A Divided Nagaland
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“That is the reason why I have come to Thailand. Many times they have attempted to shoot me.”
Thomas Shapwon is a former politician and civil society actor from the Naga community. Here he offers a profound and deeply personal account of a people who have strived to exist as a sovereign nation, their land and identity having been threatened over the decades by colonial power, neighboring countries, and militants from his own community.
Shapwon describes the Naga identity as one that has always been independent. He emphasizes that the Naga have distinct linguistic and cultural roots when compared to others across India or Myanmar. “Since time immemorial, we are a different nation!” he says. “We do not have the same story. We have a different language, a different culture and a different color of skin as well.” He contends that the Naga have always lived as free people: before the British colonized much of the region in the 1800s, he says, the Naga had not been subjects of the various kingdoms that had ruled before.
Shapwon traces key moments of Naga resistance: from the formation of the Naga Club in 1918 to the historic declaration of Naga independence in 1947, exactly one day before India’s own declaration. Mahatma Gandhi supported Naga independence, but after his death in 1948, Jawaharlal Nehru adopted a more hostile position. In 1952, Prime Minister Nehru and Burmese Prime Minister U Nu visited the region to discuss the official borders of their country, which ended up splitting the Nagas in two. Shapwon tells how the Naga National Council (NNC) and others, expecting a formal dialogue, were instead met with an insult: an official declared that they were restricted from submitting any documents, or even so much as speaking a word. In a mass show of defiance, over 10,000 Nagas walked out of the meeting. From that point on, Nehru and U Nu proceeded to divide the Naga nation according to an arbitrary boundary line drawn by the British in 1914, without any consultation or consent from the Naga people.
“We have no king, we have no dictatorial rule, but rule by village council only, and all the villages were themselves free, republican villages,” Shapwon says. The Naga people, he continues, are descended from the ancient region of Mesopotamia, and over the centuries they migrated through China and then to their present-day home along the India-Myanmar border. Throughout history, the Naga people have chosen their own path, a trait that he emphasizes while explaining how the Naga came to embrace Christianity.
Shapwon speaks positively of the British colony’s policy of freedom of religion… which was not permitted, he adds, under previous Burmese kingdoms, and has been a source of conflict during the subsequent Burmese military regimes. American Baptist missionaries travelled to the region in the 1800s, eventually making it to Nagaland, where their Christian sect was adopted by a large majority of the Naga people. Shapwon estimates that 95% of his people are Baptist, which he highlights as a possible benefit when trying to garner support from Western Christian nations in their broader appeals to the international community.
As a diplomat who believes advocates for peaceful resistance, language is Thomas Shapwon’s greatest tool, and he chooses his words carefully. “We want to request that India or Burma recognize our independence, only because we are not demanding independence. ‘Demanding’ means we are subjects of India or subjects of Burma.” He insists that the Naga should “request” their independence, because then his people and the leaders of India and Burma (even those at the United Nations) are all on equal footing. At the same time, Shapwon expresses no resentment towards those in his community who favor violent resistance and acknowledges that since 1947 armed Naga groups have worked in parallel to his and others’ more diplomatic methods.
The formation of Naga armed groups, according to Shapwon, was an act of self-defense. When the Indian government sent its army into Nagaland in 1955, the Naga people responded by forming their own militias to protect their sovereignty. They used remaining ammunition from World War II and, later, forged alliances with nations like East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and China to acquire modern weaponry. Meanwhile, the Nagas to the east also formed their own armed groups to defend their territory from the Burmese army; most prominently the Eastern Naga Revolutionary Council (ENRC) in 1965.
Shapwon also delves into the internal challenges facing the Naga movement, attributing the emergence of various factions to a deliberate "divide and rule" strategy employed by the Indian government. These divisions, he explains, were often driven by individuals prioritizing their own leadership over the collective national interest. In eastern Nagaland, poppy fields have historically served as a core source of income for the Naga people. He accuses the Burmese army of deliberately using drugs, like opium, as a tool to destabilize and weaken Naga youth. This, he explains, is part of a calculated military strategy to undermine the Naga resistance and control the region's valuable resources.
Shapwon founded the Eastern Naga Development Organization (ENDO), identifying it as the first NGO in Nagaland. He proudly highlights the organization’s ambitious objectives, centered on social welfare and community cohesion. These include ENDO’s five core objectives that address critical societal issues. "Mainly we are operating or supporting education and health care, opium eradication, the environment and also a woman organization.” In tune with his approach to politics, Shapwon works on the civil side of community organizing, including in a role as Joint Secretary of the NNC.
As steadfast as he is in his belief that lasting peace and unity can only be achieved through peaceful means, Shapwon is a realist and, as a proud man of Christian faith, calls out injustice where he sees it. In particular, he derides the Burmese military’s Buddhist nationalism, and their persistent campaign to repress Christianity in the Naga community. This includes military aggression as well as attempting to convert Naga youth within the Burmese education system. “Most of the villages have been burned down by the Burmese army, and also the churches! Even Christian people were forced to convert to Buddhism in our area after 1990.”
Shapwon has had numerous attempts on his life, which bares the extreme personal risk inherent in the Naga struggle for self-determination. He recounts facing threats not just from external military forces, but also from within his own community due to political and ideological differences. He notes that he opposed the push for socialism by some Naga factions, a stance that made him a target. He recalls a dramatic incident in 1985 where an eastern Naga group attempted to assassinate him during breakfast, with a bullet narrowly missing his ear. Despite this, his commitment to unity was unwavering. He instructed his own men not to fire back, acknowledging that “they are also our people.”
Beyond the conflicts with Naga, Indian, and Burmese groups, Shapwon survived a near-fatal bear attack in the jungle in 1975, an injury from which he still suffers. The bear mauled him severely, leaving him critically injured, and he has since interpreted his survival as a result of divine intervention. Believing he was about to die, he appealed for help from a higher power: “I pray to God to seek my soul and forgive my soul, to forgive my sins,” he remembers saying. This continuous exposure to danger— from rival political factions to state armies and even nature itself— has now marked his life for decades. Shapwon admits that the constant threats against his life were a significant factor in his decision to seek shelter in Thailand.
Addressing the volatile, post-coup landscape, Shapwon goes into the Nagas’ relationship with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), whom he considers as a "neighbor" or "brother," yet acknowledges there is also somewhat of a complicated history. But a shift occurred following the 2021 military coup in Myanmar. The Eastern Naga National Organization and its military wing, the Eastern Naga Defense Army (ENDA), were formed to facilitate closer cooperation with the KIA. He confirms that the ENDA is actively collaborating with the KIA and Bamar leaders in the People's Defense Force (PDF), and mentions the current fighting in the crucial Sagaing Region. He describes this as a necessary alignment born from a shared fight for survival and self-determination.
Amid the current crisis, the Naga and its leaders are now confronted with a critical question: In a future free and democratic Myanmar, should the people of Nagaland become a separate state or should they instead seek to become a member state of a federal democracy? Shapwon, answering diplomatically, notes that the future of the region will be determined through peaceful means, an adds that the eventual outcome will be decided by the Naga people themselves.
Shapwon closes by touching upon a very different topic: traditional Naga cuisine, which he describes as being marked by simplicity, and that it is often shared in a communal setting. He notes one particular dish in which chopped meat is seasoned with chili and salt, alongside rice, and is then placed inside a piece of bamboo and slowly roasted over a fire. He says that, historically, their food was based on what could be hunted, and the meat was never sold, but rather shared equally among villagers. “In our villages,” Thomas Shapwon says, “we are helping each other. If we get any meat from the jungle, we share and eat together."