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RNI NO. DELENG/2009/31195

The Northeast : A Ticking Bomb ?

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Luring Children In Jihad, Naxalism And Terrorism

RNI NO. DELENG/2009/31195

MISSION The power of a King lies in his mighty arms ... Security of the citizens at peacetime is very important because State is the only saviour of the men and women who get affected only because of the negligence of the State. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Chanakya

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ndia’s Northeast is its road to greater prosperity and as a corollary to greatness. Although its formal trade and remittances from countries to its west far outrun those in the east but it is through the jungles and their myriad dialects that India will grow as a people and as a country. While the countries in the west have vast reservoirs of fossil fuels and sustain a huge diaspora that remits billions, economic dynamism is in the east. Countries of western Asia attract labour and some skilled personnel, but it is all enterprise in the east. Little wonder that when economists worldwide speak about an Asian century they mean a specific geographical part of the continent. Not the whole of Asia for sure. There are reasons for that as western Asia continues to remain mired in millennial conflicts. And the east seems to be looking ahead through the prism of trade, not terror. So for India to partake in the Asian century as a full-blown partner and thereby gain in every sense, it can only do so once it has resolved the continuing cycle of violence in its Northeast. For too long now the people and states of the Northeast have been held hostage to the various militant groups that dominate discourse in this neglected part of India. It has come to the point that militancy has become a way of life, something generations have become accustomed to. This is a tragedy of national levels. Generations have been wasted at the altar of violence, living alien and artificial lives. They feel alienated from their own country and the artificial existence imposed on them by militants groups has made them lead unreal lives. That, alas, is the sad reality of India. This must change if the Northeast and India as a whole have to grow to their fullest potential. But not all change in the offing is always of the positive cycle. Far too many Bangladesh based jihadi groups and cadres have floated into these troubled states, to fish for recruits and volunteers. They have brought in a new dimension through the millions of illegal migrants who have crossed over from Bangladesh into these states. The story of Assam is too well known to be repeated here, but needless to say that each state is affected, directly or indirectly by this ‘human bomb’. Even as the security forces and the huge number of people with a stake in India, do their bit in handling the crisis, a major change of mindset is required, on both sides. As far as the Northeast is concerned there should be a clear message that violence will not help anyone in solving problems. Negotiations are the only way forward, as has been demonstrated in Mizoram and as the Nagaland ceasefire has suggested. The hundreds of groups still operating in these states must be dealt with firmly and fairly. Abuses cannot be tolerated, at any level of the conflict. Which also means that the rest of India also adjust to the reality. Targeted attacks on common working people from the Northeast, as happened in Gurgaon recently, cannot be acceptable. There should be no compromises on that. It is a right that every citizen of India has been given. Similarly, there also needs to be a realisation in the country that people of the Northeast be allowed to maintain their ways of life. Each state and region of the country has its own cultural specificities and keeping them alive makes the country a richer place. India cannot become a robotised Soviet Gulag, or an enforced uni-cultural place like China. India’s beauty lies in the vividness of its colours and they must be allowed, encouraged, to grow ever brighter. This can only happen when the youth are not drawn into a culture of violence, through jihadist, naxal or militant groups. This is most apparent in the Northeast where generations of the young have been lured by crime syndicates to provide manpower to such nefarious groups. And end to this recruitment will help considerably in tackling the menace of militancy that affects the Northeast. This end can be brought about when more of the youth realise they have a future in this country, wherever they choose to work in it. But that work will only come about when the Indian economy grows ever more, so as to absorb its aspirational young. For the economy to grow to its potential it needs to expand eastwards, but that it can only once the region is cured of its ailments. There are many problems and they are a national issue not a local one. Which means they should be treated as such and tackled on a national level.

Manvendra Singh November 2014 | DEFENCE AND SECURITY ALERT

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To Pave The Way

he kaleidoscope of eight (Sikkim included) Northeastern states in their rich art and culture, exclusive species of flora and fauna and climate complements the diversity that is mainland India. Its importance for the rest of the nation state lies in the fact that it is the hub of international borders with China, Bhutan, Myanmar (former Burma) and Bangladesh. It must, thus, be the heart of India’s new “Look East” policy of reaching out to the other former outposts of culture and commerce that range from Thailand, the Indochina states of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia and Indonesia that lie on the rim of the Pacific Ocean. Borrowing from a Chinese phrase, they are as integral and close to the rest of India as “lips and teeth”. It was, for it’s geopolitical importance, that all the previous central governments had tried their best to bring normalcy after the attainment of independence in a region that has been in a constant state of flux. It is so unfortunate that not much could be done for the overall development of the region. Although a special ministry in the central government was formed a few years back to give all the best support to the region but that could only make some meagre contribution in the socio-economic conditions of the people of the eight states of Northeastern India. There could be many reasons for the deficiencies but instead of discussing all that we need to now focus on the solutions to improve the situation. Still, in most of the states the feeling of pride is missing, education and health facilities are not up to the mark as compared to the other states in the country. We all are witness to the Chinese strategy to destablise the situation along the Line of Actual Control which extends from Arunachal Pradesh in the east to Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir in the west. The intrusion in Chumar highlighted the complexity of Chinese policy towards India and the different power centres that are operating in Beijing. India’s foreign policy will have to be moulded to deal with the dichotomy. Our other neighbour Bangladesh, though small in size and resources, has tremendous potential for destabilisation of India because of the very porous borders it shares with Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, West Bengal and Mizoram through which human trafficking, drugs, counterfeit currency, terrorism and, worst, migrants flow into India. The nexus between the black economy and terrorism was illustrated recently by the bomb explosions in West Bengal.

Announces December 2014 Issue on

Growing Importance Of Indo-Paciﬁc Region

The current government is very serious in tackling the situation at the internal as well as the external level on the defence and security matters in the Northeastern region and that’s the reason that our Prime Minister, Home Minister and Defence Minister have given a very clear message to both China and Bangladesh. Our Security Forces and National Investigating Agency are working day and night to investigate and nab the culprits and fix the problems for the safety and security of the people in this region. This edition of DSA covers another very important aspect of our security concerns which is a new challenge that has emerged in the past few years and can cause havoc in the future if not handled strictly by our government and agencies responsible. Not many people are aware that the terrorist outfits have now started luring children to get involved with their groups specially the dropouts and children of downtrodden families in the rural areas. This edition will apprise you as to how and when this started and how it is affecting the security and economy of our nation. I am sure that this edition will be of great interest to everyone who is directly or indirectly connected to the Northeast and who is concerned with the defence and security of India today and tomorrow.

November 2014 | DEFENCE AND SECURITY ALERT

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Contents

An ISO 9001:2008 Certified Magazine

F E A T U R E S

A R T I C L E S Looking Beyond The Insurgencies Vikram Sood

Northeast India The Way Ahead Lt Gen Karan Yadava (Retd)

The Naga Insurgency HN Das

Insurgency In Northeast Genesis And Escalation Lt Gen (Dr) DB Shekatkar (Retd)

Turbulent Northeast Impact On Internal Security Dr Ajai Sahni

Assam: India’s Bosnia? Subir Bhaumik

Islamist Terror Jaideep Saikia

Crime Syndications! V Balachandran IPS (Retd)

Shipping Containers And Transnational Crime Dr Vijay Sakhuja

What Keeps Insurgency Ticking In The Northeast? Radhakrishna Rao

Illegal Migration A Security Nightmare Joyeeta Bhattacharjee

Corruption 32 Consuming India’s Northeast Patricia Mukhim Nexus Between Insurgents And Politicians Pradip Phanjoubam

Child Soldiers Of India’s Myriad Mutinies Animesh Roul

Illegal Migration From Bangladesh Compromising National Security Anand Kumar

Trafficking Of Children For Sport, Entertainment And Terrorist Activities Prof Mondira Dutta

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Sneak Peek

Propaganda 58 An Effective Tool Used By Naxals Cmdt Sudhir Kumar The 1962 War Could It Have Been Averted By Nehru In 1951? Maj Gen VK Singh (Retd)

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW 6 His Excellency France Kosinyane Morule High Commissioner of South Africa to India

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW 16 Director General Assam Rifles Lt Gen RK Rana

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international relations

INTERVIEW

Exclusive Interview With His Excellency France Kosinyane Morule

High Commissioner of South Africa to India

ilateral relations between India and South Africa emerged out of a shared history of struggle against colonial rule and the system of apartheid. Ever since both countries have enjoyed cordial and warm relations which are growing stronger with increasing cooperation in various fields. In an exclusive interview with DSA, His Excellency France Kosinyane Morule shares his vision and views on many subjects of bilateral interest. Defence and Security Alert: India and South Africa established diplomatic relations in 1993 but our links date back to the days of Mahatma Gandhi over a century ago. Please share with our readers the genesis and evolution of our warm and mutually rewarding bilateral relations. His Excellency France Kosinyane Morule: Internationally, India was one of Apartheid South Africa’s earliest and most prominent critics. India provided moral and logistical support to the ANC over a period of four decades. Relations between South Africa and India emerged out of a shared history of struggle – in India’s case against colonial rule and in South Africa’s, the removal of the system of apartheid. These struggles in many respects centered on the person of Mahatma Gandhi in his propagation of the concept of Satyagraha and non-violence. In many respects, India and South Africa share a common vision on a range of global issues and domestic challenges. The defining Documents of the South Africa-India relationship are the Red Fort Declaration of 1996, the New Delhi Declaration of 2003 and the Tshwane Declaration of 2006. These Declarations reflect the broad level of bilateral engagement and outline areas of significant common purpose based on a common agenda. Principles, including democracy, human rights, sustainable development and challenging the prevailing global system and power structures, as well as the global financial architecture, are pivotal in the above mentioned documents. In 1997, the first visit by a South African Head of State to India took place when President Nelson Mandela laid the foundation of a strategic partnership between the two countries. Following President Thabo Mbeki’s State Visit to India in 2003, South Africa hosted former President APJ Abdul Kalam in September 2004 on a reciprocal

November 2014 | DEFENCE AND SECURITY ALERT

State Visit. This was the first State Visit to South Africa by an Indian Head of State. In October 2006, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh followed with an important visit to South Africa. This visit served a dual purpose, viz to commemorate the centenary of Mahatma Gandhi’s Satyagraha and the signing of the Tshwane Declaration with President Mbeki, which undertook to raise relations between India and South Africa to a higher strategic level. In June 2010, President Jacob Zuma paid a State Visit to India, the first such visit in the Asian region. The close relationship between India and South Africa continues to be cemented by regular exchanges and high-level visits by Cabinet-level Ministers from both sides, underscoring the dynamism that exists at the bilateral level. DSA: South Africa is strategically located and is an active member of many international alliances like IBSA and BRICS etc. How do you view the present state of the world, especially the transition from a unipolar to a multipolar world order? HE Morule: From its inception and later with the addition of South Africa in 2011, BRICS has underscored the changing world order. BRICS clearly represents a movement to a multipolar world. BRICS are leading economies in the world, each bringing a unique perspective on regional and world geopolitical developments, which in turn represent the evolving and changing world order. BRICS enhances coordination between 5 leading emerging market economies and decision-makers in international affairs. The original concept of BRIC has evolved into a multi-sectorial diplomatic force, promoting qualitative and quantitative changes in global governance. BRICS is a platform for dialogue and cooperation amongst countries that represent 43 per cent of the world’s population, for the promotion of peace, security and development in a multipolar, inter-dependent and increasingly complex, globalising world. The above is likewise relevant for The IBSA Dialogue Forum which brings together three large pluralistic, multicultural and multiracial societies from three continents as a purely South-South grouping of like-minded countries, committed to inclusive sustainable development, in pursuit of the well-being of their peoples and those of the developing world.

His Excellency France Kosinyane Morule

November 2014 | DEFENCE AND SECURITY ALERT

international relations

INTERVIEW

DSA: India has been strongly advocating restructuring of the United Nations, especially the Security Council in the light of the emerging global security environment. What are your views on the role of United Nations in global security? HE Morule: South Africa and India share a common vision in relation to the reformation of the United Nations, in this regards we are committed to multilateralism and a rules-based international order. To this end South Africa plays an active role in all fora of the UN system and its specialised agencies, funds and programmes promoting the pillars of multilateral activity namely: global security, sustainable development, human rights and international law. South Africa thus supports all initiatives aimed at strengthening the UN system and its central role in multilateralism and is also supportive of ongoing efforts to improve the effectiveness and accountability of the Secretariats of these organisations. South Africa regards the UN as the foremost vehicle to advance the global development agenda and in this regard we uphold the belief that the resolution of international conf licts should be peaceful and in accordance with the centrality of the UN Charter and the principles of international law. South Africa’s international relations policy therefore recognises that in order to achieve a better life for all, development and security are best addressed through adequate attention to all global threats facing humanity. There is also an urgent need to translate strategies, action plans and other commitments made at major UN Summits and Conferences into concrete actions. DSA: Both India and South Africa are maritime nations and vulnerable to terrorism and piracy. What joint security and surveillance mechanisms both countries have devised to counter these escalating global scourges? HE Morule: The issues of terrorism and piracy are issues of the greatest concern to both India and South Africa. In so saying, it is clear that neither issue can be fully dealt with in isolation, but can best be addressed within a multilateral framework. In this regard, South Africa is particularly cognizant of co-operation within Africa, through the various African Union (AU) and Southern African Development Community (SADC), peace and security mechanisms. In terms of piracy, South Africa co-operates closely with SADC, the AU and also the UN and has also provided a military presence to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia. Likewise, India has been one of the key supporters of combating piracy in this area and in the Gulf of Aden and has invested extensive material support to combating this scourge, which we have no doubt, has had a significant impact on reducing the incidence of piracy in the Indian Ocean. In terms of terrorism, South Africa and India cooperate closely within UN and BRICS National Security Advisors Forum to combat terrorism and look forward to even closer cooperation on these global “commons” issues. DSA: Out of the many Sectoral Working Groups that India and South Africa have created, there is one on defence also. What kind of synergies and collaborations have been

November 2014 | DEFENCE AND SECURITY ALERT

established or are in the pipeline in this domain between our governments and private players? HE Morule: Since the birth of the new South Africa 20 years ago, South Africa and India have developed close cooperation in fostering closer socio-economic relations, part of this has also been in the area of defence cooperation. Consequently, there are regular high level interactions between our two countries, both bilaterally and multilaterally and both countries cooperate in exchanging trainees to courses in each of our two countries. In addition, South Africa and India also actively participate in the Indian Ocean Navel Symposium (IONS) and also at the IBSAMAR, ‘India-Brazil-South Africa Maritime’ joint Naval Exercise, the next edition of which is scheduled to be held in October 2014 off the coast of South Africa. DSA: Bilateral trade and economic cooperation between India and South Africa does not match the enormous potential that exists. How can the bonhomie between our nations be capitalised to augment and enhance economic cooperation? HE Morule: The relationship between South Africa and India has evolved into a flourishing, mutually beneficial and successful partnership. Trade between the two countries has increased and this was seen during 2012 when the US$ 10 billion trade target was reached. Currently, the two countries have set a target of US$ 15 billion by the end of 2015. South  Africa and India have ventured in a multidimensional relationship through diverse channels to build stronger economic co-operation and increase trade. This is done through furthering business co-operation in the fields of healthcare and pharmaceuticals, tourism and hospitality, agri-business and agro-processing industry, automotive industry, mining and energy, engineering, environmental management, consultancy and risk assessment, cooperatives development, SMME’s development and financing, film industry, banking and insurance industry, information technology, clothing and textiles etc. Stronger economic co-operation will lead to a profitable collaboration for both countries. India has a strong IT sector, agricultural industry, automotive industry, film industry, clothing and textile industry and many others. South Africa can benefit from these through exchange of experiences and lessons learnt, exchange of expertise and joint business ventures with India. In addition, South Africa has ventured into an ambitious infrastructure development programme as part of its National Development Plan (NDP) and the Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP), something which India has also recently undertaken. These synergies are an example of the many common interests that exist between South Africa and India. It will therefore be of mutual benefit for the two countries to identify such areas and also identify areas of strength in order to build collaborative partnerships. South Africa boasts of a vibrant construction industry, including road infrastructure. As we all know India is currently developing its road infrastructure network and therefore there may be opportunities for closer collaboration between South Africa and India in this regard.

