Political Diary
New Delhi, 6 June 2015
Quarantined
North-East
WAGES OF
NEGLECT
By Poonam I Kaushish
Excerpt from an SMS reads: “Save State,
save identity. Let us take oath, to wipe out the Army. Leave immediately or face unspecified
action.” Welcome to the Gen Next version of militancy. Clearly, the chickens
have come home to roost in distant Manipur last week. Tragically, exposing the
Centre’s tenuous links with the North-East!
True to style, the Government pressed the panic button post
the killing of 20 soldiers and a dozen injured in a clinically executed
militant ambush in Manipur's Chandel district, the deadliest blow to the Army
since 1982, and has asked the NIA to investigate the attack. The State
Government washes its hands by dubbing it an “intelligence failure.” Specially,
as it comes in the wake of two major ambushes on the army and the Assam Rifles
in neighbouring Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.
The Army has launched a massive operation along the
Manipur-Myanmar border to smoke out the re-emerging threat from insurgent
groups like the People's Liberation Army (PLA), KYKL (Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup),
KCP (Kangleipak Communist Party) and the Khaplang National Socialist Council of
Nagaland (NSCN-K) operating in Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal.
Been there and heard it all before. But the moot point: Does
it take a chilling ambush to rudely make the security establishment realize it
is sitting on a tinder box in the distant and neglected north-east? Should the
Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) be withdrawn from Manipur where it has
created social disharmonies affecting women and students? Can the Centre afford
to take the risk of doing so?
What have the Union and the
State Government done so far, are doing and will do to change the political
landscape? Must gunshots be fired and bombs exploded for New Delhi to take notice of the region? How
much more blood must be spilled before the Centre takes the required action on
the ground? Knee-jerk reactions might attract headlines but can they really
solve the problem?
All know the root cause of the problem is the indefinite
continuation of AFSPA. The ongoing hunger strike by Chanu Sharmila since 2000
demanding its repeal underlines the deep resentment against security forces who
are often accused of extortion, arrests, torture and killing in cold blood.
Yet revoking AFSPA doesn’t seem to be an option as it is
“akin to fighting insurgency with one’s hands tied. By depriving troops of
immunity offered by AFSPA would sap their morale and impair operations,”
asserted a security expert. Remember, in 2004 AFSPA was lifted in Manipur but
instead of reducing violence aggravated it, resulting in its re-imposition.
Bluntly, all seem clueless wherein every time a crisis looms,
fire- fighting measures and quick-fix solutions are put into force without
either understanding the issues involved or having a comprehensive plan to
resolve it. Myopic in its introspection, the Centre unfortunately ends up
mostly reacting, instead of looking ahead and acting. Crisis over the State is
forgotten till another crisis erupts. Curing the symptoms not the disease.
On three counts. One, the powers-that-be have to acknowledge
that a grave problem exists before they can decide on the cure. Namely, alienation,
deep prejudices, feeling of injustice, economic neglect, identity management,
ethnic violence, local-immigrants tensions et al.
Two, various insurgent groups force locals to pay extortion
money repeatedly, leading to massive unemployment. Consequently, many go
underground and get remunerative “jobs” in any of the nearly 40 insurgent
groups operating in the States. Topped by gross political failure.
Recall 2006. In a shocking revelation, the then Army Chief
Gen JJ Singh complained to then Home Minister Shivraj Patil that nearly six
Manipur Ministers were hand in glove with the militants from NCN(K), PLA et al.
Not only that. The Chief Minister Okaram Ibobi too had allegedly paid Rs 1
crore extortion money to militant outfits. Endorsed by a Nagaland Governor who
told me that he was asked to cough up Rs one crore extortion money!
Plainly, with this scale of militant appeasement the
North-East is up for grabs to the highest bidder. So, if politicians and
militants are hand in glove, where does one go from here?
“We are sitting on top of a volcano which can erupt anytime.
We have evidence of Central funds disbursed to the State Government for
fighting militancy and development of the region being funneled to these
militant outfits for buying weapons and ammunition. We are aware that about
fifty per cent of the doles go to line the insurgents’ pockets,” stated an
intelligence official.
Trails of new extortion rackets running into hundreds of
crores by insurgents and recovery of huge cash stockpiles being used to recruit
fresh cadre and for procuring new advanced weapons have added dangerous
portends to the problem.
Not only that. For the first time heavier weapons like AK-56
assault rifles, imported hand grenades, large quantities of RDX and other
explosives have been recovered. Chinese weapons and even some US arms are finding their way to these cadres
through Bangladesh and Myanmar. Over
2500 new recruits are being trained in Arunachal.
Pertinently, the NSCN-K which recently walked out of a
15-year old ceasefire agreement with the Centre has since taken a lead in
uniting disparate insurgent groups including Assam’s ULFA, Kamatapur Liberation
Organization, NDFB (Songbijit) and the Manipur-based outfits involved in the
ambush under a new name --- the United Nationalist Liberation Front of West
South-East Asia.
Worse, bases, sanctuaries and madrasas are mushrooming for trans-border support for secessionist
and separatist insurgency movements. In fact, according to RAW sources, the ISI
has launched “Operation PINCODE” to bring the entire North-East under Islamic
rule.
Lack of financial discipline has added to the people’s woes.
There is no income tax for the tribals in the region. Offices do not keep cash
books. And about 90 per cent of the money for development makes its way to the
powers that-be. According to a former Governor, “the Centre has as much vested
interest in the misuse of funds as the North-East politicians. The money is not
used for development.
Tragically, the Centre’s relationship with the region,
unlike Kashmir where it is emotionally
involved, has been an on-off affair: “Like two people locked in a bad marriage”
as a former Union Home Secretary said. “Even if one intends to make things
better, it actually makes them quite a bit worse.”
What next? Is the Government capable of defusing this power
keg? Is it willing to acknowledge without any sugar-coating that a grave
problem exists before it can decide on the cure? That, the situation is worse
than Kashmir as local sentiments run high.
New Delhi needs a reality check. The time has
come for the Centre and States to think out-of-the-box. Prolonged inaction has
already proved too costly. Self-serving decisions of militant appeasement will
not do. Ill-advised measures only create discords.
The need of the hour is to understand the seriousness, deal
assertively with the issues and set up time-bound measures once and for all.
Development, employment and infrastructure hold the success key. No longer can New Delhi afford to
neglect the North- East. The wages are too grave to fritter away. ---- INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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