September 6 carries a painful dual significance in Naga political history. It marks the Matikhrü massacre of September 6, 1960, remembered as “Pochury Black Day,” and the 1964 Naga ceasefire that came into effect on the same date. One event illustrates the human cost of conflict; the other offered a rare chance to end it through dialogue.
The Naga National Council organized the plebiscite on 16 May 1951, a landmark expression of Naga aspirations. Nine years later, the Matikhrü massacre unfolded after an Indian Air Force Dakota DC‑3 was shot down while attempting to drop relief to the besieged Assam Rifles post at Thuda. Intensified Army operations followed, with reports of village burnings, arrests and torture. The Nagaland Post first published recollections of these largely forgotten events, noting that six villagers at Phor were tortured to death on 1 September, two from Moke were beaten to death on 2 September, and on 6 September nine Pochury men, including village chief Thah, were killed by the 16 Punjab Regiment.
In contrast, September 6, 1964 brought hope. The first major ceasefire between the Government of India and the NNC/FGN entered into force after persistent efforts by the Church to create a peace opening. The parties held nine rounds of official talks between September 1964 and May 1965, followed by six rounds at the Prime Ministerial level between 1966 and 1967. The negotiations ultimately failed because the Naga side sought a political resolution that recognized the Naga nation, while New Delhi did not recognise the FGN as a sovereign government and sought a settlement within India’s constitutional framework.
The history remains relevant. Matikhrü cannot be consigned to 1960; the circumstances of the killings, questions of responsibility, and the lack of meaningful accountability demand renewed historical and, where legally possible, judicial examination. Reopening the episode would not undo the past, but truth, acknowledgement, accountability and reparative measures for victims’ families could begin healing a wound carried across generations. The connection between Matikhrü and the 1964 ceasefire is profound: one represents unresolved injustice, the other unresolved ideological resolution. Their enduring message is that a ceasefire may silence the guns, but only truth, accountability and the courage to confront difficult political questions can prevent the wounds of conflict from becoming the inheritance of another generation.