In the area of tourism, the South African government launched the National Convention Bureau (NCB) for the business-events industry targeting business-events tourism. International tourist arrivals in RSA grew by 10.2 per cent in 2013. NCB assisted in securing 88 major bids for the period 2013-2017 which jointly will attract no less than R 2.6 billion to the tourism economy. It therefore would be logical for Indian businesses to form tourism ventures with South African businesses to benefit from such opportunities. On the other hand, Africa is the continent at the forefront of global growth. According to the International Monetary Fund growth focus for 2011 to 2015, seven of the world’s fastest growing economies are African. Africa has the world’s fastest growing population and the fastest growing middle-class. The African Development Bank predicts that by 2030, Africa’s middle-class will have rapidly grown. Consumer spending in Africa is also expected to skyrocket from US$ 680 billion in 2008 to US$ 2.2 trillion by 2030. There is not a business or sector that can afford to miss out on the African opportunity. This is why South Africa is inviting the Indian Companies to bring their business / investments to South Africa, the biggest economy in Africa and the gateway to the African continent. South Africa offers value for money, is economically and politically stable and is a safe and secure investment destination. DSA: Joint military exercises significantly enhance defence cooperation between friendly countries. What is the status and scope for such Indo-South African military exercises? HE Morule: Currently South Africa and India are continuing to engage around the issue of hosting Joint Military exercises, an engagement that we hope will come to fruition in the near future. However both nations do participate in exercises through the IBSAMAR, ‘India-Brazil-South Africa Maritime’ joint Naval Exercise, the next edition of which is scheduled to be held in October 2014 off the coast of South Africa. DSA: India has become the world’s largest defence importer. South Africa is home to many world-class defence manufacturers and very active South African Aerospace Maritime and Defence Industries Association (AMD). Still defence cooperation between our countries has not picked-up, why? HE Morule: While India has become one of the world’s largest defence importers, it must also be noted that

investment by the Indian government in its military is mainly in areas, such as fighter aircraft, shipbuilding, production of tanks etc which do not specifically speak to South Africa’s production scope, which is in many respects niche areas such as communications, artillery fuses etc. However, having said this, South Africa does continue to engage with the Indian government in relation to supplying some of the more specialised items that our defence contractors do produce. These products are made with indigenous knowledge and have gained a valuable reputation around the globe that has earned South Africa a reputation as one of the world’s best manufacturers of military equipment. DSA: BRICS members have recently announced the formation of BRICS Bank. How do you think this bank will help the developing countries and reduce their exploitation and dependence on west controlled financial institutions? HE Morule: During the 6th BRICS Summit in Fortaleza, South Africa were very excited to be part of the signing of the Agreement establishing the New Development Bank (NDB), with the purpose of mobilising resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging and developing economies. BRICS, as well as other emerging and developing economies have faced significant financing constraints to address infrastructure gaps and sustainable development needs. It is hoped that with the establishment of this NDB, these constraints will be addressed. It was at the outset, never the intention of the NDB to be in competition with the World Bank or other financial institutions. The NDB will however, create a new mechanism to ensure that funding becomes available for priority infrastructure and sustainable development projects in the developing world. DSA: How do you envision Indo-South African bilateral relations in the coming years and decades and what ideas and thoughts would you like to share with the people of India and DSA readers around the world? HE Morule: Indo-South African relations in the coming years will continue to grow from strength to strength; both of our prosperous nations are clearly positioning themselves to be major players in the international environment. Through our common interactions in BRICS and IBSA we will continue to share a mutually beneficial economic relationship that will undoubtedly see a prosperous future developing for both of our societies. It is critical that our governments and businesses focus their attention on areas of mutual interest, or the so called ‘low-hanging fruit’ in which both countries can readily partner and cooperate based on the simple principles of supply and demand. These sectors include minerals, mining, energy, health, tourism, infrastructure, agro-processing, nuclear commerce, culture, defence and related industries, space engineering and technology, telecommunications, maritime and shipping and banking and financial services. Furthermore, we will continue to share our rich cultural histories which will undoubtedly deepen our ties and in doing so we hope to develop a greater understanding of where our collective futures will lead.

November 2014 | DEFENCE AND SECURITY ALERT

northeast imbroglio

REGIONAL INTEGRATION

a launch pad and shelter for insurgents from the Northeast that became active soon after independence.

Strategically Vital

Looking Beyond The Insurgencies

It was a matter of time before local aspirations erupted into insurgencies with the Nagas, Mizos, Kukis, Meiteis and later the Assamese and Bodos seeking their own redress. The relationship between the Bengali Hindu and Assamese Hindu and the Bengali Muslim and the Assamese Muslim was always a complicated one that also had overlaps with the local versus the outsider issues. No insurgency in the region is common to the other and there was going to be no single solution to these problems.

hile almost everybody in New Delhi, mainly led by the media, is obsessed with the floods in J&K, bad enough as they have been, no one seems to pay much attention to the floods in the Northeast of the country. Here too the floods have been devastating but somehow, the Northeast does not evoke the same urgency as other parts of the country. As Sanjoy Hazarika begins in his book Strangers in the Midst when he says: “India’s Northeast, home to seven states and many more insurgencies, is part of a great tropical rainforest that stretches from the foothills of the Himalayas to the tip of the Malaysian peninsula and the mouth of the Mekong river as it flows into the Gulf of Tonkin. As the crow flies, it is closer to Hanoi than to New Delhi.”

“Benign” Neglect

This perhaps explains the syndrome in New Delhi about benign (?) neglect and missed opportunities in the Northeast. It has been a distant land, very few perhaps even know the geography, or the history of the region. There is little knowledge about each of the seven states that comprise the Northeast. For the rest of us, our Look East policy usually ended with Kolkata in India and only now it stretches up to Japan. Northeast India figures as a vague region that receives attention only when the Chinese show some interest (in Arunachal Pradesh) and when there is an insurgent incident.

November 2014 | DEFENCE AND SECURITY ALERT

Lately, it has begun to figure in the capital’s newspapers when there have been criminal assaults on youngsters from the Northeast who have to go to Delhi looking for jobs, finding them and making a decent livelihood. Conceivably there is some amount of racism in such attacks, apart from the usual fear of ‘outsiders’ taking away jobs from the locals. The struggle for independent India was peaceful but its birth was violent in North India with early left-wing troubles in what became Andhra Pradesh later. Partly due to New Delhi’s preoccupation with the north and Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-related troubles, the rest of the country was forgotten. This included the Northeast or what was then essentially Assam and NEFA. Absorbed with its own immediate needs of security and administering an independent India, the problems of the northeast were relegated. New Delhi missed the point regarding the immense diversity in this resource rich but neglected region which had boundaries with Tibet (China), Bhutan, Burma (Myanmar) and East Pakistan (later Bangladesh). It was overlooked that Assam had a large Muslim population in one of the many poorer parts of the country and in fact many expected it to be made a part of East Pakistan, although admittedly that poverty was not the major criterion in an essentially poor and backward country. But the other aspect that would cause India trouble was the use of East Pakistan by Pakistani leaders and later by an unfriendly regime in Bangladesh, as

India’s Northeast is a strategically vital geographical location not only for India but for its neighbours as well. The British Indian armies halted the Japanese invasion in the Second World War fighting bitterly in this region. The Northeast was the region from where the allied forces kept the Chinese KMT soldiers in Kunming supplied with weapons and material through roads constructed and fuel pipelines through upper Burma. War cemeteries in Kohima, Imphal and Digboi testify to the defence of the then British Empire against invasion from the east. This was a lesson we lost and the Chinese subsequently used the same routes to assist Naga rebels in the 1960s. Strangely, the northeast was put on the back burner. The 1962 conflict with China, instead of spurring us into action, increasing our presence and pushing for assimilation, had an opposite effect on Indian strategic thinking. We seemed to have taken a decision not to develop infrastructure in the region. We thus went into a shell both with regard to meeting the Chinese challenge and handling the Northeast.

the ULFA and Bodo National Front. Kokrajhar remains an ethno-religious f lashpoint in the state. Manipur has 39 listed insurgent organisations, including a dozen claiming to represent Kuki aspirations, there are five Islamic outfits, three Hmar and two Zomis, with the Isak Swu-Muivah group also represented by VIKRAM SOOD the NSCN (I/M), apart from The writer is former director of many others. The three main insurgent organisations – the Research and Analysis Wing and is currently Adviser, Observer United National Liberation Research Foundation, New Delhi. Front (UNLF), the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK) now operate from a unified platform, the Manipur People’s Liberation Front (MPLF). Similarly, Tripura is home to about 30 insurgent organisations of which the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) and the All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) have been the main ones. Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram have two or three organisations which are not known for any major or sustained activity, except the NSCN (I/M) in Nagaland. The spawning of various insurgent groups are virtually street corner shops using these names to cover other curricular activities that include smuggling and extortion possibly with some political-bureaucratic-corporate connivance or under duress. The good news is that despite these multiple organisations violence has been on the decline and the number killed declined from a peak of 1,317 in 2001 to 251 in 2013.

Home to massive riverine systems and fed by the mighty Brahmaputra and its tributaries like the Subansiri, that meet the Ganga in Bangladesh, in the jungles that sweep the region all over Southeast Asia and populated by indigenous tribes of the Khasis, Garos, Bodos, the different Naga tribes, the inhabitants of Manipur and Mizoram provide a vast eco and ethnic diversity that is not easy to fully understand. To this were added over time; first by the British and then by Neighbours’ Contribution the Pakistanis (later Bangladesh) – the Nepalese, Bengalis If figures are an indication then there is an improvement but from both West Bengal came with the British colonisers this does not mean there has been a solution. Governments and from East Pakistan (later in the past have been complacent Bangladesh) f leeing atrocities or solutions have been piecemeal or The 1962 conflict with China, and later looking for economic temporary or promises made only instead of spurring us into action, opportunities, Punjabis, Marwaris, to last till the next elections. One increasing our presence and Garhwalis and they brought their of major factors in overcoming religions – Hinduism, Islam, insurgencies has been the pushing for assimilation, had an Christianity and Sikhism with them. cooperation given by neighbouring opposite effect on Indian strategic countries when the King of Bhutan thinking. We seemed to have Exploitation of the region by took the courageous decision to taken a decision not to develop outsiders and neglect of the locals oust the ULFA from Bhutan. The infrastructure in the region had begun in the 19th century and government of Sheikh Hasina in it was a matter of time before local Bangladesh had been extremely aspirations erupted into insurgencies with the Nagas, Mizos, helpful in controlling the ULFA just as much as her Kukis, Meiteis and later the Assamese and Bodos seeking their predecessor, Khaleda Zia had worked against Indian interests. own redress. The relationship between the Bengali Hindu and The present government in Myanmar too has responded with Assamese Hindu and the Bengali Muslim and the Assamese cooperation and once one of the major planks of insurgency Muslim was always a complicated one that also had overlaps – secure shelter and access to funds and weapons is curtailed with the local versus the outsider issues. No insurgency in the – an insurgency is substantially overcome. This, however, region is common to the other and there was going to be no is not a complete victory and requires continued effort – at single solution to these problems. governance, which includes delivery of justice, providing law and order and ensuring economic and social development.

Multiplicity Of Insurgencies

According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP) there are 35 insurgent organisations in Assam, big and small, real and nominal, with as many as 14 Muslim organisations which are essentially opposed to the aims of

Insurgencies usually have a limited lifespan unless aided without restrictions by another state. In the Northeast, the early romance with insurgency took it to its height when the government seemed to have retreated and was administered

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REGIONAL INTEGRATION

by “suitcase deputy commissioners” for some time. Gradually the state recovered ground. The leadership got emasculated, with the help of friendly neighbours and the romance was replaced by smuggling, extortion and criminality.

Regional Issues

There are long-term mega projects too. India must move out of its own psychological barrier of treating the Northeast as a landlocked region and take assistance of Bangladesh to break out of this. It needs to look closer home in its Look East policy through similar active engagements with Myanmar. The economies of the Northeast and Myanmar can be integrated to the advantage of both. There are various mega connectivity projects being planned to link the Northeast with the outside world. The Kaladan multi-model transport and transit project will link the Northeast with the Bay of Bengal through Myanmar. This project will give the Northeast vital access to the sea. The India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway is intended to connect the Northeast with Southeast Asia as part of the even more ambitious Great Asian Highway project to link Asia with Europe. The plan is also to link the Northeast with East Asia through the Delhi-Hanoi Railway Link. This line will form a vital section of the Trans-Asian Railway that hopes to link the whole of Asia through the rail route. Another project that will link the Northeast with China is the Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar (BCIM) Economic Corridor, a project being pursued by the four countries.

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GEOPOLITICAL EXIGENCIES

These are plans to provide maritime, road and rail links to the Northeast. These are valuable plans and will take time to fructify but India must not take its eyes off them and that the main beneficiaries should be the people of the Northeast. The rest of India would automatically gain from these benefits.

India’s security interests are interlinked with the economic Chinese Arrogance and security interests of Bangladesh, Bhutan and Myanmar. The rapid economic growth of China and its rising global Gestures by the Bangladesh government in helping ambitions have already affected China’s behaviour in her India in its battle against the ULFA and others, has to be neighbourhood. There is a display of arrogance and a desire responded adequately. Bilateral issues of illegal migration, to challenge the existing power equations. The growth smuggling, Teesta river water issues, border enclaves along of India and other Asian nations in the recent decades the longest land border India has with any country and will redefine global and regional equations. Competing transit arrangements need to be solved soon. India does not economic and national interests in the region along with have any similar problem with the other two neighbours unresolved territorial disputes will be the driving factors – Bhutan and Myanmar but what is needed in the region and the inhibiting factors and any miscalculation could be is an active look east policy that costly. As the scene of cooperation, concentrates on India’s Northeast competition a nd perhaps In the broader geopolitical with the three neighbours in mind. confrontation shifts to Asia it is context, India will have to see imperative that we do not lose what moves China and Pakistan It is also impossible to ignore the opportunity of involving the other neighbour, China our Northeast in the economic make following Indian moves who has lately been showing adventure to prosperity. This to get closer to Japan, the US Arunachal Pradesh as a part of what and Israel, rejuvenating bilateral in itself will solve the issues of neglect and deprivation that it calls “Southern Tibet,” in maps relations with neighbours have contributed to the rise of that were also distributed to the including Myanmar and China’s insurgencies in the past. PLA. This cartographic aggression other neighbour, Vietnam is part of Chinese negotiating The development of the border position on the border talks with India but also indicates an intention to convey that it would regions is vital not only as an administrative and governance be a party to events including economic development subject but as a security issue in the frontier regions. As China presses for an opening into the Bay of Bengal to link its of the entire northeast region. Yunnan province to a sea port, India too would want access The state has to win back lost ground through immediate, to the waters of the bay through either or both Chittagong or short-term and mid-term measures. These would include Sittwe via the Kaladan river project. The various projects on the usual development projects for infrastructure, flood the anvil could help the Northeast break out of its isolation control, education, health and industry. Any state activity and India’s frontiers in the region could become gateways that provides employment, health and education is a and pathways. Regions like the Northeast considered remote positive development and requires no genius. Governance for long in New Delhi will be centre stage in the quest has to be made visible and people friendly. for the fulfilment of a Look East policy.

Great Asian Highway

northeast imbroglio

No Room For Complacency

For the present, insurgency may be at an ebb but complacency in these situations will be our main enemy. There is no ceasefire with an insurgency. Insurgencies can morph, re-emerge under different names. This will remain a security and intelligence nightmare, especially when one hears of reports of Al Qaeda or associates trying to make another attempt at entry into India and Bangladesh. In the broader geopolitical context, India will have to see what moves China and Pakistan make following Indian moves to get closer to Japan, the US and Israel, rejuvenating bilateral relations with neighbours including Myanmar and China’s other neighbour, Vietnam. India’s insurgencies in the Northeast do not have a uniform political solution but they all have a single economic and developmental hope which would break their isolation and feeling of deprivation and discrimination. At the same time, any sensitive and responsible government would have to remember that the uniqueness of the region cannot be disturbed and must be preserved. This is never going to be easy but many governmental issues are not easy.

LT GEN KARAN YADAVA PVSM, AVSM, VSM (RETD)

Northeast India The Way Ahead

The writer was commissioned in the Indian Army in November 1971 and joined the 4/3 Gorkha Rifles. He retired from the army as Director General Assam Rifles in September 2010. He is presently Vice Chancellor of YMCA University of Science and Technology at Faridabad, Haryana.

There seems to have been a total failure to recognise the historical, social and cultural factors leading to a lack of political will. The combination of these factors led to an influx of foreigners, economic deprivation and social insecurity. Bangladeshi migrants have become a deciding factor in the region’s politics.

he earliest settlers in the Northeast region of India were from Southeast Asia and Tibet and few from the Gangetic plain. It is one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse regions in Asia. A meeting place of many communities, faiths and cultures which is now beginning to adapt to contemporary lifestyles. A true cauldron of different people and cultures. The Brahmaputra Valley came under the British in 1824. After the Anglo-Burmese War the entire region came under the British control and became a part of the Bengal Province in 1939. At the time of independence in 1947, the Northeast region of British India consisted of Assam and princely states of Manipur and Tripura. Subsequently Nagaland in 1963, Meghalaya in 1972, Arunachal Pradesh in 1975 and Mizoram in 1987 were formed out of Assam. Manipur and Tripura attained full statehood in 1972 and Sikkim joined the Indian Union in 1975. They are seven separate but adjoining states collectively known as the ‘Seven Sisters’ with Sikkim forming a part of the region.1

In terms of geographical size the Northeast region is 2,55,511 sq km and constitutes 7 per cent of total India’s size and its population is 4.55 crore and represents 3.76 per cent of the total Indian population. It is allotted 25 out of the 543 seats in the Lok Sabha which represents 4.6 per cent of the total seats.2 1. 2.

The region shares 4,500 km of international border with China, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal and is connected to the rest of the country via a narrow corridor only 21 km wide at Siliguri, squeezed between Nepal and Bangladesh. This tends to enhance the sense of isolation and has security implications. The main stumbling block for economic development in the Northeast region is the disadvantageous geographical location. Ninetyeight per cent of the border in the Northeast region is shared with neighbouring countries. These inhospitable areas must be connected both by physical communications and political and economic integration.

