KOHIMA — Veteran Naga peace activist and reconciliation advocate Niketu Iralu, who spent greater than six many years working to construct belief and promote dialogue throughout political and ethnic divides, handed away in New Delhi on Tuesday afternoon. He was 91.
Born on July 12, 1935, Iralu died on August 18, 2026, reportedly following a cardiac arrest. Sources mentioned he had been unwell and was admitted to BLK Hospital in New Delhi.
A distinguished voice for peace and reconciliation in Nagaland and the Northeast, Iralu remained actively concerned in efforts to bridge divisions and promote dialogue amongst communities and political teams. He was a core guiding pressure of the Discussion board for Naga Reconciliation (FNR) and in addition chaired the Naga Reconciliation Fee.
His affiliation with Initiatives of Change (IofC), previously generally known as Ethical Re-Armament, started in 1955 throughout his college days at Madras Christian Faculty. He later served as director of Asia Plateau, the IofC convention and coaching centre in Panchgani, Maharashtra.
In recognition of his decades-long contribution to peace-building and reconciliation, Iralu acquired the IofC Lifetime Achiever Award in 2025. He was additionally conferred the Dr Bhupen Hazarika Integration Award in 2023 for his contribution to concord and cultural and social integration in Northeast India.
Learn extra: Nagaland’s voice of peace, Niketu Iralu, receives Lifetime Achievement honour
Amongst different honours, he acquired the Distinguished Senior Residents Award from the Nagaland authorities’s Division of Social Welfare in 2019 and the Rotary Peace Award in 2018 for his efforts in constructing cross-border group belief. His contributions have been additionally recognised via the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi Award for Nationwide Integration in 2005 and the UN Brahma Basis’s Soldier of Humanity Award in 2011.
