DIMAPUR, OCTOBER 18 (MExN): The participants of a two-day workshop on Conflicts and Peace in the Northeast organised by North Eastern Social Research Centre, Guwahati, concluded that the writing of a comprehensive history of the Northeast can be an important step towards solving the ethnic conflicts in the region. The participants coming from five States of the region decided to work towards it during the next 12 months. In the reflection that followed the presentation of papers, they felt that each ethnic group rewrites its history in order to claim to be the first inhabitants of an area and claim exclusive rights over all the resources as its indigenous people. This process is intrinsic to ethnic conflicts in the Northeast.
At the inaugural session on the October 15, Dr Nanigopal Mahanta of Gauhati University identified homeland politics, immigration and underdevelopment as three main areas around which conflicts arise. He criticised temporary arrangements such as the sixth Schedule and conflict resolution and suggested conflict transformation through new initiatives such as an NE Ethnic Council to negotiate the ethnic conflicts. Dilip Padgiri a member of PCG said that the Prime Minister showed interest in a dialogue with ULFA when the PCG first visited him. This desire got diluted after the Kakopathar incident. Based on it he asked whether some had a vested interest in the conflict and tried to prevent a solution. Inaugurating the workshop, Dr Thomas Menamparampil, Catholic Archbishop of Guwahati spoke of the importance of an all-inclusive alliance of the youth, civil society and religious leaders to work for peace with justice. Cultural autonomy and justice have to be central to the journey towards peace.
Dr Sanjay Barbora of Panos South Asia dwelt on the Assam-Nagaland boundary dispute as arising from two different views of land, as sustenance and as commodity. Dealing with immigration which is a major cause of conflicts, Dr Chandan Sharma of Tezpur University gave the history of immigration in the Northeast, the new forms it took under colonialism and the present exclusive focus on the Bangladeshi. Discussing the 1996 Boro-Santhal conflict, the ABSU leader Promode Boro said that a third party engineered it but both the communities were deceived by those who wanted to give a different direction to the Bodoland movement. Bulu Terang and Joseph Damzen spoke in a similar vein about the conflicts in Karbi Anglong. Thomas Mangazhathude of Jirsong Ason, Diphu spoke of land, identity, the international arms trade and unemployment as the major sources of conflicts in the Northeast. Dr Deben Sharma described various peace initiatives in the region and pleaded for networking in order to strengthen the voices working for a new Northeast. Babloo Singh of Human rights Alert, Imphal described how every individual has many identities but in case of conflicts, one identity gets exclusive focus and the rest are ignored. Then the individual identity is submerged with the community and is put in opposition to other communities. Conflicts grow from it.
Dr K. Debbarma of NEHU described the processes that resulted in massive influx of Hindu immigrants from Bangladesh into Tripura and loss of 60 percent of tribal land to them. It is the main cause of insurgency in Tripura. P. J. Joseph from Agartala dwelt on peace initiatives in the State. Amrit Sangma of NERYC analysed the Garo-Khasi conflict centred on the reservation policy and the demand for Greater Garo Land. C. P. Anto of Peace Channel, Dimapur described the efforts for peace being made in Nagaland.
Director Dr Walter Fernandes in a release said that an exclusive identity formation because of economic shortages and attack on culture emerged as the major causes of conflicts. In this context every community rewrites its history in order to claim exclusive rights over the resources in an area. The participants therefore decided to begin reflection on these issues at the grassroots level as support to peace initiatives. They will finally bring peace activists, historians and other social scientists of the region together in an effort to look at the possibilities of writing a comprehensive history of the region.
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