Backward Agriculture

The economy is agrarian but little land is available for settled agriculture. Most of it is under jhum (shifting cultivation) with meagre returns. Terraced farming has not caught the imagination of the tribals of the region and must be encouraged. The literacy rate in 2001 census was 68.5 per cent. It was way above the National average. The tribal areas are predominantly Christian with the church exerting an overpowering influence. The Britishers exploited the region’s tea and forest wealth, bamboo in particular. Not much else was developed

Internet Internet

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GEOPOLITICAL EXIGENCIES

though the area is rich in resources like crude oil, natural gas, silk and handicrafts. With large water resources, fish is still imported for the needs of the region and fruit production is very limited. The region is landlocked and hence the states are dependent on each other. The rest of the nation must reach out and establish industry and production centres locally to prevent outside exploitation. The sense of isolation and the feeling of being exploited without adequate returns or attention by the rest of the country has encouraged numerous insurgent groups and a hostile attitude to protect their individuality, independence and culture. The changing demography encouraged by unscrupulous politicians is perceived as a major threat by the locals. The development of travel, tourism and the hospitality industry has been hampered due to security reasons, including inter-tribal tensions, widespread insurgencies and disputed borders with neighbouring states and countries leading to restrictions on foreigners and fear amongst Indians wanting to visit the area. To add to this perception Al Qaeda Chief Ayman al Zawahiri proclaimed that the organisation known as ‘Jamaat Qaidat al-jihad fi’shibhi al-qarrat al-Hindiya’ would spread Islamic rule and raise the flag of jihad across the Indian subcontinent especially in Assam and Bangladesh. Thus enhancing the lingering sense of fear and insecurity. Development and Northeast India seem to provide a contrasting image. One of the strategic regions of India with eight vibrant states with each having distinct social, cultural and economic indicators, the region is in constant need of innovative and sustainable solutions to address development and governance challenges.

Deprivation And Neglect

India was under the Mughal-British rule for over 500 years and hence the ruling elite had an essentially western orientation. With the children of ‘Brown Sahibs’ also studying in the west, the inclination to look west continued. The region was in a far corner and less developed than the rest of the country, leading to a sense of isolation. The distance and the cultural affinity with other neighbouring countries made the people feel closer to them than India. There seems to have been a total failure to recognise the historical, social and cultural factors leading to a lack of political will. The combination of these factors led to an influx of foreigners, economic deprivation and social insecurity. Bangladeshi migrants have become a deciding factor in the region’s politics. Poor communications has been a major contributor to the sense of isolation both in terms of surface transportation and telecommunications. The fact that the area is connected only by a very narrow corridor at Siliguri and the total lack of road and rail infrastructure has encouraged insurgent groups to take advantage of the situation and find sancturies in the jungles and in the neighbouring countries. 3. 4.

An interview with Ambassador Sikri India Today, August 2014

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The overland linkages to SE Asia were not developed due to the earlier situation of India and SE Asia being on opposing sides of the cold war divide. Myanmar itself was a closed country due to its internal situation which hindered any mutual development and reluctances on the part of Bangladesh to provide the desired transit facilities added to the already poor infrastructures.3

sancturies for insurgents, require diplomatic persuasion to safeguard own interests. Improvement of own lines of communication would help tap the markets of China, Japan and Russia.

The lack of internal communication facilities, effects of insurgent activities and general development along with the western orientation of the ruling class has led to very poor reach of the civil administration in most areas and therefore poor governance. Such a situation led to Mr Tousem, a Sub Divisional Officer in Taminglong district of Manipur to build a 100 km road on self-help basis.4

There is a need to create awareness about the NE region and increase political dialogue for greater integration within the nation. There is a need to look deeper into the divide in terms of economic, political, geographical and even religious aspects. Also to improve trade, economic and physical connectivity to encourage greater investments in Bangladesh, Myanmar and the neighbouring countries that will provide a platform to attract foreign investments and benefit both India and SE Asia. This will also counter the growing Chinese influence in the area.

Accumulated Funds

Seminal Projects

Poor governance has led to an increase in corruption and a nexus between the politicians, bureaucrats and the ‘undergrounds’. This has effected the generation of jobs for the locals and establishment of large scale and meaningful industries. The NE region is allotted a non-lapsable 10 per cent of the annual budget of 53 ministries since 1998-99. Its inability to spend this allotment has led to an accumulation of over Rs 9,000 crore. This along with the supposedly sponsored disruptions / blockades of roads and essential services by a nexus of insurgents, hoarders and the administration are glaring examples. The weak status of the Indian diaspora in SE Asian countries resulting in poor returns along with the fact that the NE region does not have much political weight in Delhi has led to its neglect over the years. The insurgency problem of the NE region continues to defy a solution and hence it is imperative that this region of simmering discontent be brought into the mainstream. Else we will continue to have external threats internally abetted and internal threats externally abetted.

The Way Ahead

The collapse of the Soviet Union, India’s most valued economic and strategic partner, China’s increasing role in SE Asia and the awareness that development will reduce the scourge of terrorism both internal and from neighbouring countries, has forced India to pay more attention to the NE region. The country’s own economic and financial crisis of the 90s and the economic boom of the SE Asian countries, especially Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia led to the realisation that enhanced interaction would help the Indian economy.

There is a need to Look East for economic development. The projects that are under consideration to give a boost to the economic prosperity of the region and India are: 5

• New Delhi-Hanoi Rail Link. This will connect New Delhi to Hanoi via Yangon in Myanmar, Bangkok in Thailand, Phnom Penh in Combodia, Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi in South and North Vietnam.

• Multinationa l

Highway Project. The road project is envisaged from Guwahati in India via Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Combodia, Malaysia and terminating at Singapore.

• Gas Pipeline, Myanmar to

• Transformation of our mindset towards the region

and work towards improvement of the economy, cultural integration and national policy of equal status. Greater exchange programmes of students and elders will be a step in this direction.

• Need for the establishment of a strong and effective NE Council and DoNER organisation to tackle the issues relating to the region.

• Along with road and rail communications, there

is a need to improve inland waterways due to the vast network of large rivers and air travel due to the terrain restrictions. There is the need to overcome the fear of deforestation for developing roads, tourism and defence preparedness.

• Power generation needs a greater push due to

the great potential from the vast network of waterways. Projects of smaller capacity may prove more beneficial and cost-effective.

• Jhum farming needs to be discouraged and the

Kolkata. This is from Myanmar via Bangladesh to Kolkata. The treaty has already been signed ten years ago in January 2005 but has not been executed, possibly due to lack of trust and initiative.

• Gas Pipeline, Sittwe (Myanmar) to Gaya. This is

region moved towards terraced farming for more production and self-sufficiency. Fishery needs to be encouraged to produce the requirement locally rather than import it from other states.

• Encourage tourism to enhance

the understanding of the region and give a boost to the economy. The reduction in the requirements of local area permits will be a very welcome step.

• Control the level of militancy and not permit it to be a

proposed from Sittwe through Aizawl, Silchar, Guwahati, Siliguri and onto Gaya in Bihar.

method to extract finances from the centre. This will improve governance, encourage industry and break the nexus between the ruling elite and the militants.

• Kaladan Multi Model Transport Project. This is

• There is an urgent need to create jobs for the youths

a combination of a rail, road and waterway project connecting Mizoram in India along the Kaladan River to the Sittwe Port in Myanmar to obtain an access into the Bay of Bengal.

• Stilwell Road. This road link proposes to connect

Ledo on the Indo-Myanmar border through Myanmar to Kunming in China. The fear on this project is that the large economy of China may flood the markets of the NE region and gain unwanted political influence. The emphasis may be shifted to developing infrastructure on own side of the border.

India’s own improving economy and increasing trade dictated that the sea lines of communications need protection and high sea terrorism needed control. Both these aspects could be facilitated by greater interaction and support of the SE Asian countries. The importance of an access to the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean for China and the porous borders with neighbouring states facilitating infiltration and safe

implementation of projects. Some of the aspects that need to be encouraged for internal development of the NE region are:

Intra-regional Development

There is a need to have a powerful monitoring and executing body to overcome corrupt practices and timely 5.

to keep them away from militancy and to direct their energies towards the development of the region and not permit this militancy to be converted into an industry. Also to stem the political support being provided to the militants by successive state governments for their own survival.

• There is a need to reassure the locals that they will not be overrun by immigrants and to initiate measures to tackle this menace.

Northeast region is a gateway to five other countries and we must make it a window for trade with the SE Asian countries. Development will bring peace and prosperity, integrate it further with the rest of the Nation and ensure that militancy is eliminated.

Projects under the ‘Look East Policy’

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INTERVIEW

Exclusive Interview With Lt Gen RK Rana SM, VSM Director General Assam Rifles

t Gen RK Rana SM, VSM was commissioned in the Rajputana Rifles from IMA in June 1976. He has commanded an Infantry Battalion in CI Ops, a Mountain Brigade in High Altitude Area on Indo-Pak Border and the Special Frontier Force in Cabinet Secretariat.

General Rana’s vision is to lead professionally competent and versatile organisations and happy and motivated troops located in well-maintained stations. Defence and Security Alert: The general perception of the Northeast is ruled by an image of suspicion, angst and violence against each other or against the Union of India. What do you think should be done to erase this feeling of distrust and alienation among the people of the Northeast? DG Assam Rifles: The present state of the insurgencies in the Northeast is a reflection of its social, cultural, ethnic and politico-economic milieu. The perception of the locals that the Northeast Region is an ‘excluded area’, with lack of basic civic amenities, economic backwardness is gradually and steadily changing. The system has by and large succeeded in quelling the insurgent violence by a mixed strategy of conflict resolution, better governance and meeting people’s basic needs, the same needs to be carried forward. The measures which need to be continued to further erase the feeling of distsrust and alienation are: a. Economic development infrastructure creation.

w it h

focus

b. Employment generation as part of economic planning, with focus on reorientation of education to science and technology, vocational training and community work. c. Rural development and employment to meet local requirements. d. Private business and entrepreneurship should be encouraged for utilising local resources to generate an alternative means of livelihood for the locals in their own areas. e. Strengthening the Police and PMFs and their projection as people friendly force. f. Greater intelligence effort, comprehensive inter-ministerial, inter-departmental, inter-agency and

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inter-security forces coordination to effectively deal with security situation in order to erase feeling of distrust. g. Focus on resolving the legitimate long outstanding demands of the locals. DSA: The Northeast is afflicted with militancy and terrorism, infiltration and insurgency, smuggling of arms and fake currency and various shades of Left Wing Extremism and Assam Rifles is charged with an onerous responsibility. How well prepared is the force under your command to face and surmount these formidable challenges? DGAR: 1. The Assam Rifles is the oldest force in the region and has created an iconic image for itself. It has been a stable and resolute organisation in the chaotic history of Northeast region. The population of Northeast see the Assam Rif les as the saviours of the region and has earned the sobriquet of the Friends of the Northeast People. 2. It is organised, equipped, geared and well-prepared to bring peace, normalcy and development in the region. As Assam Rifles is deployed in the remote and inaccessible regions of the Northeast, they are able to realise the government projects and are an effective instrument of the government capable of executing them. A large number of the troops belong to this region and hence they seamlessly integrate with the locals. 3. In order to effectively counter the insurgent activities, the Force is employed in the hinterland. Over the last decade, the Force has been able to establish credible presence in the Northeastern states which is evident from the sharp decline in terror related incidents. 4. The Force in the last three years has been able to: a

Eliminate 74 hardcore insurgents.

b. Inspire 1,020 insurgents to give up arms and assisted them in joining the mainstream. c. The effective border management by the Force has also led to a decline in various illegal cross-border activities. d. In the last three years the Force has seized 2,889 arms, Fake Currency worth approximately Rs 10 lakh and other contraband items worth approximately Rs 80 crore.

Lt Gen RK Rana enjoying the latest issue of DSA

e. The Force is also keeping a close vigil on the internal security situation.

DSA: The politician-terrorist-insurgent nexus has been the bane of the Northeast. How far has Assam Rifles succeeded in neutralising this unholy nexus and rid the region of its perennial problems and disharmony? DGAR: Assam Rifles is a paramilitary force and is deployed in counter insurgency operation. Its primary role is to conduct surgical, intelligence based operations to control insurgency. It has not experienced any interference from any quarter in the conduct of the Counter Insurgency Operations. DSA: Northeast, by virtue of being close to the international borders and hostile neighbours, Assam Rifles has to work in concert with other paramilitary forces and the army. How seamless is intelligence and resource sharing and how well-coordinated are the joint operations?

DGAR: 1. The Northeastern states have a deployment of plethora of Security Forces and intelligence agencies. In order to achieve maximum benefit, it is pertinent that all these agencies work in tandem with coordination and intelligence sharing at all levels both horizontally and vertically. 2. Established mechanisms exist for intelligence and resource sharing and one such agency is the Multi Agency Centre (MAC). MAC shares the intelligence with other agencies, including those of the state governments on a continuous and real time basis. 3. Overall, sharing of intelligence between Assam Rifles, army and other paramilitary forces is seamless and there is synergy in all aspects of operations. In all the states there is a well laid down mechanism for effective sharing of intelligence at all levels ie strategic, operational and tactical.

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INTERVIEW

4. The Assam Rifles has a well-established intelligence set up and it interacts with the state administration effectively and is ideally suited to share and disseminate intelligence with all forces. DSA: Illegal immigration from Bangladesh has been an inveterate problem for the Northeast and Islamism is spreading its nefarious tentacles in the region creating an undercurrent of simmering anger and resentment which many experts liken to a ticking bomb. What strategic measures are you taking to ensure that this ticking bomb does not explode? DGAR: The Assam Rifles as a Force is mandated to guard the Indo-Myanmar border. There have been no instances of any Illegal immigration from Myanmar. DSA: Success in counter-insurgency operations should never be quantified by the number of insurgents killed, but by the number of alienated people brought back to normal life and national mainstream. How successful has Assam Rifles been in the pursuit of this objective? DGAR: 1. The Assam Rifles have never engaged in the numbers game and have always followed and epitomised fair and people friendly operations. The Force is also known as the Friends of the Northeast People, because, all through its 180 years of history, it has managed to bring countless number of citizens into the national mainstream. Assam Rifles as part of its philosophy does not advocate killing of the insurgents. The aim is to carry out psychological operations and large scale Military Civic activities to induce the misguided citizens to give up arms. It is due to the effort of Assam Rifles that large number of insurgents groups have surrendered in the recent past. 2. The success of the Assam Rifles in pursuit of this is borne out by the fact that 1,020 hardcore insurgents have surrendered to the force and joined the mainstream in last three years. DSA: Enemies of India both from across the borders and within the country have graduated to using hi-tech gadgets and equipment, satellite communications and digital devices for anti-national and disruptive activities. What road map do you have to ensure that Assam Rifles personnel are smarter and better equipped than the enemy?

DSA: The latest thinking around the world is that training regimen for armed forces must now include psychological stress management modules in addition to the mandatory physical, professional and combat trainings. What are your views on this and are such modules included in your training programmes? DGAR: The Assam Rifles has already included psychological aspects and stress management as part of its routine training for recruits, as well as part of all in-service training being conducted centrally. It also forms a part of the routine training carried out at various levels. DSA: Do you think normalcy can return to the Northeast and the region can look forward to an era of peace and prosperity? What can your force, the federal and state governments and the people do to hasten the process? DGAR: Normalcy is already returning to the region. It has stable governments in all the states and the development works are progressing very well. In a number of places the locals are turning against the insurgents and protesting against their activities including illegal tax collection. The locals understand that it is the insurgency which is hampering the development of the area. 1. Actions by the government

Several measures are being undertaken under the aegis of India’s “Look East” policy. Connectivity projects to the Northeast to include the proposals to build the “Asian

Highway” and “Asian Railway Link” and “Natural Gas” pipeline through the region. Some of the projects for insuring development of the region and beginning of era of peace and prosperity are:

vi Assistance to Schools. In order to promote education in remote areas, the Force has been providing assistance to the rural schools in terms of furniture, study material, IT equipment and sports items which helps to provide conducive environment for education.

b. Development of the Northeast as a tourist hub. c. Large scale projects of infrastructures and industries.

vii National Integration Tours. The Force is effectively connecting the people of Northeast Region to the rest of the country by means of National Integration Tours for the students and villagers who have never had any opportunity to see other parts of the country.

d. Construction of SEZs and small cities. e. Providing employment opportunities to the youth.

2. Actions by the Assam Rifles a. Operations. Assam Rifles is assisting the government to bring peace and stability in the region by undertaking the following steps: i Inducing surrenders by effective rehabilitation packages. ii Assist central and state governments to execute development projects in the far flung inaccessible areas. iii Ensure incident growth and peace.

free

environment

for

iv Undertaking civic development projects in the state. b. Besides conducting Counter Insurgency Operations the force is actively involved in various civic action and perception management programmes. Some of the initiatives being undertaken by Assam Rifles are: i Infrastructure. Provision of basic infrastructure and amenities like electricity and water supply to the villages in remote border areas. ii Employ ment Generation. Employ ment generation and utilisation of local resources through projects such as Fruit Canning Plant and Socks making factory. iii Vocational Training. Providing vocational training and imparting specialised skills in various disciplines as varied as welding, computer literacy, tailoring, beautician courses wireman / electrician, agriculture productivity, motor training, paramedic courses etc.

