Along Longkumer
Consulting Editor
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had recently described the security situation in the northeast as “complex” since according to him “insurgency, extortion and agitations” continue to exist in the region. The PM was addressing a conference of Chief Ministers on internal security. While obviously trying to blame ‘insurgents’, the PM ironically makes a mention that there has been “considerable progress in dialogue with several insurgent and ethnic separatist groups” in the north-eastern region. In this regard, the several Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) signed with different armed outfits in the region and also the continuing talks with the NSCN has been trumpeted as some kind of achievement when in reality the establishment in Delhi has actually nothing new to say. In fact for the last fifteen years now every such meeting on internal security organized by the Government of India (GoI) has been making a mention of the peace dialogue with the NSCN. To this have now been added the innumerable MoUs signed with other armed outfits in the region.
Nothing new has been offered and it is the repetition of the same old mantra without any tangible solution/s, which seem to be adding to the complexity of the region. The question before the PM is simply this: If the security situation in the NE is indeed complex, what are the political steps or measures that have been envisioned for the region? The present Congress led UPA dispensation in Delhi has had ten years to actually come up with some political initiative other than off course signing ceasefire or suspension of operation agreements. Perhaps it will be good for the PM to revisit some of the long list of concerns raised by people in the region over the years. Only recently the Northeast Students Organization (NESO) had raised some very pertinent issues before the GoI, which was submitted in the form of a representation to the PM.
It is obvious that Delhi’s notion of security in the NE region is a flawed one, confined to the narrow prism of “counter-insurgency operations”. In fact it is sad that the GoI does not seem to be aware of the fact that in recent years, violence and insecurity taking place in the region is more to do with dispute over borderlands and ethnic divisions. We have been witnessing this all along in Manipur while the recent flare-up in the Assam-Nagaland border area is clear evidence of the unresolved problems going back to British times. Delhi should not easily forget the violence that took place during 2012 in Assam arising out of clashes between indigenous Bodos and Muslims. Security in the NE region should go beyond the rhetoric of “fighting militancy” and focus on other humane problems arising out of the inter-state border conflicts, illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, economic backwardness to name a few.
The Indian establishment would be painfully aware (even if it tries to dismiss it) of the troubled ‘hot spots’ which simmers now and then but choose to remain silent or ignore it. It is very convenient to use nice phrases such as ‘violence must end’, ‘dialogue’, ‘peace’ and ‘development’. An out of the box thinking along with political will is required, which obviously does not show and thereby leaving the question of peace unresolved. The continuing problems in the NE region therefore have to be seen not just in the complex situation as described by the PM but also in the context of the failures of the establishment in Delhi. Unless it sees security from the point of view of the people and also take more serious responsibility to confront the many crises in the northeast region, Delhi will have to bear its own responsibility for the complex situation in the NE as described by the Prime Minister.
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