Dialogue January - March, 2006 , Volume 7 No. 3
Editorial Perspective
A
random perusal of any day’s any newspaper makes it very clear that the Indian
Civil Society is facing numerous insurmountable challenges needing immediate
confrontations and tackling. We are face to face with multi-dimensional complex
problems. There is growing problem of mis-governance, fiscal mis-management,
corruption and pilferage of development funds. The law and order situation is so
bad that a State offers rehabitation deal even to the criminals. The pending
court cases run in crores. Lack of vision and fragmented polity hampers
development.
The
politics is devoid of values; political parties have bid good-by to the
ideology. The parties propose some thing while in power, oppose the same while
out of power. Politics of convenience is the accepted norm; those who loose the
elections manage and find place in Rajya Sabha. The politics has become
power-centric, rather than people-centric.The politics of opportunism, intrigue
is robbing Indian politics of its democratic legitimacy. It is shocking to see
members of the highest forum of the country receiving bribes for performing
their duty.
There
was the Rajdhani Express accident in Rafiganj in Gaya, in which more than 100
passengers were killed. It was the handiwork of the Naxalites under a
“conspiracy” hatched to defame the then Railway Minister Nitish Kumar.
Rather than properly investigating or accepting the Railway version, the then
Bihar Government displayed unholy haste to blame the Railway Ministry for the
mishap. This incident and many more clearly illustrate that our politicians are
emotionally cut off from the common man; their sensitivity is blunted. They do
not loose any opportunity to take political advantage even when hundreds die or
are killed.
The
successful visit of President Bush to India is just over.
The
agreement provided India access to nuclear fuel and plants from the US. At the
same time it enabled it to keep its nuclear weapons programme intact; guaranteed
it perpetual fuel supply and put an end to international nuclear isolation. Bush
was magnanimous, he did not play big brother. The Indian scientists think the
achievements to be big and fair. But the visit of President Bush has also
exposed some of our weaknesses. There are elements in this country who openly
work for the promotion of the interests of other country at the cost of India.
They miss no opportunity to politicize, communalize or oppose any move
beneficial to India. They miss no opportunity to confuse Indian Civil society
whenever a visiting head of the state, as of America or France visit New Delhi.
Any agreement with US or any other country is viewed in Anti-Chinese or
anti-Russian parameter, as if India’s destiny is to remain a satellite state.
Again, we understand when Bush strike call paralyses Pakistan; but not when
anti-Bush rally turns violent, takes communal turn resulting into riots in
Lucknow. The concern of those for India’s atomic arsenal at this juncture by
the opponents of Pokharan is unexplainable and creates suspicion.
Terrorism
of all kinds – ethnic, religious and ideological – is spreading day by day.
Many secessionist outfits, such as NSCN and ULFA, follow Communist ideology:
Hijam Irawat Singh of Manipur was also a Communist. NSCN has also the ethnic and
communal agenda. The networking of all sorts of militant outfits have made the
problem, especially in the North-East, complex and difficult. The common man is
the worst sufferer of terror and extortion. Jammu & Kashmir is suffering the
most due to religious terrorism. Nearly fifty thousand persons were killed only
in Jehadi terrorism during last decade and half.
What
surprises us is the myopia, opportunism and sense of complacency of our national
political parties leading to their communal politics of vote-bank, It will be
suicidal to ignore the growth of Islamic fundamentalist organisations backed by
the notorious Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence and trained by al-Qaeda in
Bangladesh in the North-East and the rest of the country. After all Indian Civil
Society can not ignore the fact that the threads of recent bomb-blasts in India
link us to Bangladesh. Bangladesh, in a Talibanic mould, poses the greatest
danger for the integrity and security of this country and wants to grab the
North-East by merely sending its ever-growing population to this side of the
border. Unfortunately, some of our political parties and a section of minorities
are successful uptil now in saving the aliens by their protective mechanism. The
secessionist militant outfits of the region, with all sorts of unprincipled
networking, even with the criminals and extortionists, operate from Bangladesh,
flourishing on a closely guarded nexus with ISI and fundamentalist organizations
of that country.