2. Our Converged communications road map addresses both short and long-term needs of the Organisation and aims at empowering the Assam Rifles Trooper in using technology.

iv Recruitment. The Assam Rif les provides prerecruitment training in addition to the regular awareness campaigns which are frequently launched to motivate people to join the Security Forces, which brings happiness, economic upliftment and social development to their families and the region.

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there are no healthcare facilities available to the villagers. In the last five years the Assam Rifles has conducted 160 Medical Camps in which more than 30,000 patients have received medical treatment and medicines.

a. Linking the underdeveloped region of Northeast with effective road and railway communication.

DGAR: 1. The MHA has provided full support to Assam Rifles to ensure that we are better equipped and trained than our adversaries. Communications, Information Technology, Electronic Intelligence etc form a key facet of modernisation of the force to enable us to perform our role of Border Guarding as well as Counter Insurgency force.

3. We now have a multilayered, integrated voice and data network extending to the farthest reaches of Assam Rifles. This includes satellite, optical fibre, strategic and tactical radio with exclusive control of

these media with us. Creating and making available relevant information from our central database to the formations in real time through our newly created Data Centre which acts as a Force Multiplier. The government has invested immense resources into ensuring that our troops, not only acquire skills to manage these instruments of communications but also exploit technology to be in synch with advancements in the outside world and as you said, emerge being smarter and better equipped than the enemy.

Medical Assistance. The Assam Rifles conducts Medical and Veterinary Camps in areas where

DSA: As Director General of Assam Rifles, what is your vision and mission in light of the prevailing security environment in the country, especially in the Northeast? DGAR: Vision of the Director General Assam Rifles 1. My vision for Assam Rifles is to be a highly professional and versatile force manned by motivated and happy troops located in well maintained stations and to be regarded as Friends of the Northeast People. In order to achieve this vision following is being ensured: a. Efficient and Versatile Force. All Commanders to ensure that each member of the Force is adequately equipped, trained and enabled to perform all the assigned tasks in the most efficient and effective manner. Resultantly, the Force must remain proficient and geared up to meet all the operational challenges in the contemporary, as well as ‘Futuristic Environment’, however complex it may be. b. Motivated and Happy Members. All Commanders to ensure that each individual, be it an officer, junior commissioned officer, jawan, a civilian employee or their family member; all of them must remain motivated and happy members of our Team. We should be able to help them realise their professional and personal legitimate aspirations and ensure that they attain overall growth. Our families should be suitably empowered and children given quality education, so that they can lead a dignified and successful life in today’s competitive world. c.

Well Laid Out and Developed Stations. All Commanders must ensure that our troops and families stay in well laid out, well developed stations. Being a Northeast Centric Force, operating in difficult terrain, weather and operational conditions, we have to be ‘Forever in Operations’, therefore, we should ensure sound administration for our troops and give the best environment to the families in all our Assam Rifles locations. To achieve this, we need a plan and the ‘will’ to execute the same.

d. People Friendly Operations. While carrying out the task we must ensure that the innocent local is not put to inconvenience and he cares to respect the constraint of the force.

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COMPLEX GEOPOLITICS

The Naga Insurgency During the inter-world-war period (1919-1939) the British Governors of Assam and Burma had planned a big crown colony consisting of all Naga areas of India and Burma. This scheme was first mooted by JH Hutton, the then Deputy Commissioner of Naga hills district and supported by Robert Neil Reid, the then Governor of Assam. It was later revived by the then Assam Governor Andrew Clawaround 1941-44. It was supported by the Constitutional expert Reginald Coupland. If this scheme had been implemented the British would have retained their hold on a huge tract of strategically located land.

ecades of disturbances in India’s Northeastern Region requiring armed intervention of the government of India has spread the knowledge about the Nagas at least among the intelligentsia of the country. It is now widely known that the Nagas were the first to raise the banner of violent dissent and that strong action by the government of India has not been able to fully quell their rebellion. But the genesis of the problem and the ramifications of the issues are not appreciated by all concerned. In this context particular mention must be made about the threat to the country’s integrity and solidarity posed by the happenings in the Naga areas because of their strategic location. Therefore, this knowledge deficiency requires attention if the Nagas and the other ethnic groups of the NE are to be drawn to the mainstream of India’s political milieu so that at least their alienation may be prevented.

Inner Line Permits

The British came to the Naga and the other adjoining tribal areas in 1832. They formed the Naga hills district of Assam in 1866 consisting of many tribal areas. The boundaries of

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this district were re-drawn in 1923 in order to leave out all non-Naga areas. The Naga hills district and other tribal areas were designated as protected areas and entry of outsiders was restricted by the requirement of Inner Line Permits under the Inner Line Regulations of 1873. Administration in these areas was lax during British times. Some areas on the international border with Burma (present Myanmar) were virtually left unadministered. The Nagas liked this type of arrangement which allowed them considerable freedom of movement, communication, trade and local justice.

Divisive Policy

The British had a special relationship with the Nagas based on mutual respect for each other. There were two main reasons for this: The Nagas never joined the freedom movement of India. They never agitated against the British except for a minor Zemi-Naga revolt under Rani Guidalo. Secondly, almost all Nagas embraced Christianity. Even today their slogan is “Nagaland for Christ”. Over the years they have harboured a strong dislike for the Hindus and specially the Sikh soldiers of the Indian Army because of the atrocities committed during anti-insurgency operations.

Burma was within British India till 1935. During the inter-world-war period (1919-1939) the British Governors of Assam and Burma had planned a big crown colony consisting of all Naga areas of India and Burma. This scheme was first mooted by JH Hutton, the then Deputy Commissioner of Naga hills district and supported by Robert Neil Reid, the then Governor of Assam. It was later revived by the then Assam Governor Andrew Clawaround 1941-44. It was supported by the Constitutional expert Reginald Coupland. If this scheme had been implemented the British would have retained their hold on a huge tract of strategically located land. In April, 1946 the last British Deputy Commissioner of the Naga hills district CR Pawsey organised the Naga National Council (NNC) whose objective was to establish a sovereign independent Naga country. The NNC felt that the Nagas should be left to themselves to develop according to their own genius and what they believed to be Naga democratic customs and culture. Very soon the Angami Naga leader Zapi Phizo, a former British Indian Army Officer, took over the leadership of NNC and started the revolt. He met Mahatma Gandhi in early 1947 and pleaded for an independent Naga country. He based his demand on a nine-point Agreement which the then Assam Governor Akbar Hyderi had signed in early 1947 with the NNC. By this Agreement the NNC had accepted the independence of India and agreed to be a part of the Indian Union. However, the last point of this Agreement had assured a review after ten years so that the NNC could state whether they would like to extend the Agreement or sign a fresh one.

NNC Declares Independence

elements in 1960. But parallel insurgent-led governments are running in Nagaland and other Naga areas. These “governments” extort large amounts as illegal “tax” at fixed rates at regular intervals from the legitimate government of f icia ls, professiona ls, businessmen, contractors and their cohorts. Splinter groups HN DAS of the NNC freely operate in the Naga inhabited areas of The writer was Chief Secretary, Assam, during 1990-95. India and Myanmar collecting money and creating nuisance. The two important splinter outfits, namely, NSCN (IM) led by Isak Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah and NSCN (K) led by SS Khaplang, who had split from Phizo’s original NNC, have their headquarters in the remote jungles of Myanmar’s Sagaing Division. They get the active support of China and Pakistan mainly in terms of illegal arms and ammunitions.

Greater Nagaland

The Nagas demand greater Nagaland or Nagalim consisting of all Naga areas. The Nagaland state government supports this demand. The state legislative assembly passed three resolutions in the past in this behalf. These resolutions pointed out that in the 16 point Agreement of 1960 government of India had agreed as follows: “13. Consolidation of Contiguous Naga Areas. The other Naga tribes inhabiting the areas contiguous to the present Nagaland be allowed to join the Nagaland if they so desire”. This demand for Nagalim has created problems in Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh. In these states the denotation of the ceasefire agreed upon in 1997 has also created considerable confusion. The Nagas want it to be operative everywhere in order to foster their target of achieving Nagalim. But the others want it to be restricted to Nagaland only so that Nagalim can be prevented from becoming a reality.

The NNC declared independence of the Naga hills on August 14, 1947. Phizo started a violent agitation and had to be arrested on July 9, 1948. He was released when an accident killed his son. Phizo later started an insurgent movement. This insurgency reached its high water mark on April 4, 1953 when Phizo directed his own nephew T Sakhrie to be killed in order to suppress dissent. The government of India had to put the Army into action. There were many casualties on both Phizo started a violent agitation At this stage it must be sides. Phizo fled away. He lived a and had to be arrested on mentioned that the Nagas are a comfortable life in exile in London till his death in April, 1990. There fiercely independent and proud July 9, 1948. He was released were many more incidents as well as people. As already mentioned their when an accident killed his peace talks. Even a high level team demand for Nagalim has created son. Phizo later started an consisting of Jayaprakash Narayan, problems for Assam, Manipur and insurgent movement Bimala Prasad Chaliha and Arunachal Pradesh. The situation Rev Michael Scott made an is acute in Manipur where the effort to bring peace. All these failed. In 1997, however, a majority community of Meiteis, forming 65 per cent of the ceasefire agreement could be signed. This ceasefire with population, live in 10 per cent of the area. The Nagas live in the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak Muiva) four districts forming 70 per cent of the area. The remaining has been in operation since August 1, 1997. Another such 20 per cent is inhabited by Zomis or Paiteis and Chin-Kuki Agreement was signed between government of India groups. If the hill areas are separated from Manipur this state and NSCN (Khaplang) group in 2001. will be left with only 2,000 sq km of land area. That is why the Meiteis protest so violently whenever the Nagas demand Present Status Nagalim. In Assam periodical Naga incursions have created The position now seems to be as follows: There is an boundary disputes leading to considerable violence. Many elected government under the Indian Constitution in the people have been killed in riots. Confrontation between state of Nagaland. The Nagaland state had been formed the police forces of the two states have led to posting of the on December 1, 1963 consisting of the Naga hills district neutral force of Central Reserve Police in border areas. The of Assam and the Tuensang Division of the present problem has been made more complex by the Nagaland Arunachal Pradesh in accordance with a 16 point Agreement government’s refusal to accept even the verdict of a Supreme signed between the government of India and the Naga Court Judge. The Nagas of Myanmar live in the Sagaing Peoples’ Convention (NPC) formed by the moderate Naga Division in the north of that country. This area shelters many

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COMPLEX GEOPOLITICS

insurgent outfits of India. The total population of the Nagas globally will not be more than two and a half million people. But they are spread over a 50,000 sq km of sprawling, hilly and thickly forested area of India and Myanmar. There are as many as 16 major and 20 smaller Naga tribes who inhabit the state of Nagaland. Many more Naga tribes can be found outside Nagaland. The total number of Naga tribes will be about 50. Each is so different from the other in dialect, culture and tradition that inter-tribe communication is through Nagamese or broken Assamese which is now being steadily replaced by Hindi.

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NEW KIND OF WAR

The Nagas still believe that they are Nagas by birth and Indians only by accident. As long ago as 1918 they had formed the Naga Club when for the first time all Nagas combined under the umbrella of one political organisation. On January 10, 1929 the Naga Club represented to the Simon Commission “to leave us alone to determine for ourselves as in ancient times”. However, after more than six decades of unrest and strong action by the Indian security forces most Nagas now seem to crave for peace. To quote the senior Naga journalist Charles Chasie “the vast majority of Naga people today are fed up with the violence”. The majority of them seem to have accepted or acquiesced in the position that independence is no longer an option. A solution has to be sought within the Indian Constitution. It is true that the insurgent outfits are still operating from their hiding places in Myanmar. But their strength seems to be dwindling. Unemployed youths join their cadre lured mainly by the high salary paid by both the NSCN factions. The rate is reported to be Rs 15,000 per month for each insurgent cadre.

Myanmar Initiative

Meanwhile, the Myanmarese government, which never showed any sympathies for the minorities, now seems to be taking certain steps to come into a settlement with these groups, including the Nagas and the Kachins. The 50-odd minority groups have been agitating for changes in the structure of Myanmar’s federal government. But the federal government and even the majority Bama community Complex Geopolitics It is in the above context that a very detailed examination of the leaders have been pressurising the minorities to get absorbed complex problems and the subtle nuances of the relevant issues with the majority. In a meeting held at Laiza these groups has become necessary. The problems have become inscrutable of “frontier people” or “ethnic minorities” decided on an because of the existence of a very difficult terrain. My eleven-point common charter of demands which included knowledge and understanding of the geophysical dimensions the following: formation of a federal army, withdrawal of the central government armed of the area was derived first from forces from the ethnic areas, equal a reading of Lord Mountbatten’s In Assam periodical Naga right for all and grant of autonomy. Report about the conditions incursions have created boundary These demands were put up to the prevailing during the Second disputes leading to considerable central government representatives World War when he campaigned in a meeting held in the Majoi hall in this area to recover Burma from violence. Many people have been the clutches of the Japanese and to in Myitkyina, capital of the Kachin killed in riots. Confrontation provide assistance to the liberating state, on November 4-5, 2013. between the police forces of the Chinese Army of Kuomintang under The central government also put two states have led to posting the leadership of Generalissimo up a counter ten-point proposal of the neutral force of Central Chiang Kai Shek. Mountbatten has demanding, among others, Reserve Police in border areas also described how the Stilwell Road allegiance to the 2008 Constitution had been built from Ledo in Assam and further political dialogue to Kunming in China. I then travelled on the Stilwell Road on all disputed matters. The important point is that the right up to the Lake of No Return in Burma by jeep and on foot representatives of the United Nations and those of the accompanied by the senior officers of a government of India Peoples’ Republic of China were present in these meetings. organisation. We stayed in a Burmese Army camp atop a hill in But India was not represented although vital matters an area infested by insurgents, drug peddlers and bootleggers. regarding the Nagas also came up for discussion. Probably At that time I happened to be the Deputy Commissioner the only serious attempt at co-ordination with Myanmar on and Political Officer of the erstwhile Lakhimpur district this matter was on March 30, 1953 when the then Indian with headquarters at Dibrugarh (1969-72). In 2013 I visited Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru visited Kohima along with Sagaing city while touring Myanmar but could not actually his Burmese counterpart Thakin Nu (U Nu). But the Nagas reach the interior areas where the Naga rebels have their walked away from Nehru’s public meeting. headquarters. This deficiency was, however, more than made up by a close reading of an excellent description of I personally feel that the most important agenda items the area and the insurgent outfits by Rajeev Bhattacharyya now for discussion should be two: autonomy and territory. who had personal “face to face” interviews with the ULFA In regard to autonomy, decisions have to be taken about Commander-in-chief Paresh Barua and NSCN faction leaders amendments, if any, of Article 371A of the Constitution. Muivah and Khaplang in the deep jungles of the Sagaing In regard to territory, the Nagas have to understand that Division. He has brought back some rare and invaluable Nagalim is not possible. They have to reconcile to some other photographs from Myanmar. feasible alternative through dialogue.

northeast imbroglio

LT GEN (DR) DB SHEKATKAR PVSM, AVSM, VSM (RETD)

Insurgency In Northeast Genesis And Escalation

Developing societies harbouring a feeling of neglect or discrimination and having a large unemployed youth population provide breeding ground for insurgency. These conditions are to be found in ample measures in the Northeast and hence the mushrooming of different insurgencies in the region.

nsurgency movements are mostly designed to replace the existing system or regime with a new and different one. They are revolutionary in nature. The activities and goal of the insurgents may be directed against a foreign (against French and later against America in Vietnam) or domestic (against India in Northeast) regime. They are rebellious in nature. If the actions and activities of an insurgent movement are directed against a domestic government (like in India) or regime, such movements can be and are generally considered as part of an internal problem. Historical evidence shows that not all revolutionary and insurgent movements are successful. Fortunately for India, thanks to the professionalism, dedication and sacrifices made by Indian Army, Paramilitary Forces and state police, no insurgent group in Northeast or terrorists in Kashmir have been able to claim victory, nor has India lost any campaign or territory. However due to constant counter-insurgency campaign by Indian Army, Assam Rifles, Paramilitary Forces, logistically supported by Indian Air Force a large number of insurgent organisations have been neutralised and marginalised, however 6 to 7 seem to be still active primarily in Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Meghalaya.

The writer has extensively served in northeast India in combating insurgency, Punjab and Kashmir combating terrorism. He was the head of the operational group of unified command in Assam. He has served as Deputy Director (Brigadier) General and Additional Director General (Maj Gen) Military operations and also Additional Director General Perspective (Strategic) Planning at Army headquarters, New Delhi. He served as General Officer Commanding 4 Corps in northeast combating insurgency and border / LAC management with Bhutan, Myanmar and Tibet. He is considered as an authority in counter insurgency, counterterrorism and psychological warfare. He is the National President of Forum for Integrated National Security (FINS).

