Global Naga Forum
One people, One Destiny
http://www.globalnagaforum.com
E-mail: globalnagaforum@gmail.com
Kohima
April 15, 2025
PRESS RELEASE
Indian Government’s Denial of Mr. Neingulo Krome’s Right to Travel Abroad
“Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country” (UN Declaration of Human Rights, Article 13.2)
On April 7, 2025, Mr. Neingulo Krome, Secretary General of the Naga people’s Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR), was detained at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi while en route to Kathmandu, Nepal, and sent back to Nagaland. He was travelling to Kathmandu to attend a meeting organized by the Asia Indigenous Peoples’ Pact (AIPP). This was not the first time Mr. Krome was denied the right to travel abroad and sent back home. On February 5, 2020, he was forcefully returned to Nagaland from the airport in Kolkata while travelling to Bangkok for a meeting. On both occasions, the vague justification the Indian authorities gave for denying him the right to travel was a blunt, “You cannot travel.”
The Global Naga Forum stands in complete solidarity with Mr. Neingulo Krome for his right to travel abroad. The Indian Supreme Court’s ruling going back to the 1960s says that the right to travel abroad is a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, and the government cannot invalidate the right without a proper procedure established by law. “You cannot travel” as an explanation for taking away a person’s right to travel is not a valid procedure under Indian or international law. Such arbitrary and illegal exercise of power by Indian authorities demands outright condemnation by everyone who believes in human rights and the rule of law. The injustice must be addressed forthwith. The Global Naga Forum appeals to the Indian government to immediately remedy this serious violation of India’s constitutional guarantee. Mr. Krome’s right to travel freely to countries where lawful travel restrictions are not in place for the public must be restored without delay.
The Global Naga Forum is well aware that the Indian authorities’ denial of Mr. Krome’s travel rights is more than an attack on one man’s freedom; Krome is, after all, the Secretary General of the Naga People’s Movement for Human Rights. What the Indian government is doing to him is part of a persistent decades-long attempt to silence the voice of the indigenous Naga people for dignity and political self-determination in their ancestral homeland; it is a deliberate effort to delegitimize their participation and rightful place in democratic global forums. The fact that this history of blatant injustice against the Naga people has gone on for over seven decades makes the Indian government’s breach of national and international obligations all the more inexcusable.
It is important to recognize that India’s autocratic and illegal dismissal of Mr. Krome’s right to travel abroad is related to the wider restrictions imposed on the Naga people’s right to freedom of movement in their own homeland, which straddles the India-Myanmar border. The Indian government’s decision to do away with the Freedom of Movement Regime in the region restricts Nagas from going about their normal daily lives in their own lands. Nagas cannot freely travel and interact with one another. In addition, India has started building a fence along the Naga corridor of the Myanmar border that cuts through their homeland, separating Naga families and communities on both sides of the international fence. These violations of the Naga people’s fundamental rights by the Indian government must be seen in the context of India’s long history of systemic oppression and militarization of Naga lands. For decades, the Naga people have borne the brunt of India’s colonial-style governance, enforced through draconian military laws which are in force to this day.
Nagas are not alone in this struggle. Across the Northeast, indigenous peoples have faced displacement, dispossession, and cultural erasure under the guise of national integration. India’s claim that “all Indians are indigenous people” is not only factually incorrect but a deliberate strategy to erase the unique identities of indigenous communities like the Nagas, who have lived on their ancestral lands long before the modern Indian state existed.
At a time when the world is reckoning with historical injustices against indigenous peoples, India’s actions reveal a moral hypocrisy that cannot be ignored. Nations such as Canada and Australia have begun truth and reconciliation processes to address the harms of colonization. Even Pope Francis, representing 2 billion Christians, has sought forgiveness for the Church’s role in the exploitation of indigenous peoples.
Yet, India—a nation that prides itself on being the world’s largest democracy—continues to treat its indigenous peoples as second-class citizens. By deporting Mr. Krome, India has sent a chilling message to all indigenous leaders: dissent will not be tolerated, and indigenous voices will be silenced.
Democratic civil society organizations like the Global Naga Forum and others are not going to be silenced. We call upon the government of India to restore Mr. Krome’s right to travel abroad and the right to return to Nagaland. We wonder when, if ever, the Government of India will issue a formal apology to the Naga people for its gross violations of their rights for nearly eighty years. We appeal to the international community like the UNPFII and the UNPO to hold India accountable and demand that India respect its obligations under the UNDRIP and the UNDHR. We call upon the democratic and just minded people of India and the world to stand with us in this fight for justice, dignity, and self-determination.
(CHUBA OZUKUM) (PROF. ROSEMARY DZUVICHU)
Convener Co-Convener
(JAMES POCHURY) (PROF. PAUL PIMOMO)
General Secretary Secretary
Oking-Kohima, Post Box – 881-797001, Nagaland