. A clear example is the construction of an Assam Rifles memorial in Mokokchung district of Nagaland, whose residents had witnessed atrocities at the hands of the same contingent. Another instance is the assault on the memory of the Oting killings. In 2021, a unit of the Indian Army’s Para Special Forces massacred civilians in Oting village of Nagaland and tried to pass them off as militants by dressing them up in military fatigues. As a response, a Black Day was solemnly observed in all the Naga areas and the Hornbill Festival, an annual cultural event organised by the Nagaland state government, had to be called off that year. However, in the 2023 edition of the Hornbill Festival, the Indian Army morung, or house, was featured, even with people strongly protesting against it.
Addressing intergenerational trauma is a very complex process, which involves engagement from several stakeholders, including multiple organs of the State as well as the affected people. The primary steps towards this would be renewing the trust and confidence of the local populace and rectifying past blunders through a sincere outreach attempt. One of the most crucial aspects of this would be setting up a strong mental health framework for the community. In recent times, the armed forces have initiated certain outreach programmes, such as organising football tournaments and medical camps. Despite the bloody history, football has turned out to be a galvanising sport, an instrument of hope and a successful coping mechanism. But these are still band-aids, the fractures run deep. It is incumbent on the government of the day to earnestly endeavour for peace, reconciliation, and healing.