The Setting

It was in end August 1964; I entered Northeast into Nagaland through Assam, as a young officer of my battalion. Our role was to combat insurgency in Nagaland. I was given the task to establish a company outpost at a remote village Khonoma of Kohima district, where Mr Phizo the brain behind the insurgency in Nagaland was born. For all of us it was a new type of warfare, a new concept and a new challenge. I am tempted to quote Mr John F Kennedy, the youngest President of United States of America while addressing the officers and ranks of US Army, on the same day when I was establishing the Indian Army’s post at village Khonoma. He said: “This is another type of warfare, new in its origin. The war by guerrillas, subversives, insurgents, assassins, war by ambush instead of direct combat or aggression, seeking victory by eroding and exhausting the enemy. It preys on economic unrest and ethnic unrest and conflicts and these are the kind of challenges that will be before us in coming decades. If freedom is to be saved, a whole new kind of strategy will be needed.” John F Kennedy-1964.

New Kind Of War

Prior to our induction into Nagaland to counter insurgency, we were organised, equipped and trained for conventional warfare. The philosophy, doctrine, strategy

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NEW KIND OF WAR

and tactics of conventional warfare are totally different from that required to combat insurgency, terrorism, Al-Qaida, Taliban, ISI or Naxalites.

Nagaland was carved out as a full state out of Assam to fulfil the demand of the people for independence. People of Nagaland were made to believe that government of India made Nagaland as state due to demand for independence and struggle by armed cadre of Naga youth named as Naga army. Under the leadership of Mr Laldenga, insurgency in Mizoram was fully supported, sustained, armed and financed by East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). Laldenga operated from East Pakistan (Bangladesh) from 1966 to 1989. After the signing of Mizo-Peace accord, Mr Laldenga became the Chief Minister of Mizoram. Both the insurgent groups and people of Mizoram and other states got convinced and encouraged that armed revolt, violence, insurgency pays. They got convinced by the philosophy of Mao that “power grows out of the barrel of gun”. Mr Zoram Thanga who also became the Chief Minister of Mizoram was also an insurgent under Laldenga.

Externally Supported

It is interesting to note that the insurgency in Nagaland was fully encouraged, supported and sustained by China. Mr Phizo the insurgent leader was based in London and separated from western countries. The church played a major role in Nagaland. Most of the Naga insurgents were trained in the training camps established in Yunnan province of China. Insurgent rank and file including the self-styled

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COLLAPSE OF GOVERNANCE

commander-in-chief of Naga army and his deputies who are now heading NSCN (IM) followed the philosophy and strategy of Mao. The civil leadership was under the influence of western religious ideology. During those days there was no place for western religious philosophy in Mao’s concepts of liberation struggle and peoples war. Even today China and Church continue to influence insurgency in Northeast.

India was trying to recover from the humiliating defeat in 1962 War with China. Emergence of insurgency in Nagaland (which was fully supported by China and some western nations specially Britain) was another shock, since not many people in India including politicians, policy formulators, MLAs As Warlords decision-makers, governing mechanism, intelligence The harsh ground realty today (in 2014) is that almost all organisations and central political leadership at that time MLAs (barring few exceptions) have their private army (the and thereafter, had any idea and realisation of the magnitude armed criminal gangs named as “Liberation Army”). They of the challenges of insurgency. Even the higher leadership of operate on similar lines like the “warlords” in Afghanistan Indian Army was totally focused towards conventional war and Pakistan and the underworld. Insurgency in Manipur in with Pakistan and to some extent China. This has been the last two decades has developed as an easy way to make money, main cause of emergence of insurgency, naxalites, terrorism, a “cottage industry”. One of the former governors of Manipur Maoism and internal unrest for five decades since our stated the fact that every employee from topmost authority to independence. While the Indian Army has reoriented towards a lowest employee without any exception, including the staff counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism, the political at Raj Bhawan pays 10 per cent of his / her monthly salary as leadership, the governing mechanism, intelligence “protection money” called “Liberation Tax”. Transporters, mechanism continue even today to be indifferent to the business community, contractors, big companies, no one is exempted from paying illegal tax to challenge of insurgency, terrorism the so called insurgents. This fact is and internal unrest. Developing societies harbouring well known to the politicians and all a feeling of neglect or government officials, from Imphal Our nation, army, paramilitary discrimination and having a large to Delhi and intelligence agencies forces and state police have paid unemployed youth population but every one pretends to be helpless very heavy price. Insurgency and silent observers because and internal unrest have spread provide breeding ground for they all benefit from this cottage into all parts of India along with insurgency. These conditions are industry. But for poor citizens, philosophy of separatism and to be found in ample measures common persons in Manipur, secession from India. Almost all in the Northeast and hence continuation of insurgency suits states in northeast suffered from the mushrooming of different every one. If this be the reality insurgency due to the demand why should there be a sincere and (not desire) for independence from insurgencies in the region serious desire to eradicate and India. The words independence (azadi, liberation) have become very attractive to anti-Indian eliminate insurgency? The only organisation which is keen to eradicate insurgency is Indian Army and now the newly elements and organisations in India. elected central government at New Delhi.

Insurgency Pays

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Lt Gen SK Sinha (Retd) who was the Governor of Assam and I had the honour as General Officer Commanding of 4 Corps while dealing with ULFA and Bodo insurgency has stated in foreword written in the book Lost Opportunities: 50 years of insurgency in the Northeast and Indian response, “Politically independent and economically aff luent societies enjoying good governance do not get afflicted by insurgency. The people in such countries are naturally interested in the status quo. Developing societies harbouring a feeling of neglect or discrimination and having a large unemployed youth population provide breeding ground for insurgency. These conditions are to be found in ample measures in the Northeast and hence the mushrooming of different insurgencies in the region”. How true is his analysis? Apart from the emergence and spread of insurgency in the Northeast, the same has been the main cause of emergence of insurgency (termed terrorism for some obvious political, diplomatic and strategic reasons) in J&K and Naxalites / Maoists in thirteen states of India. Northeast, J&K and Naxalites are the outcome and net result of the misgovernance in all aspects since 1980 to 2012. Again our nation has paid a very heavy cost over the years; the young generations have suffered in these states. (To be continued)

Turbulent Northeast

Impact On Internal Security

DR AJAI SAHNI The writer is Executive Director, Institute for Conflict Management and South Asia Terrorism Portal and Editor, South Asia Intelligence Review.

It is crucial to note that insurgencies have, at worst, been a compounding factor to the endemic collapse of governance in the Northeast. The fact is, even in areas not affected, or only marginally affected, by insurgencies, governmental failure has reached a point where the state is unable to fulfil even its most basic functions: the provision of security and the maintenance of law and order.

etween 2005 and 2014 (all data till October 19, 2014) India’s troubled Northeast recorded at least 5,749 insurgency linked fatalities, including 2,178 civilians, 420 Security Force (SF) personnel and 3,151 militants. Nevertheless, the broad trends over this period favour the state. From a recent peak of 1,051 in 2008, insurgency related fatalities in the Northeast collapsed to just 246 in 2011, with the operational capacities of virtually all the major extremist formations in the region drastically, even perhaps irreversibly, degraded. The declining trend has, since, been reversed, with 2012 recording 316 fatalities and 2013, 252 fatalities. Disturbingly, by October 19, the current year had already registered 320 fatalities, including 140 civilians, 15 Security Force (SF) personnel and 165 militants. With the conflicts in other regions, including J&K and the Maoist ‘Red Corridor’ states registering sharp declines, the collective Northeast is now the most volatile theatre of low intensity conflict in the country; Left Wing Extremism (LWE) linked fatalities in 2014 currently total 264, while J&K has recorded 132 fatalities.

Resurgent Violence

Assam (193 killed), Meghalaya (67) and Manipur (38) are the states worst affected in the region in 2014. The escalation in Meghalaya has been the most significant over the past three years. Just five fatalities were recorded in the state in 2009, but this had risen to 48 in 2012 and 60 in 2013. The principal cause, in Meghalaya, has been a peculiar situation that has been created by the collapse of the major rebel formations in the state and their engagement in various ‘peace processes’ with the government; a proliferation of breakaway factions and new groups has brought a new virulence to extremist activities in Meghalaya. Similarly, in Assam, it is not the United Liberation Front of Asom – Independent (ULFA-I),

the surviving underground splinter led by Paresh Baruah, after a large section of its leadership and cadres crossed over to engage in a negotiation process with the government, that has been responsible for the bulk of violence in the state. It is the IK Songbijit faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB-IKS), which split from its parent NDFB in 2012, that accounts for 65 of 95 civilian fatalities in the state, one of five SF fatalities and 38 of 93 militant fatalities. As many as 123 insurgent groups are listed in India’s Northeast by the South Asia Terrorism Portal, of which just 46 are currently ‘active’. Sixteen of the active groups principally operate in Assam, another 15 in Manipur, seven in Meghalaya, four in Nagaland, two in Tripura and one each in Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram.

Lost Moorings

Despite the recent surge in violence, the reality is that all the insurgencies across the Northeast are now degraded, with little ideological underpinning or popular support, operating essentially within a paradigm of criminal extortion behind a fig leaf of political pretensions. Cycles of violence have, in fact, been the result of extraordinarily poor management by the various governments in the states and have been tied directly to the many flawed ‘solutions’ that have been applied in the region, dividing and polarising populations, exacerbating communal and ethnic tensions. The most obvious among recent examples of this dynamic was the conflagration in the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) of Assam, where NDFB-IKS militants attacked the Muslim minority. 46 persons were killed and tens of thousands displaced in the mayhem that followed. Indeed, the tactic of creating a multiplicity of ‘autonomous’ Districts or regions, or the creation of new states, to

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accommodate the ethnic fundamentalist demands of particular tribal insurgent formations has only created new minorities within these areas and these then seek further ‘decentralisation’ and autonomy. The myth that greater ‘autonomy’ for local units – defined in terms of ethnic identity – automatically corrects existing imbalances has dominated both the insurgencies of this region and the idea of ‘solutions’ to the problems of India’s Northeast. This notion has repeatedly been proven to be flawed, but continues to be mechanically applied by intellectually bankrupt governments, both in the region and at the centre. Encouraged by the pattern of ‘solution by division’, the Northeast continues to be racked by periodic agitations demanding the creation of new states or autonomous regions. In Assam, statehood demands include agitations by the Bodos for Bodoland; Koch-Rajbongshis for Kamatapur; Karbis and the Dimasas for an autonomous or full-fledged state. In Meghalaya, the Garos agitate for Garoland; and tribals in Tripura, under the banner of the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), are demanding a separate state. In Manipur, the Kuki State Demand Committee (KSDC) has revived its demand for a ‘Kuki state’, even as the Eastern Naga Peoples Organisation (ENPO) in Nagaland has resumed its demands for a ‘Frontier Nagaland’ state.

Communalisation

Electoral politics and the continuous increase of the illegal migrant (principally Bangladeshi Muslim) population has also contributed to destabilisation. This is the problem that fuelled some of the worst violence in the region, including the anti-outsider agitation in Assam and the subsequent United Liberation Front of Asom insurgency. Yet the problem has been studiously ignored by successive governments, even as increasing evidence of communalisation of votes is visible. This has already taken tensions to a knife edge in the region and is likely to be one of the most irreducible problems in the foreseeable future. Another troubling trend is the incipient forays into the region by the Maoists, who have established networks and active linkages with other insurgent formations in Assam and Manipur and have also made inroads into relatively peaceful states. Maoist activities have been noticed in the Lohit District of Arunachal Pradesh and the North Tripura District in Tripura. It is crucial to note, however, that insurgencies have, at worst, been a compounding factor to the endemic collapse of governance in the Northeast. The fact is, even in areas not affected, or only marginally affected, by insurgencies, governmental failure has reached a point where the state is unable to fulfil even its most basic functions: the provision of security and the maintenance of law and order. This has happened – as with much else in the Northeast – as a result of programmes and actions often undertaken with the best of intentions. The system of doling out extraordinary and regular largesse from the centre to the state governments, with virtually no accountability, has resulted in fiscal irresponsibility, the siphoning of resources into private coffers by a corrupt ruling elite, the rapid and unproductive expansion of the armies of state government employees – the largest source of employment in the region – and consequent and progressive bankruptcy of the state governments. Most governments in the region struggle even to meet their

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ETHNIC CONFLICTS

annual salary bills and little is left over for developmental expenditure. The ‘governmentalisation’ of employment has resulted in some of the highest state government employees to population ratios in the country. At the same time, governments have usurped functions ordinarily reserved for private enterprise, cooperative activity or social action, undermining or destroying non-governmental and entrepreneurial initiatives in every sphere, even as governmental resources are spread thin, wearing away the state’s capacities for effective action even in what should be regarded as essential or core functions of governance. All this is compounded by the parallel process of the ‘privatisation’ (though not in the usual or desirable sense) of government – where the powers and assets of the state are exploited essentially to augment the private fortunes of those who secure positions in the administration and others who are variously connected with them.

SUBIR BHAUMIK The writer is a former BBC correspondent and author of two highly acclaimed books “Insurgent Crossfire” and “Troubled Periphery”. He is now senior editor with Dhaka-based bdnews24.com and writes commentaries in Indian dailies and magazines. He has handled research projects for top think tanks like Observer Research Foundation. He is also a media trainer, having trained journalists in India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and China. He is also the convenor of the Tripura Conclave, a policy dialogue platform active in the northeastern state and a founder member of the Calcutta Research Group.

It is significant, however, that where a modicum of good governance is achieved, as is currently the case in Tripura, enormous stabilisation and development has been possible, despite the extraordinary geographical handicaps that this state suffers from. Indeed, while foreign and domestic investors have been reluctant to come into the region, even in highly remunerative sectors such as oil and gas exploration, work by both public and private sector companies has been ongoing in Tripura and one private sector company recently struck gas in the state.

Collapse Of Governance

The crisis of India’s Northeast is, in essence, a crisis of governance. The failure of leadership, the erosion (at times, even collapse) of governmental authority and economic stagnation are evident in wide areas of the region. Contemporary structures of governance are so deeply compromised that it is well nigh impossible to secure positive change, especially at the scale that is required. The perversion of political and electoral processes has been allowed to go on for far too long to expect a sudden transformation in the quality of governance from the entrenched elites, their lumpen associates and the collusive apparatus that has been established with crime and extremism of various hues. Piecemeal solutions that seek to address one part of the problem while they ignore others, or that seek to mechanically impose models of transformation imported from another context, result in wasted efforts and resources, with little advantage accruing to the intended beneficiaries – though a number of ‘unintended beneficiaries’ in the form of the politician-bureaucrat-contractor nexus, both within the region and at Delhi, profit handsomely. Significant proportions of these resources have also ‘leaked out’ into the underground economy of terrorism and insurgency as well, further consolidating a perverse dynamic of collusive and violent politics, corruption and underdevelopment. The structures of politics and administration in the Northeast have been stagnant for decades and are progressively failing to perform even the basic functions of governance in constantly expanding spheres of mandated activity. While the insurgencies of the region have lost much of their virulence and popular appeal, they will continue to fester as long as this fundamental issue is not addressed and all the pseudo-solutions imposed by venal political elites will only compound the prevailing disorders.

Assam: India’s Bosnia? For Narendra Modi, winning the 2016 Assam polls is a priority because that will firmly entrench the BJP in the most populous state of the Northeast, one that holds a pivotal position in the whole region. But if the country comes before the party for the Indian prime minister, he will get his comrades to avoid exploiting Assam’s violent ethnic divides to win elections. Because much of Assam’s recent violence has been in and around the polls, beginning 1983.

ssam holds the key to solution of most problems in India’s troubled Northeast but it is also the cause of most that bedevil it. The state’s multiple internal ethnic conflicts often spillover to the rest of the region, its border disputes with neighbouring states often escalate into large scale violence (as the August mayhem on Assam-Nagaland border), its militant anti-dam and pro-environment movement threatens major power projects in neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh (with implications for India’s energy security) and its anti-Bangladesh tirade jeopardises India’s relations with a neighbour now run by a ususally friendly government. Use of anomic violence by playing on ethnic passions have scarred Assam’s socio-political landscape since

independence. The state’s ethnic balance has been always tenuous and contested because it is so diverse that some call the state a ‘mini-India’. And the bouts of violence are curiously linked to elections which involve quest for political power, suggesting a linkage more direct than many would imagine.

Revival Of Dangerous Trend

One can recall the 1983 Nellie massacre (and those of Gohpur and Chaulkhowa Chapori) during the controversial elections that year which all Assamese and tribal groups supporting the ‘anti-foreigner agitation’ were boycotting. Alienation of tribal land may have been the underlying factor behind the massacre, but the election provided the spark. More than 3,000 died in the violence at Nellie and other killing fields of the state.

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northeast imbroglio

ETHNIC CONFLICTS

Now as the countdown for the 2016 assembly elections in Assam begins amidst uncertainties of political alliances, Assam faces a revival of an anti-foreigner agitation that had led to the 1983 massacres.

were not a majority in most villages that would fall under the proposed Bodoland Autonomous Council that the 1993 Accord sought to create. It is now well-known that his administration engineered a non-Bodo platform to oppose the Accord. That move undermined the moderates in the Bodo community and led to the radicalisation of the Bodo movement, with armed rebel groups embarking on a violent ethnic cleansing campaign to reestablish their majority over areas of their perceived homeland. It was left to a BJP government in Delhi to revive the negotiations to cut a deal with the Bodoland Liberation Tigers in 2003 that led to the creation of an autonomous Bodoland Territorial Council and the BLT’s return to the ‘mainstream’.

