Stop Naga human remains auction in UK: Nagaland CM urges EAM Jaishankar

Kohima, Oct 8 : Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on Tuesday urged the External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar to stop the auction of Naga human remains scheduled to take place in the UK on Wednesday.

Expressing his deep concern, the Chief Minister in an urgent letter requested EAM to take up this matter with the Indian High Commission in the UK to undertake necessary steps to ensure that the auction of the Naga human remains is halted.

Rio wrote the letter to EAM Jaishankar following an urgent letter from the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR), an apex body of the Naga society in Nagaland, in this regard.

“I have been informed by the FNR that Naga human remains are going to be auctioned in the UK. The FNR is an organisation that consists of Church leaders and representatives of civil society. The forum has been doing commendable service in our society in the field of peace, reconciliation and unity,” the CM’s letter read.

Rio said that the news of the proposed auction of Naga human remains in the UK has been received by all sections in a negative manner as it is a highly emotional and sacred issue for the people, as it has been a traditional custom of the people to give the highest respect and honour for the remains of the demised.

“…. the human remains of any deceased person belong to those people and their land. Moreover, the auctioning of human remains deeply hurts the sentiments of the people, is an act of dehumanisation and is considered as continued colonial violence upon our people,” the Chief Minister told the EAM.

He said that this has become a serious issue amongst the citizens of Nagaland and “we urge the government of India to do everything possible to ensure that the rights and emotions of our people are protected.”

Earlier, the FNR in an urgent letter to the Chief Minister informed that a Naga ancestral human remains listed as a "19th century horned Naga human skull" is part of a one-day sale by the Swan Fine Art at Tetsworth, Oxfordshire, in the UK.

“The Naga human remains’ value is estimated at 3,500-4,000 UK pounds and the provenance is traced to the Ex Francios Coppens Collection from Belgium. The Naga ancestral human skull is part of an auction titled "The curious collector sale" and is catalogued alongside antiquarian books, manuscripts, paintings, jewellery, ceramics and furniture,” the FNR said in his letter.

The apex Naga body condemned this inhumane and violent practice where indigenous ancestral human remains continue to be collector's items in the 21" century. “Such auctions continue the policy of dehumanisation and colonial violence on the Naga people.”

The organisation said that the auctioning of Naga ancestral human remains comes at a time when members of the FNR and the Recover, Restore and Decolonise Team (RRaD) have been facilitating a dialogue process on the repatriation of Naga ancestral human remains from the Pitt Rivers Museum at Oxford University.

The urgency to make repatriation of Naga ancestral human remains a priority is felt more than ever before, the FNR letter read.