Alienation
in the North-East is partly due to prevailing mischievous myths, such as that of
exploitation, neglect, historic isolation, racial differences, which were never
countered. Baseless propaganda continued unabated. Many in the North-East talk
about unemployment linked alienation. But none talks about the impossibility of
providing white-collar jobs to all the college and university degree holders and
the State Government’s responsibility of bringing change in the prevailing
colonial education system. It is obvious that many Human Rights organizations
are sympathetic towards the secessionist terrorist outfits. They never raise
accusing fingers towards them for their crime against innocent men, women and
children. At times, they act as pressure groups to get the terrorists released.
The civil rights/human rights groups seldom pressurize the state governments to
perform their duty and protect civilians from the violence, terror, extortion
and exploitation by the terrorist. The common man is extremely afraid of the
terrorist outfits and never airs his grievances against them. The human right
groups have miserably failed to work for the protection of common man from the
suffering caused by the terrorist outfits. The States in the North-East, J&K
and elsewhere should ensure public safety, and the Human Rights Groups should
help in the endeavour, to make the use of so-called draconian laws and that of
the army and para-military forces unnecessary.
Our Civil Society lacks Thought
leaders. Its active involvement in solving our problems has become less and
less. This allows our political elite to adopt casual, ad-hoc and mechanical
approach towards our national problems. The lack of intellectual input is the
root cause of the prevailing confusion in the country. We suffer more due to
poverty of ideas, rather than the resource crunch. The active involvement of the
civil society, capable of grasping our problems in its totality, is a must for a
strong and prosperous India. It may be necessary to force the Government(s) to
retrace the wrong steps taken in the North-East, J&K or elsewhere. The civil
society should prepare itself to do it democratically through the electoral
route.
Meeting NSCN(IM)’s Brinkmanship
Thuingaleng Muivah, General
Secretary, National Socialist Council of Nagalim, (Issaac-Muivah)/NSCN(IM), a
couple of months before the brief extension of 31 January 2006 ceasefire,
threatened to end the peace talks “if New Delhi fails to reach a final
political settlement of the Naga problem within that ceasefire period”. Muivah
said that he was giving only a few months to decide on his proposals for
reaching a final political settlement, or else, the talks would break down and
his fighters would return to the jungle. Some of the proposals of the NSCN (IM)
included ‘federal relations’ with India, integration of all Naga inhabited
areas, joint defence forces, acceptance of Indian currency and separate flag for
Nagalim’.
Muivah further said “we have
made some concrete proposals and then we have revised them after taking into
account the limitations of the Indian government”.
Needless to say that the NSCN
(IM) is making impossible demands; some of the demands, such as for ‘joint
defence forces’ is laughable. But its arrogant demands may persist after Assam
elections, even if, there are insurmountable difficulties in meeting them..Here,
it needs mention that our handling (or mishandling) of the Naga problem
especially, and that of the North-East generally, does not assure us. We are not
sure that Government. of India shall not fall in the trap of NSCN (IM) and
create further problem for the nation as a whole.
Muivah’s demand for Nagalim
(Greater Nagaland) includes merger of the two hill districts of Assam into it
where hardly two percent Nagas reside. The Naga population in the twin districts
of Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hills (then United Mikir and North Cachar
Hills district), even after taking into consideration only the tribal population
(as shown in the table below as per 1961 census), was less than four percent.
Table
Tribe Population
Percentage
All
Scheduled Tribes 211,331
100.00
Karbi/Mikir 116,887
55.31
Dimasa
Kachari
67,284
31.84
Naga
8,338
3.95
Kuki
7,150
3.38
Hmar
4,131
1.95
Khasi
and Jaintia
3,931
1.86
Garo
3,326
1.57
Mizo/Lushai 284
0.13
Here, it needs mention that even
this very small Naga population is not located in a compact area contiguous to
the Nagaland state. The Rengmas of Karbi-Anglong district who migrated from Naga
Hills reside in a small area some 30-40 kms away from Nagaland. The Zemi
population dispersed among Dimasa Kacharis and other tribes of the North Cachar
Hills district lives happily with them. NSCN (IM) also claims large track of
land of Assam in Golaghat, Jorhat, Sibasagar and Lakhimpur districts. Muivah
forgets that Nagas never had unified state of their own. All they had were
hundreds of self- governing and partly self-sustaining village republics, a
large percentage of which were under Ahom, Meithei and Cachari kings and Singpho
chiefs. The boundaries of the Naga villages hardly exceeded the meagre distance
of couple of hours of walk, where they could safely go in the morning, cultivate
the fields during the daytime and return back before dusk. Thus there is
absolutely no basis of the Naga claim over the territory of Assam.