Groups representing tribes and other indigenous communities claim a large number of Bangladesh migrants have illegally infiltrated into the state and intend to use ‘tough means’ to expel them. On the other hand, organisations representing Bengali-speaking minorities rubbish their claims and say they have been victimised on the basis of ethnicity. The issue is once again reaching the boiling point with an influential tribal body, the All Assam Tribal Sangha (AATS) deciding to launch agitation against the illegal The National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), encroachers, doubtful citizens and non-protected class of which wanted an independent Bodo people from end of September. homeland, continued the fight until The AATS leaders have met Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and One can recall the 1983 Nellie it was decimated by factional feuds demanded that he take immediate massacre (and those of Gohpur and the crackdown by Bhutan and steps to free Assam’s tribal belts and Chaulkhowa Chapori) during Bangladesh, where its supremo Ranjan Daimary was arrested and and blocks from illegal occupation elections handed back to India. The BLT controversial the of doubtful citizens. AATS General that year which all Assamese reorganised into a political party Secretary Aditya Khaklari told this and tribal groups supporting and took control of the autonomous writer that its activists have started the agitation programmes from the ‘anti-foreigner agitation’ dispensation as an ally of the Congress, in power in both Dispur September 15 and have had three were boycotting and Delhi over the last one decade. agitations since then with rallies and The power-sharing arrangement road blocks in every district of the state to force doubtful citizens to vacate lands they are illegally gave the Bodo party of former militants complete control of the autonomous area and a slice of power in Assam with occupying in tribal belts and blocks. some of them becoming ministers in the Tarun Gogoi On December 5, 1947, tribal belts and blocks were government. Though a bitter factional battle raged between constituted for the first time in Assam to protect the rights of the Bodo factions, the ethnic divide subsided for a while. the tribals over the land. But reports now indicate that most land allocated under tribal belts and blocks are being held by The Telangana Spark non-tribals. There are allegations that these tribal land and The statehood for Telangana revived the Bodo movement forests are being illegally occupied by migrants from what is for a separate state. Bodo factions and groups resentful now Bangladesh. There are 17 tribal belts and 30 blocks in of Hangrama Mohilary’s monopoly control over the 14 districts of Assam. Under these belts and blocks, there autonomous region took to the streets for a separate are 3,980 villages with total land area of 85,80,842 bigha Bodoland with some gusto. Mohilary, now BTAD chairman, (7.5 bigha = 1 hectare). Dhubri, Goalpara and Barpeta are was forced to support the demand even though his party three Assam districts which were under tribal belts and blocks remained in the tenuous alliance with the Congress. The but have now overwhelming Muslim populations. That upsets Bodo push for a separate state raised worries amongst the the Bodo, Rabha and other tribal indigenous communities non-Bodos, specially after the 2012 riots, in which Muslims of East Bengali origin were specially targeted by Bodo rebels. because it has involved both loss of land and identity. The Bodo rebel groups have been attacking various non-Bodo communities since 1993 when Hiteswar Saikia’s Congress government torpedoed an accord signed by groups agitating for a separate Bodo state and piloted by the late Rajesh Pilot. Saikia raised the issue that Bodos

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Electoral Calculus

Fast forward to the 2014 elections. The attacks on the Bengali Muslims by Bodo militants were linked to the electoral dynamics of Kokrajhar parliament constituency. Since this was the first time the Bodos knew that a non-Bodo candidate explicitly campaigning against a separate Bodo state had emerged as a frontrunner in this constituency, the militants felt it necessary to start a terror campaign against non-Bodos opposing the formation of a Bodo state. Kokrajhar is at the heart of the Bodo country, the administrative headquarters of the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous Council. If that parliament constituency went to a non-Bodo candidate, it would bury the demand for a separate Bodo state. It was also apprehended that a non-Bodo winning Kokrajhar parliament seat might undermine the autonomy arrangement that gives Bodos monopoly of local power in an area where they are not a decisive majority but which clearly is their ancestral homeland.

Three strong Bodo candidates faced a non-Bodo candidate in Kokrajhar parliament seat. But the Bodo vote was divided between the three candidates, even as panic-stricken non-Bodos, who have all suffered violence since 1993, went all out to support the former ULFA commander Naba Sarania, who won by a huge margin of more than 3 lakh votes at a time the Modi wave swept aside the ruling Congress in the state, reversing the 2009 results. Much as the BJP benefited by a consolidation of Hindu votes and the split of the minority Muslim vote in the state with Badruddin Ajmal’s AIAUDF winning as many seats as the Congress and spoiling the ruling party’s chances in many, the split of the Bodo vote and the consolidation of the non-Bodo vote helped Sarania trounce his Bodo opponents.

in the line of Bodo fire who they have always wanted to be thrown out of Assam. They find it difficult to oppose the anti-infiltration rhetoric of the Bodo groups but have to oppose their bid for a separate Bodoland.

This swift change of ethnic alliances would remind one of the Bosnian or the Lebanese civil war, when some groups fighting alongside each other in the morning would turn against each other in the evening because leaders had decided to move out on one alliance and join another. Political sociologist Uddipana Goswami, in her latest book Conflict and Reconciliation: The Politics of Ethnicity in Assam, has argued ethnic reconciliation is the only way out for a fractured state like Assam − the only hope for keeping in one piece whatever is left of the once-large state. If how the warring Lebanese factions With the polls to the Bodoland Autonomous Council not finally sorted out the differences leading to the bitter long civil far away, Sarania’s victory seems war that turned their country from to have now spurred non-Bodos to the nightclub of the Middle East to its If an Islamist coalition of BNP and nightmare is any indication, Assam demand equal representation in the Jamaat-e-Islami comes to power, will need something like Lebanon’s autonomous dispensation. But this has further upset not only the NDFB all the gains for India on security smart power-sharing arrangements but also Hangrama Mohilary’s and connectivity stand the risk of to prevent a cycle of violence and BPF because it threatens the Bodo vivisection that threatens its future. being undone monopoly over local power structure Electoral democracy is a game of and undermines the movement for a numbers and often generates bitter separate Bodoland. That threat of being reduced to ‘foreigners conflict in places like Assam or Lebanon. It is often the in our own land’ has prompted Bodo rebels to try ethnic problem and rarely the solution. cleansing in the past − and that might happen again. Muslims of East Bengali origin have been specifically targeted since 2012 by not only Bodo groups but other tribal groups as well. They have been attacked by Bodo militants since 1993, but during the last 3 years, it is only them who are facing attacks and not the other non-Bodo groups. The Adivasis − Santhals, Mundas and Oraons − are the other major non-Bodo communities in the area that faced huge attacks in the late 1990s, but now they are better organised and any attack on them will provoke reactions from Bihar and Jharkhand and create ripples in national politics. The Muslims of East Bengali origin can be written off as ‘Bangladeshis’ to give legitimacy to the violence against a community that is now the favourite whipping boy of all indigenous communities in Assam. In fact, during the 2012 ethnic violence in western Assam, the Bodos railing against illegal infiltration were supported by Assamese groups like the All Assam Students Union (AASU) who have their own anti-infiltration agenda since the 1979-85 agitation.

Wheels Within Wheels

But as the Bodo groups resumed their movement for a separate state carved out of Assam, the ethnic Assamese groups turned against them and did not oppose issue of photo I-cards to the Muslim voters in western Assam who were earlier dubbed by them as Bangladeshis. In fact, some of these Muslims have taken the government to court mounting a legal challenge to the inclusion of their villages in the Bodoland Autonomous Council on grounds that there is no Bodo in their village. Now the Bodo groups might find in Narendra Modi’s pre-poll rhetoric against illegal migration from Bangladesh some encouragement to go after the Muslims of East Bengali origin, since Modi is now Prime Minister and his party has won the largest number of seats in Assam for the first time. Ironically, however, ethnic Assamese groups are now having to fight for Assam’s unity by pitting these very ‘Bangladeshis’

Other Contentious Issues

But it is not only ethnic conflict erupting in Assam that threatens the rest of India’s troubled Northeast. Akhil Gogoi’s KMSS has organised strong movements against big dams and power projects in Arunachal Pradesh that would have changed its economy. The movement has delayed if not derailed implementation of these projects that is capable of turning Arunachal Pradesh into India’s powerhouse, what with its 40,000 MW potential for cheap and clean hydel power (some say this could be as high as 80,000 MW). Assam also has bitter border disputes with Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram that often boils over into conflicts. In 1985, Assam and Nagaland police fought each other at Merapani in a way armies of rival nations battle each other. Lastly, Assam’s anti-Bangladesh tirade manifests in the state’s regional parties opposing the land boundary agreement with Bangladesh jeopardises India’s relations with a crucial neighbour in a way that could be severely inimical to the country’s long-term security interests. If the Hasina government, which is so friendly to India and has addressed her security and connectivity concerns most positively, does not get the land boundary agreement and the Teesta water sharing deal (that Mamata Banerji is blocking), it will stand totally discredited before the next parliament polls in Bangladesh. If it loses the polls and an Islamist coalition of BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami comes to power, all the gains for India on security and connectivity stand the risk of being undone. For Narendra Modi, winning the 2016 Assam polls is a priority because that will firmly entrench the BJP in the most populous state of the Northeast, one that holds a pivotal position in the whole region. But if the country comes before the party for the Indian prime minister, he will get his comrades to avoid exploiting Assam’s violent ethnic divides to win elections. Because much of Assam’s recent violence has been in and around the polls, beginning 1983.

November 2014 | DEFENCE AND SECURITY ALERT

northeast imbroglio

NEFARIOUS TENTACLES litt le where important action is at stake.

Mainstay

Islamist Terror

“Terror Sans Frontiers: Islamist Militancy in North East India” − written way back in 2002 − predicted not only the rise of Islamists in the North East and abutting areas, but also about an al-Qaeda design in the region.

lthough the book was written in 2002, research findings that predicated the Islamist design were well in evidence since the late 1990s. The transformative moment that Islam is passing through were resonating in the North East and Bangladesh even before 9/11 had occurred. On 23 February 1998, Fazlul Rahman, leader of the “Jihad Movement in Bangladesh” of which HuJI-Bangladesh is an affiliate, signed the official declaration of jihad against the US. The signatories of the declaration included Ayman-al-Zawahiri, the leader of the Jihad group in Egypt (now emir of al-Qaeda); Abu Yasir of the Egyptian Islamic Group; Sheikh Mir Hamzah, Secretary, Jamaat-e-Ulema-e-Pakistan and Osama bin Laden. Several Muslim youths from Assam and Manipur were soon taking the fast lane to Pakistan and Afghanistan via Bangladesh to train alongside the Islamists.

disenchanted they returned to the mainstream. An important Harkat-ul-Mujahideen leader, Abu Bakr Siddiqui told this writer on 27 December 2002 that they were simply asked to enter Assam, take shelter and wait for their strength to grow.

Reason

At that time − almost 14 years ago − it seemed as if sleeper cells were being prepared for later day activation. An ISI led campaign was already on and an alert Special Branch of the Assam Police was able to effect severe setback to the design. However, the sights of al-Qaeda were in this region even during the time: the contiguity of an expanse (Lower Assam, Bangladesh, Rohingya belt of Myanmar) that could possibly emerge as an important seat of Nizamiyyah for the Caliphate in construction appealed to the pan-Islamist deluded fanatics in Osama and his associates. A close study of al-Qaeda would showcase that their perspective

Instructions

It must be emphasised that a majority of the Assamese Muslim youths went to places such as Batrasi in PoK as they were under the impression that on return they would be able to improve the lot of their Muslim brethren, for instance by instituting 30 per cent reservation in education and employment and establishing Muslim courts. Unlike NSCN or ULFA, very few Muslim Fundamentalist Organisations in the region carried a clause of secession from India, but their West Asian trainers and Pakistan’s ISI goaded them onto an altogether different set of objectives such as shahadat for the cause of Islam, assassination of leaders such as Atal Behari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani and institution of a sovereign Islamic state. Such instructions meant nothing for the Assamese Muslim youths and

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The writer in the Army War College, Mhow to present a lecture to senior armed forces officers attending the prestigious Higher Command Course.

planning is spectacularly scientific. One can be certain that Ayman-al-Zawahiri would never have made a statement (as he did on 3 September 2014) unless al-Qaeda’s (or its franchises’) war paraphernalia were already in place in India, albeit by way of its various affiliates. The 2 October 2014 Burdwan blasts in which Ja'amatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) was involved and the subsequent apprehension of six suspected JMB cadres from Barpeta in Assam are important pointers in the direction. “Terror Sans Frontiers: Islamist Militancy in North East India” had even enumerated al-Qaeda’s perches in Bangladesh, most of which were established after the partial detalibanisation of Afghanistan in the wake of Op Enduring Freedom. Fanatical Bangladesh’s agenda about a demographic occupation of Assam made sense to their invasive blueprint.

Ground

Illegal migrant population from Bangladesh with an ingrained puritanical strain of salafi Islamism in their innards coupled with socio-political and ideology that is informed by experiences from across the border would be the primary constituency of al-Qaeda. Zawahiri’s recent video statement was a clear order for all hands to appear on deck.

Islamist Agenda

One aspect that must not be disregarded is the unity of purpose in the Islamist agenda, especially in the post 9/11 era. It is the al-Qaeda’s Khorasan group − that is the prime salar-e-allah of all Islamist action across the globe. Although it might seem unlikely, but the fact of the matter is that action in Iraq, the Arab peninsula, the Islamic Maghreb and now al-Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent has more or less been directed from either the caves in Tora Bora, or safe houses in Djakarta / Chittagong / Deir al-Zour. It is of little consequence whether al-Qaeda temporarily wore or wears the garb of a Sirajuddin Haqqani, Abu Bakr Bashir or the presently infamous Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, whose Islamic State (despite reports that there has been a break with al-Qaeda) is presently being aided by al-Nusra, al-Qaeda’s Syrian franchise against the US-led coalition: the latter is being denounced as simply “war against Islam”. The interchangeability has ascertained that names mean

Religious terrorism made serious gains as an ideology of terrorism at the national level where it is usually combined with some form of radical nationalism. At the transnational and global level JAIDEEP SAIKIA it had its biggest effect in the The writer is a top Northeast p o s t- C old Wa r er a : Expert and Terrorism Analyst. demonstrations of which were He is credited not only for his felt both on 9/11 and after that seminal work on ethnic militancy, incident. It must be understood Bangladesh, China and Islamist that of all “motivational” types terror, but also for his role in advising the government on of terrorism, religious terrorism matters relating to security is best suited − especially in resolution, including as an expert ideological terms − to generate on the Northeast in the National the most advanced patterns of Security Council Secretariat, New Delhi. He has internationalisation, even up to the level of achieving fully authored / edited ten books and academic papers. He transnational goals, activities, numerous has widely travelled in China, agenda and organisational Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Europe, forms. The threat to India, South and South East Asia on Kashmir, Gujarat and Assam is academic assignments and in the only a special manner in which US, where he conducted research on Islamist Militancy as a this aspect is being manifested. Ford Fellow in the University of Non-state Islamist action in Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He India − whether by Indian was also a member of the Indian Mujahideen (a veritable delegation for Track II Dialogue with Bangladesh (2007) and surrogate of SIMI) or China (2014) and has recently Lashkar-e-Toiba − has the emerged as the architect in same underlying theme, the discerning circles of a novel security architecture political element. What, after for the Northeast, the all, are the Caliphate and the “North East Security Council.” Nizam-e-Mustafa that the Islamists of any hue seek? Analysts who are of the opinion that the Islamic State has outdone al-Qaeda’s successes, achieving more ground than it to take the lead in the global Islamist movement are mistaken. In the words of Islamist scholar and forensic psychiatrist, Marc Sageman, “the present wave of terrorism directed at the far enemy is an intentional strategy of a Muslim revivalist social movement … its appeal lies in its apparent simplicity and elegance that resonate with concerned Muslims not well schooled in traditional Muslim teaching, which it rejects.” Strategies and tactics evolve and a sound theoretician of practice may even ‘create’ dissonance within one’s own ranks to create confusion in the enemy camp. Unfortunately, the countering forces have yet to fathom this simple aspect. Muslims of Assam have more or less rejected the extreme manifestations of Islam, denying al-Qaeda the storm troopers it would require for a concerted move across the enchanted frontiers. However, rejection or reluctance of such manner and shape would amount to nothing. As has been elucidated above the global salafi movement does not acknowledge national boundaries. Guest militants from as far off as Syria, Iraq, Yemen et al would take up the call to arms as has been the case elsewhere including Kashmir. Terror − in its Islamist manifestation − knows no frontiers.

