In its simplest Latin rendering, the adage is stark and uncompromising. If you want peace, prepare for war. It is not a glorification of war. It is a sober recognition of human nature, of history, and of power. It is the wisdom of the Roman strategist Vegetius, who understood that peace is never preserved by mere wish, but by readiness.
For the Nagas of Manipur, this ancient truth is not abstract philosophy. It is lived experience.
The Historical and Political Reality
The Naga people are not a recent political creation. They are an ancient nation of villages, clans, and chieftainships bound by blood, customary law, and a profound love for their hills and valleys. From the British era to the post-colonial Indian state, the Nagas have been told to be at peace while being unprepared for the consequences of that peace.
In Manipur, the Nagas’ plight is unique. Caught between a dominant valley-centric polity and a prolonged struggle for recognition of their distinct identity, land, and history, the Nagas of Ukhrul, Senapati, Tamenglong, Chandel and Kamjong have learned a hard political lesson: unarmed peace invites encroachment.
Political disunity, land alienation, demographic pressure, the dilution of tribal rights under Article 371C, and the constant threat of being reduced to a minority in their own ancestral homeland are not prevented by silence. They are prevented by strength. Si vis pacem, para bellum, in the political sense for the Nagas, means constitutional preparedness, legal literacy, political unity, and institutional strength. A people that does not prepare its youth in education, its villages in self-governance, and its leadership in negotiation, will not have peace. It will have peace dictated to it.
The Social and Moral Imperative
Socially, the Naga society in Manipur stands at a dangerous crossroads- a people who were once united and strong now face internal betrayal, greed, and fragmentation. The war we must prepare for is not only external. It is internal.
The moral decay described in Ezekiel 34:3 – “Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock” – is a mirror to our present condition. When leaders feed on the portion of their own people’s labor and sacrifice, when they kill the faithful for personal gain, when the flock is left unfed, unguided, and unprotected, then peace is already dead.
Therefore, to prepare for war is to prepare a moral war against corruption, against jealousy among brothers, against the culture of betrayal where Tangkhul kills Tangkhul, Naga kills Naga, while others watch. True preparedness is the revival of our customary values: honesty, hard work, fear of God, and respect for the village. A morally weak nation can never defend itself, however many weapons it holds.
The Biblical and Emotional Depth
The Bible never promises a peace without cost. The Psalmist says, “Blessed be the Lord my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight.” Christ himself said, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword” – not a sword of aggression, but a sword that divides truth from falsehood, right from wrong.
The Nagas are a deeply Christian people. Our faith teaches forgiveness, as someone so powerfully wrote: “We have forgiven our fellow Tangkhul brothers and the leaders who betrayed us… let Our Almighty God be the Judge and the executioner.” That forgiveness is divine. But forgiveness is not foolishness. Romans 13:4 reminds us that authority bears the sword not in vain. To forgive the past does not mean to be unprepared for the future.
Emotionally, Si vis pacem, para bellum speaks to the lone warrior in the image. One man against an army, with the caption: “If there is even a 1% chance, fight.” This is the emotional reality of every Naga youth who feels surrounded – by a system, by injustice, by history. It is not despair. It is defiance rooted in hope. Even a 1% chance for justice, for identity, for land, for future generations, is worth standing for. That is not aggression. That is faith. David stood against Goliath with a 1% chance, because he had prepared in the wilderness with lions and bears and Our Almighty God was on his side.
The Intellectual and Strategic Doctrine
Intellectually and lawfully, preparation for war means something profoundly non-violent in the modern world.
For the Nagas of Manipur, Para Bellum today means:
1. Prepare Legally: Know the Indian Constitution, Article 371C, 371A, the Sixth Schedule, customary laws, and land laws better than anyone else. A people ignorant of law cannot protect its land.
2. Prepare Historically: Document our history, our oral narratives, our village boundaries, our genealogies. A people without documented history will be told who they are.
3. Prepare Unitedly: The greatest war we face is division. Every tribe distinct, yet one purpose. United Tangkhul, united Mao, Maram, Poumai, Thangal, Zeme, Liangmai, Maring, Anal – united as Nagas. Disunity is an invitation to aggression.
4. Prepare Practically: In self-reliance, in economy, in education, in discipline. A village that depends on others for food, for defense, for thought, cannot have peace.
Strength deters aggression. This is a universal law. The world respects strength, not tears. The international community, the state, and even our neighbors will only respect a Naga who is organized, educated, disciplined, and morally upright.
Conclusion: The Peace Worth Having
We do not want war. No Naga mother wants to bury her son. No Naga village wants to burn. Our deepest longing is to till our hills, to sing in our churches, to raise our children in peace.
But we have learned through blood and betrayal that peace that comes from weakness is not peace. It is a pause before the next humiliation. It is a surrender.
Si vis pacem, para bellum, therefore, is for the Nagas of Manipur a sacred pledge:
We will prepare our minds, so we are not deceived.
We will prepare our unity, so we are not divided.
We will prepare our morals, so we are not corrupted from within.
We will prepare our future, so our children do not have to fight the same battles we failed to prepare for.
Let others prepare for war to conquer. Let the Nagas prepare for war to ensure that war never needs to come again. For only a strong, united, and morally awakened Naga can negotiate peace as an equal, not beg for peace as a subject.
If there is even a 1% chance for our people to live with dignity in our own land – we prepare, we stand, and we fight that 1% into a hundred percent future.
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Michael Meiphami Shaiza is Co-incharge of BJP Manipur State Political Programmes and Meetings and President of Ukhrul-based NGO Ecological Rehabilitators’ Association (ERA).
(Views expressed are writers’ own and do not, in whatsoever manner, reflect that of Ukhrul Now)