A very disturbing feature of the
modus operandi adopted by Muivah is the forced conversion drive of the Hindus
(such as the Hindu Vaishnavite Nocte Nagas) and Buddhists (such as Tangsas,
Singphos) of Tirap and Changlang districts of Arunachal Pradesh. It needs
mention that such tactics of arm-twisting and threat of gun by NSCN (IM) is not
restricted to Arunachal Predesh only. Bertil Lintner, whose book Land of Jade
is reportedly banned by the NSCN (IM), has pointed out that the NSCN (IM) had to
forcibly establish themselves amongst the Naga tribes in some areas in Myanmar,
as at Kesan Chanlam, and to convert them to Christianity. This was necessitated,
as Muivah’s perception was not shared by all Eastern Naga tribes of Myanmar
who have closer affiliations with the Kachins. This amply shows that NSCN (IM)
has no moral right to claim these areas. In reality, the greatest threat for the
identity of the people of these areas emanates from Muivah and his outfit. A
point needs mention here that NSCN (IM)should be under no illusion that
Government of India would forcibly annex parts of Myanmar into its Nagaland
state. After all, there are hundreds of such cases world over where
international boundaries divide the ethnic areas.
Ethnically, the people are united
by their common ancestry, physical attributes, language, and geographical
origin. The Nagas differ on all these counts. (Vide Kumar, Naga Identity, New
Delhi, 2005). It is sad that there is no unanimity even on the list of the Naga
tribes. Kumar Suresh Singh, Director General (Retd.), Anthropological Survey of
India, in the magnum opus, The People of India (Volume1, Introduction, p.
40), remarks: “Perceptions appear to be amorphous, fluid, changing all the
time. Therefore lists vary from Census to Census and no two lists are exactly
comparable.” The Nagas of Tuensang were hardly aware that they were Nagas when
they were merged with Naga Hills district of Assam to form NHTA. The Linguistic
Survey of India classifies many tribes of Manipur, especially, the tribes of
Chandel district, such as Anal, as Kuki-Chin tribes. The Naga identity, in
reality, is a fluid and evolving one and Muivah, while teaching ‘real
history’ to New Delhi, should know the basics of Naga history.
There is yet another dimension of
the problem, which needs our urgent attention. The NSCN (IM) is laundering huge
money through extortions, arms sale and drug trafficking, etc. The ULFA, Bodo
militants and dozens of other insurgent outfits pay large sums to NSCN (IM) for
training and arms supply. The NE region has become a paradise for arms-peddlers
today. Different outfits paid certain percentage of the money collected from
extortion, bank robbery, etc to that outfit. The NSCN manages and is benefited
by the pilferage of development funds. The Naga-Kuki clashes owe their origin in
the struggle for the control of the profitable drug trade through Tamu route.
Many outfits, including NSCN (IM) take advantage of the ceasefire and continue
the clandestine activities of extortion, recruitment, etc. The two insurgent
outfits of the Karbis and Dimasas have signed ceasefire agreements, and yet, it
is alleged, they played their role in killing spree in the twin hill districts
of Assam. It is doubtful that any understanding with the terrorist outfits may
bring end to such nefarious activities and networking. Any way, any agreement
with NSCN (IM), any concession to them shall lead to violent reactions and chain
of similar demands. It is advisable to avoid such misadventure. New Delhi has no
alternative than to face NSCN’s brinkmanship.
-
B.B. Kumar
Dialogue (A quarterly journal of Astha Bharati) |