November 2014 | DEFENCE AND SECURITY ALERT

northeast imbroglio

REGIME OF QUID PRO QUO

Corruption Consuming India’s Northeast One of the great benefits that the Scheduled Tribes of the Northeast enjoy is Income Tax exemption. That an IAS officer or a medical doctor or engineer earning as much as his / her non-scheduled, non-tribal counterparts should be exempted from paying this national tax and even from declaring his / her income annually is gross injustice. Members of the political and business class and even government employed engineers and bureaucrats in the northeastern states have amassed wealth beyond any of their known sources of income.

n 2013 there was brouhaha over comments made by political psychologist Ashis Nandi at the Jaipur Litfest that tribals, other backward castes (OBCs) and scheduled castes are in the same league with other pedigreed Indians as far as corruption is concerned. Nandi was castigated by tribals across the country. They felt he was taking a broad swipe at this country’s so-called backward communities and that his statements were highly disparaging and insulting. But going beyond the hype and hoopla of the reactions then as a tribal myself, I feel that Nandi is not far off the mark. What he said is the bitter truth. And because tribals come from such obscurity and poverty, wealth in our hands does tend to stand out more than if it were in the hands of say the Tatas or the Ambanis or even some of the political elite. There are some traits which set the tribals apart. Firstly the tribes are not very covert about handling wealth. They flaunt it without apologies. Those of us tribes living in Sixth Schedule areas do not even pay income tax so trying and assessing whether a public servant is guilty of owning assets beyond his / her known sources of income is a pretty tough call. Let us ask ourselves this question. Where do the thousands of crores of rupees pumped in by government of India (taxpayer’s money) to develop the so-called backward states of India’s Northeast actually accumulate? It is invested in private bank accounts of the political and bureaucratic class and their partners in crime, the business lobby.

Roads And Water

The government of India has allocated funds to the tune of Rs 53,706 crore for the fiscal 2014-15. On an average each state

November 2014 | DEFENCE AND SECURITY ALERT

would be getting about Rs 6,700 crore. Let’s say that Assam with a bigger population gets the lion’s share then the other 7 states would still be getting at the very least Rs 5,000 crore each. Considering the population of each state to be on average 3 million (30 lakh), the investment per person would come to something like Rs 1.6 crore per annum. That is if this money that comes to the states goes to each citizen. However, since this is not a feasible way of distributing largesse the state governments allocate funds to different development departments like Public Works Department (PWD), Public Health Engineering Department (PHED), Health, Education, Policing amongst others. Across all states the PWD and PHED get the lion’s share of the budget but our roads are in a state of perpetual disrepair. The road connecting Dimapur the commercial capital of Nagaland to its state capital Kohima is perennially under repair. The rubble is always exposed because the black-topping is weak and corruption so endemic in this Department that less than 50 per cent of amount sanctioned for road making is actually invested on the road; the rest is pocketed by the PWD minister, the engineers and the contractor. The Naga people are venting their spleen over Facebook and blogs about the state of their roads. Some of the bloggers even came out in large numbers two years ago to make a symbolic protest by planting paddy in the middle of the Dimapur-Kohima highway. That’s how bad the road condition is. Other states in the Northeast are not far behind. Beyond the state capitals the roads are present only in name or are as bad as the kuccha roads. In terms of potable drinking water, large swathes of the population of the Northeast survive despite the government. Leave alone potable water, they don’t even get water for their

daily needs. In rural areas people walk miles to fetch water and are not even sure if the water is fit to drink. In the coal mines of Meghalaya water sources and rivers are already toxic and while the affluent can buy water in tankers the poor have to spend several hours a day to fetch water.

Income Tax Exemption

One of the great benefits that the Scheduled Tribes of the Northeast enjoy is Income Tax exemption. That an IAS officer or a medical doctor or engineer earning as much as his / her non-scheduled, non-tribal counterparts should be exempted from paying this national tax and even from declaring his / her income annually is gross injustice. Members of the political and business class and even government employed engineers and bureaucrats in the northeastern states have amassed wealth beyond any of their known sources of income. But they get away with this crime of corruption. Come elections and politicians worth crores of rupees declare their assets in a few lakh rupees only when everyone around them knows how many prime properties they own, not only in their own states but also in the metros. Nobody questions how government employed engineers can earn such high incomes to be able to educate their children abroad – an opportunity that only a few privileged Indians enjoy. And we all know that these people were not born affluent but acquired their wealth during the tenure of their service. The wealth they have earned is in direct proportion to the ramshackle public buildings and roads they construct which require annual repairs. It’s all a money-making racket. And they get away because they are tribals! Even the RTI will not tell us much. For instance, in Meghalaya a government contractor was found from RTI documents to have misappropriated Rs 9 crore by way of claiming payment for CGI sheets not supplied to the government. But the contractor is sitting pretty because the government will not take action and nor will the Chief Vigilance Officer, for the government is always in cahoots with contractors and businessmen / women.

The Madhu Koda Example

So the sum and substance of this argument is that the vice of corruption is programmed into the moral DNA of every human being in the same manner that other virtues are. ST, SC, OBCs are all humans. It is circumstantial that tribals live in the more remote areas of this universe but ironic that they are also owners of the earth’s resources. Most of the mineral rich areas are in the lands occupied by indigenous peoples, another name for tribal groups. The divine must have thought that what they lack by way of other civilised accoutrements would be made up by their forest and mineral wealth. Alas! These resources are not accessible to all tribals / SCs, OBCs equally. Some tribals are more equal than others by virtue of their political clout and overarching influence in policy making and policy decisions. So the former chief minister of Jharkhand, Madhu Koda was able to amass about Rs 6,000 crore by granting illegal mining rights to favoured companies. He invested the money in tax havens across the world. And Madhu Koda has been Ashis Nandi’s example of a corrupt tribal wherever he has spoken about class and caste inequalities.

Outlaw Diktat

Let me take one case study from Meghalaya. Here the government spends Rs 525 crore annually in policing. This

works out to Rs 1.10 crore a day and roughly Rs 5 lakh per hour to keep the peace and ensure law and order. But is the police performance equal to money spent? An outlawed militant outfit the HNLC declared a 24 hour bandh on October 1, 2014 which also happens to be Durga Puja, one of the much awaited Hindu PATRICIA MUKHIM festivals celebrated by the non-tribal population of The writer is Editor, The Shillong Times and Member, National Eastern India and about Security Advisory Board. 13 per cent of them residing in Meghalaya. The bandh call was announced by the outfit over email sent to media houses by its so-called publicity secretary. The media carried the news mainly to prevent unsuspecting visitors to Meghalaya from getting into trouble by entering the city in the middle of a bandh. What the militant outfit is doing is a cyber crime. But the Meghalaya Police has in all these years been unable to crack on the IP address of this outfit and to detect the source of the email. But the top-heavy police hierarchy continues to function in a business as usual manner and there is no one to give them a rap on the knuckles for preventing an important festival from being held with the spirit of festivity that it should be. Accountability is absent and without accountability money will continue to find its way into private pockets of the influential power holders. Year after year the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) indicts the state governments of all Northeastern states for profligacy but governments pay no heed. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the State Assembly comprising MLAs from different political parties are supposed to look into these CAG objections and to indict the state governments but no such thing happens. The PAC members take a lenient view of CAG objections because they are waiting in the wings to enter the government and are afraid they too might get into the same soup. So it’s a classic case of quid pro quo. But the institution of the PAC has lost teeth and the important role it is supposed to play is completely diluted.

Public Funds

The Northeastern region of India is also known to be a region of conflict where the security establishment itself is often involved in corruption. Some have been detected, others continue because there is a neat system in place which evades detection. Development funds pumped into states like Manipur find their way into the coffers of sundry militant outfits, often in connivance with government officials and politicians. I therefore find it distasteful when politicians whine about not getting enough development funds from the central government. I would instead propose a strict monitoring process to be put together by the government of India. After all the one who pays the piper calls the tune. The Northeastern states have a poor tax base but even what is collected by way of sales tax and royalty on coal or other products from the region is a pittance due to leakage at several collection points. Such profligacy cannot continue without adverse effects. It’s time the state governments of the Northeast are taught to be accountable for taxpayer’s money.

November 2014 | DEFENCE AND SECURITY ALERT

Industry Monitor

Industry Monitor I

Tata-Airbus JV for transport planes

n a big boost to Prime Minister Modi’s clarion call to “Make in India”, Tata Group company Tata Advanced Systems Limited and EADS Group company Airbus Defence and Space have joined hands and submitted a joint bid to offer 56 transport planes to the Indian Air Force keen on replacing ageing Avro fleet. Tata-Airbus combine proposes to supply Airbus C295 aircraft which is one of the best in class and a superbly reliable and tough aircraft with outstanding economies which is proven in the most difficult operating conditions all over the world.

Pierre Schaeffer new CMO at Thales

hales Group has confirmed the appointment of Pierre Schaeffer as Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. He will be responsible for all marketing operations of the Thales Group which is aggressively expanding its operations all over the world.

Ballistic protection technology from MKU

anaging Director of MKU Neeraj Gupta has announced the introduction of 6th generation ballistic protection technology Ammoflex-6 and Polyshield-6 that facilitate reduction of weight and thickness of personal body armour by 40 per cent. This considerable reduction not only increases the agility and speed of the soldiers but also generally reduces stress and augments endurance. Body armour made with Ammoflex-6 and Polyshield-6 offers excellent multi-hit protection and lowest possible weight. This technology provides the soldiers free and unrestricted movement flexibility and long-duration comfort and conform to N1 J0101.06 and VPAM specifications and standards.

India grounds Sukhoi-30s

fter a recent crash, India has grounded its entire fleet of close to 200 Sukhoi-30s. An IAF official said that safety checks with focus on ejection seats were being conducted and flight operations of Sukhoi-30s will start only after each aircraft was cleared.

India Test-fires N-capable Nirbhay

ndia has successfully test-fired nuclear-capable subsonic long-range missile Nirbhay at the Chandipur test range on the coast of Odisha. Nirbhay is indigenously designed and developed by DRDO. Nirbhay is capable of delivering conventional and nuclear weapons and has a range of 1,000 km. It blasts off like a rocket for initial 100 meters and then turns horizontal to fly like an aircraft. The Nirbhay cruise missile is an Indian version of the American Tomahawk.

Norms eased for defence companies

n a strategic move to attract higher foreign direct investment (FDI) in defence, government of India has allowed private companies in the defence sector to sell their products to state-run entities under the control of Ministry of Home Affairs, state governments and PSUs etc without prior approval of the Department of Defence Production (DoDP).

November 2014 | DEFENCE AND SECURITY ALERT

DAC clears defence projects worth ` 80,000 crore

efence Acquisitions Council (DAC) of the government of India during its recent meeting chaired by Defence Minister Arun Jaitley has cleared many long-pending projects of critical importance to plug gaps in India’s operational military capabilities and defence preparedness. The proposals approved include Spike anti-tank guided missiles, stealth submarines, midget submarines, Dornier maritime patrol aircraft, BMP II infantry combat vehicles and Uran missiles etc.

UAV Show Europe 2014

agem (Safran) showcased its latest innovations and developments in UAVs for both civil and military applications at the recently concluded UAV Show 2014. Sagem is a prime contractor for military UAV systems and it displayed the Patroller long-endurance tactical drone system along with drone solutions for Infantry Soldiers and Special Forces. The Patroller can be used for both internal security and all kinds of military operations. It can fly over 20 hours at a stretch and altitudes up to 20,000 ft.

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northeast imbroglio

ANFRACTUOUS anxieties and apprehensions, as the people amongst whom they spawn and though not everybody is an insurgent, or in fact many obviously actually disagree with the ideologies of the insurgents, the shared constituency ensures that the insurgents in some ways remain the vehicles by which the people’s own frustration and anger at a dysfunctional system is delivered back at the system. To take the Nagaland example again, it therefore is no coincidence, that some of the tallest leaders of the mainstream politics that the state has seen, including several past chief ministers, were former underground politicians of the insurgent variety who left their earlier avatars out of disillusionment or else reformed visions of the future of their people.

Demographic Nightmare

Nexus Between Insurgents And Politicians To take the Nagaland example, it is no coincidence, that some of the tallest leaders of the mainstream politics that the state has seen, including several past chief ministers, were former underground politicians of the insurgent variety who left their earlier avatars out of disillusionment or else reformed visions of the future of their people. A closer scrutiny and understanding of this dynamic within the various societies of the Northeast, almost all of which have seen insurgencies, is crucial in any effort to end the region‘s crippling problems of violent conflicts.

ne of the questions often asked of insurgency in the Northeast is, how closely linked are politicians with insurgent organisations. For reasons which are not always explored deep enough or appreciated, the answer cannot ever be in black and white. The question can also be illustratively rephrased as, what exactly is the relationship between the people in an ethnic insurgency situation and the insurgents. Here too, for similar but not necessarily identical reasons, the answer is not simple by any means. Often, the answer will only be understood in all its nuances by those exposed to deadly conflict situations of the civic variety for a prolonged period.

Convoluted Situation

In this context, it must be remembered, insurgency in the Northeast is over six decades old, with the Nagas the first to raise the banner of revolt under the leadership of AZ Phizo, even as India attained its independence. A lot of water has flowed down the many rivers and rivulets of the region ever since and today with the exception of Arunachal Pradesh, all other NE states have either had, or else are in the throes of violent insurgencies. The first generation of the insurgent leaders are long dead and gone, the second generation already have a leg in the grave, yet

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the conflict situation is far from gone and in fact they have only grown more complicated and complex. The question of the nexus between politicians and insurgents also presumes an absolute criminality of the insurgency movements. However, looking at the genesis of these rebellions, these are a different category of crimes, unless assessed purely from the point of view of the state. Otherwise, these movements had very wide public support, at least at their inception. In the 1952 Naga plebiscite on the issue of Naga independence conducted by Phizo’s Naga National Council, NNC, an estimated 99.9 per cent of Nagas in the then “administered area” voted for independence. There are many who argue this plebiscite was not democratic in nature, as all opposition were brutally suppressed and no counter campaigns were allowed, making the plebiscite more in the nature of a one-sided signature campaign. Whatever the case was, 99 per cent of voters coming out to endorse the rebels’ agenda point to the fact that the criminality attributed to these rebels is far more complex than the simple and straight bureaucratic definition of a crime. In varying degrees and social textures, most if not all ethnic insurgencies in the Northeast share such roots. The insurgents, in this sense, become what Frantz Fanon called the “mailed fist”. They share the same constituency of concerns,

but the shared constituencies of anxieties, or memories of it, remain somewhat as a bonding sinew. This is accentuated by the everyday fact of the failure of formal politics to deliver in terms of governance. For the beleaguered people, often their government and its corrupt ways are not the ideals to turn to even if they have decided the insurgents’ ways were not acceptable. In fact, it would not be mere conjecture to say, had the governments in these states governed as they should have and earned themselves the moral legitimacy to rule the people, insurgency as a whole would have lost the biggest battle.

PRADIP PHANJOUBAM The writer is the founding editor of Imphal Free Press, English daily published from Imphal, Manipur. He also contributes articles for many major Indian newspapers and journals. During May 2012-May 2014 he was a fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, IIAS, Shimla, where he researched on the geopolitics that went into the shaping of the landlocked geography as well as psychology of the Northeast Region.

In Assam too, a similar phenomenon was demonstrated before every observer in the 1980s. The legitimate fear of the average Assamese of a demography overturn in the face of unmitigated influx of immigrants into the state led to the tumultuous six year long Assam Agitation from 1979 to 1985 with the thrust slogan of “detecting and deporting foreigners”. The agitation was spearheaded by the All Assam Students Union (AASU) and the All Assam Unfinished Agendas Gana Sangram Parishad (AAGSP). After the conclusion What follows is a dreadful of the movement with the signing of the Assam Accord ennui. The propaganda battle of insurgency and in 1985, the AASU and AAGSP formed the political party counterinsurgency continue, but nobody makes a move Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) to enter formal politics and carry to change things earnestly. The narrative is reduced to forward the Assam movement’s Shakespeare’s “tale told by an idiot, objective. The bulk of the AGP full of sound and fury, signifying The shared constituencies of leaders and cadres at the time of nothing”. Insurgency recedes but anxieties, or memories of it, its formation were understandably remains as a constant droning remain somewhat as a bonding former members of the AASU and threat in the backdrop or a low AAGSP. It is again no coincidence intensity war as such conditions sinew. This is accentuated by that it was only when the AGP began are also called in official circles. the everyday fact of the failure faltering on its promises, finding The situation finds an equilibrium of formal politics to deliver itself unable to scale the new and in this state of being and this level in terms of governance of abnormality becomes normal. formidable hurdles posited before In the security establishment’s it by the exigencies of mainstream politics that the Assamese insurgent organisation, language, this is called conf lict management. What United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) formed at everybody then forgets to do is to think of resolving about the time the storm before the Assam Agitation the conflict and its causes. was building, reared its violent head. Life however goes on, as it has to. But this life is not Winning Hearts And Minds exactly normal. For the common man and indeed the entire Clearly the idea of a shared constituency of concerns society, this normalcy is about getting used to this state of and anxieties is at play here too. In Assam this was “abnormal normal” (parenthesis used for emphasis), making demonstrated in a rather dramatic way too in its initial compromises wherever it is necessary. Often this also involves stages. The ULFA’s campaigns in the beginning were the people actually having to buy their own peace. So the marked by civic programmes of building village approach government employees do not any more grumble when part roads, punishing petty criminals, fighting perceived social of their salaries are diverted as various insurgent taxes every evils such as alcoholism etc and were meant to charm the month through ingenuously devised mechanisms, just as population and win their confidence that the organisation businessmen as a matter of routine pay up extortion demands was there for them and their welfare. These programmes and factor the cost into the commodities they retail. Even the were bang on target, for they were not only publicly media continually are forced to make these compromises. In lauded but the public enthusiastically actually came out of states like Manipur where conflict is still raging and deaths their homes in large numbers to offer voluntary services in gun violence is just another mundane reality, through and contribute their mites in these drives. negative conditioning, newspaper and cable TV channel editors have learnt to live with the shame of giving up much These honeymoon periods however do not last. The of their editing rights to decide press notes that emanate violent ways of the insurgents, their extortion drives to run from the numerous insurgent factions and publish them no their organisations, headstrong pushes of their separatist matter their news worth. When the conflict situation has ideologies, intolerance of dissenting opinions or honest been around from the time most of the current generation debates and criticisms, invariably begin to alienate the people. were born and when there is no likelihood of it ending in The attraction and power of the “mailed fist” invariably fades, the foreseeable future, the common man must learn to live

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ANFRACTUOUS

with it and this is precisely by avoiding trouble with either the government or the parallel underground governments. When violence is in the very air people breathe, how can anybody blame the same people for trying to negotiate their safety under the circumstance and make life tolerable? By analogy, this would be something like corruption which has permeated deep into the life of the entire country. Though not all are corrupt or believe in bribing, in having learnt to live with a corruption tarnished system for a prolonged period, at some point or the other, practically everybody would have tipped a tout or government clerk to have clearances for small official works, such as obtaining a ration card or driving license done. This is no longer seen as an act of corruption, for this abnormality, because of its prolonged prevalence, has ceased to be seen as abnormal and has indeed become in its own skewed way, the new normal.

November 2014 | DEFENCE AND SECURITY ALERT

CATCHING THEM YOUNG

bewilderment why despite the continuing mayhem caused by insurgents, no political party in the Northeast, even those in Manipur where insurgent threats have been most acute, want the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, AFSPA to stay. In Manipur, in every political party’s election manifesto, except the ruling Congress, removing the AFSPA has been the foremost promise. It also tells of the nuanced nature of insurgency sympathy in the state that although the people vehemently clamour for the removal of the AFSPA, they still vote the only party which said the AFSPA will stay till the trouble in the state is resolved conclusively.

ANIMESH ROUL

ULFA

This peculiar relationship is also what was demonstrated in Assam a decade and a half ago. In 2010, a massive joint offensive by Indian and Bhutanese security forces against ULFA and other Assam based insurgent organisations, codenamed “Operation All Clear”, launched to destroy insurgent strongholds in the Bhutan hills, not only resulted in ULFA camps being erased but also reportedly an unprecedented number of cadres dying in the operations. When news of what had seemed a continuing massacre of ULFA cadres reached the media, public sympathies especially among the Assamese middle class which had long disowned the ULFA’s vision began turning. Accordingly, even very respectable sections of the Assamese society began AFSPA What about the current generations of politicians? What taking to the streets demanding the operations be suspended would be their compulsions or commitments, as it were, so that the ULFA cadres be at least spared imminent death on this issue? Do they still share the constituency of fears and decimation. It is not that the average Assamese then still and aspirations as the insurgents? If yes, it would be only subscribed to what the ULFA represented or their separatist ideology, but that they still saw in a limited way. Insurgency in the the ULFA cadres as misled Northeast today is not the same Insurgency in the Northeast is boys – the prodigal sons of the as when they were born. Lumpen indestructible by physical force Assamese society with false dreams elements have overtaken many of them and their original ideologies of Assam’s future. It is also in alone. There will have to be other are today lost. Extortions, kidnaps similar vein that former Nagaland ways out of the problem and for ransom, threats of violence on finding this elusive path should be chief minister, Neiphiu Rio, individuals they demand money now Lok Sabha MP, declared his the most important challenge from and more such atrocities, all position as chief minister with these ironically in the name of the regards to the insurgent factions in “people’s revolution” they are supposed to be leading, have his state, as one defined by “equicloseness”, as opposed to in great measures, alienated them from the public. Economic the more popularly used phrase to represent such a balance, disparities in the society too have widened dramatically “equidistant”. It is again for this reason that in the Northeast, in modern times, bringing about fresh divisions in the even those who dislike the insurgents from their guts hesitate psychological and emotional affiliations of different sections to term them as terrorists or criminals. of the society, with only some section continuing to share the conditions which led to the rise of insurgency, while other A closer scrutiny and understanding of this dynamic sections have left these conditions far behind, therefore have within the various societies of the Northeast, almost all of begun to belong to another world. which have seen insurgencies, is crucial in any effort to end the regions crippling problems of violent conflicts. What the The present generation of politicians would generally people want, it should be clear from all these examples, is belong to the latter economic class, or else would be aspiring a resolution of the problems that led to insurgency in the to be so. As a class, they would have little in common with the first place and not the complete physical elimination of those social constituencies which spawn insurgencies. However, who have taken to the path of insurrection. That the later they also have to win elections and this may have led some approach cannot indeed end insurgency should have been to make Faustian deals with the devil often. Moreover, the more than apparent in the fruitless six decades of the Indian insurgents, though now splintered badly with many splinters state’s counter-insurgency approach in the Northeast. For turning into loose cannons, there are still other groups insurgency in the Northeast, in the words of MS Prabhakara, which still have stuck to their original visions and therefore academic and journalist who devoted an entire career still command a good degree of public respect and sympathy, in the region, “is a state of mind” implying therefore it is although greatly diminished from what it was once. These indestructible by physical force alone. There will have to politicians therefore still cannot afford to totally turn their be other ways out of the problem and finding this elusive backs on the issues raised from this section, or be brutally path should be what is acknowledged as the most important aggressive against the insurgents. This should leave no challenge in this project.

northeast imbroglio

The writer is the Executive Director and Co-founder of Society for the Study of Peace and Conflict, a Delhi-based policy research think tank. He holds a Master of Philosophy degree from the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and has a master’s degree in Modern Indian History. He specialises in counterterrorism, radical Islam, terror financing, armed conflict and issues relating to arms control and proliferation in South Asia.

Child Soldiers Of India’s Myriad Mutinies The latest draft of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, 2014 aims to provide legal protection to children in conflict zones. Moving a step ahead, the draft Bill seeks rigorous punishment for those involved in child recruitment for militant purposes and activities through jail sentencing and monetary fine.

he issue of children engaged in armed conflict has often caught the attention of academics, policy-makers and rights advocacy groups around the world. Ironically, however, it has completely escaped the same attention of the government agencies in terms of formulating legislations or policies which could end or at least control this dangerous phenomenon. India is a case in point.

Definition

Who is a child soldier? The most accepted characterisation of a child soldier (irrespective of gender) is someone who is below 18 years of age, bearing arms, or carrying out both combat and non-combat activities. From firing guns for offensive purpose to acting as a support staff for the militant groups by helping them in various activities, (not limited to) transporting logistics like arms and ammunitions, cash and information, a child soldier carries out different duties for the armed group he / she is enrolled into. It is of little consequence whet her t hey are forcibly recruited or have joined the armed group voluntarily.

While most of the discourses on children in armed conflict fall in the African war zones, Latin American drug and guerrilla wars and Asia’s Maoist and Tamil insurgencies, child soldiers of India’s myriad mutinies remain either overlooked or ignored. India’s neighbouring countries where child soldiering in the past was ‘painted’ as a voluntary form of service, especially in Nepal and Sri Lanka, in the neighbouring Myanmar, forced conscription of children is prevalent even today. In 2013, at least two comprehensive reports on the problem of child soldiers in India brought international attention to the widespread problem, even though there were other focused reports on the problem of child soldiers in the past such as Human Rights Watch’s (HRW) 2008 report on the Chhattisgarh Conflict. A March 2013 report titled “India’s Child Soldiers”, released by the Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR), conservatively observed that at least 3,000 children are members of militant outfits and 500 of them are active in the Northeastern states of India and J&K conflict theatres and rest 2,500 children are engaged in Naxal-affected areas of Central and Eastern India. One

November 2014 | DEFENCE AND SECURITY ALERT

northeast imbroglio

CATCHING THEM YOUNG companion) illustrating how the Sahabi was only a child when he took up a sword to wage jihad against someone who was blasphemous to the Prophet. The editorial further encourages Muslim children to kill any infidel who commits similar blasphemy. This type of teachings in Pakistan caters to the Taliban movement and other similar militant groups, including Kashmir-centric groups even today.

other report was published in July 2013 by the Child Soldiers International on India. Although this report didn’t mention the figures or numbers of children engaged in these conflict zones, it was critical of the absence of monitoring mechanism, both domestic and international. According to the report, due to the absence of a monitoring mechanism, it remains difficult to assess the precise numbers or current patterns of recruitment and use of children by armed groups in India, or their physical and moral exploitation in the hands of armed groups. It is noteworthy that these reports also briefly cover the underage military recruitment phenomenon by the state agencies (eg state backed village defence force and government run military schools).

Jammu And Kashmir

Even though most of these above mentioned high profile reports on Child Soldiers largely guesstimated the numbers of combatants and their involvements, there is no actual estimation of how many children or underage combatants are engaged in Kashmir conflict zone or anywhere else in India. However, there are some media reports which actually give us the impression on the state of affairs. In August 2004, Indian Army officials claimed to have apprehended at least nine teenaged militants, some as young as 14 years, with sophisticated weapons and highly motivated to wage jihad against Indian Army. In some instances militant groups have employed young boys as ‘forced’ freelancers. One such recent instance could shed some light on the involvement of these young boys and girls in Kashmir conflict. In August 2012, Lashkar-e-Toiba had reportedly engaged at least two youths to throw grenades at a police post in Sopore in exchange of a meagre INR 1,000. One 2005 investigative report noted that most of the children picked up by Kashmir militant groups were from remote areas of Rajouri, Poonch, Doda, Udhampur and Kupwara districts and belonged to poor families. J&K security forces have been skeptical of this situation of missing children from these remote areas and fear that they might have been abducted and indoctrinated by militant groups.

The largest militant group of Kashmir, Hizbul Mujahideen’s (HM) leader Syed Salahudeen once said that HM prefers “to recruit children at the age of eleven or twelve.” Like HM, most of the Pakistan-based Kashmir-centric Northeastern States Islamic militant groups, including Lashkar-e-Toiba and In Northeastern states of India Manipur, Meghalaya and Jaish-e-Muhammad, have been recruiting children as young Nagaland based militant separatists groups have employed as 12 to 15 years since the early 1990s for their subversive children as combatants and support staff for their operations. activities. The Jamaat-e-Islami of Manipuri groups like the People’s Pakistan and its Kashmiri branch Manipuri groups like the People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak that spearheaded Kashmir conflict (PREPAK) and People’s Liberation Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak Army (PLA), Megha laya’s too trained hundreds of young (PREPAK) and People’s Liberation Garo Nationa l Liberation Kashmiri teens at madrasas and Army (PLA), Meghalaya’s Garo Army (GNLA) and Nagaland’s at mosques during the height of Kashmir militancy and readied National Liberation Army (GNLA) NSCN-IM and Khaplang factions a generation of Islamic militants and Nagaland’s NSCN-IM and have lured young boys and for a prolonged jihad in Kashmir. to their ranks and file. In Khaplang factions have lured girls The Indian Army has many June-July 2008, Manipur witnessed young boys and girls to their mass abduction of children in the a times indicated that these ranks and file age group of 10 to 16 from various Pakistan-based militant groups parts of the state. Two Manipuri keep pushing the young recruits onto the Indian side of the border as messengers and as militant groups, the PREPAK and Cobra Task Force, the shields for the intruder militants. armed wing of PREPAK (PRO), have claimed that young children have joined their groups voluntarily. Similarly in Two most violent militant groups have regular Meghalaya, cases of children being used as combatants by publication dedicated to the children often found eulogising the GNLA surfaced in mid 2012. The state police estimated martyrhood by young combatants. The magazines are that more than a hundred children were stationed at GNLA titled Naneh Mujhahid (Infant fighter), published by camps in forest hideouts in Garo Hills. Lashkar-e-Toiba, and Musalman Bachay (Muslim Children) published by the Jaish-e-Muhammad with the aim to In Nagaland, the most violent SS Khaplang faction of the educate and indoctrinate young minds at a very tender age, NSCN group (National Socialist Council of Nagalim) has so that in future there won’t be any hassles in recruiting recruited young boys as militants. The most newsworthy them into full fledged militants or send them to Kashmir incident took place in February 2008 when 39 boys from as suicide bombers. For example, one editorial in the Arunachal Pradesh were abducted and later joined the Musalman Bachay depicts the example of a Sahabi (prophet’s faction as combatants. However, a spokesman of the group

November 2014 | DEFENCE AND SECURITY ALERT

reportedly said that these boys have come into the NSCN-K fold voluntarily to serve the Naga army. Fortunately, very recently, the only non-state armed group in India, the Nagaland based armed group, the Government of the Peoples’ Republic of Nagaland / National Socialist Council of Nagaland (GPRN / NSCN)-Khole-Kitovi faction which is observing ceasefire with the government of India, has signed ‘Deeds of Commitment’ (under the auspices of Geneva Call) that includes protecting children in armed conflict and vowed not to allow children under 18 to be recruited or used in hostilities. Even though some other Northeastern armed groups like Kuki National Organisation and the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak Muivah) have signed the deeds of commitment, they skipped the clause that aims to protect children in armed conflict zone.

Central And Eastern India

fighters, trained to make and plant landmines and bombs, gather intelligence and carry out sentry duty. Like boys, girls too get combat and guerrilla trainings in their secret camps. Even the Naxalites reportedly established a child battalion by November 2008, called Child Liberation Army (CLA). Available reports suggest that the children inducted into the CLA are between 12 and 18 years. Police sources informed that training camps are located in the bordering jungle areas of Dhanbad and Giridih districts of Jharkhand. Reports surfaced in mid 2013 that Naxals have been recruiting school children in Chhattisgarh and have constituted ‘Baal Action Teams’ to deploy school children in different capacities in their attempt to regroup the child cadres and boost their military strength. These ‘Baal Action Teams’ are already operating in Bastar region, Chhattisgarh. This specialised school children unit would also help the Baal Sangams and Chhatra Sangams in the Naxal affected zones.

Besides the above mentioned landmark studies, the other important report was the UN Secretary General’s May 2013 Annual Report (2012 as the study year) on Children and Armed Conflict, which highlighted the recruitment and Conclusion use of children by Naxalite groups in India and mentioned It is imperative to discuss the government’s role and effort particularly the recruitment of children aged between to curb this rising phenomenon in India. The growing trend 6 and 12 years into children‘s units of recruiting teenage children as known as Bal Sangams in the Naxal armed fighters in India has faced These government formulated national and international criticism affected / infested states. This is one laws or international forum over the past many years. In its of the vital arms of the Naxalite organisational structure. backed guidelines like Geneva response to the UN Committee Call, may not dissuade armed on the Rights of the Child in 2011, Arguably, Indian Naxalites groups to abandon this age the Indian government dismissed (also CPI-Maoists) are notorious such criticisms by stating that old military tactic of recruiting the problem hardly ever existed for employing and exploiting children as combatants, what in the country. India had then children as combatants in their is more crucial at this juncture categorically stated that the country ongoing armed struggle. Another issue of concern is that of sexual is the rehabilitation of a “does not face either international or exploitations that exist within generation of child soldiers non-international armed conflict However, by March 2013, Naxal rank and file and mostly the traumatised by violence whether situation”. the government’s perception victims are young female recruits. in India or elsewhere changed drastically on the issue when the reports of exploitation of A 2011 report indicated that the CPI (Maoist) recruited nearly 400 children for its children’s tribal children in the Naxalite camps came to light. wing Bal Sangam, that year and they were getting trained in The initial dismissal by the government notwithstanding, intelligence work and the use of explosives in the Saranda forests along the Jharkhand-Orissa border. Little probe India’s Union Ministry of Women and Child Development into details revealed that children of different age groups is considering to bring into effect a law to criminalise are trained and assigned different tasks: Children aged the act of recruiting children for armed campaign. The from six to 12 are used as spies and couriers and armed latest draft of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection with basic.303 rifles. Children above 12 are used as of Children) Bill, 2014 aims to provide legal protection to children in conflict zones. Moving a step ahead, the draft Bill seeks rigorous punishment for those involved in child recruitment for militant purposes and activities through jail sentencing and monetary fine. The Bill states that “any non-State, self-styled militant group or outfit declared as such by the Central Government, if recruits or uses any child for any purpose, shall be liable for rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years and shall also be liable to fine of five lakh rupees.” These government formulated laws or international forum backed guidelines like Geneva Call, may not dissuade armed groups to abandon this age old military tactic of recruiting children as combatants, what is more crucial at this juncture is the rehabilitation of a generation of child soldiers traumatised by violence whether in India or elsewhere.

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northeast imbroglio

CATACLYSMIC? population is Bangladeshi immigrants. Clearly, a significant proportion of illegal Bangladeshis are settled in Assam.

Outnumbering Locals

Illegal Migration From Bangladesh Compromising National Security

he issue of illegal migration from Bangladesh had figured prominently in the run-up to this year’s parliamentary election. At that time, many people thought that the issue was being raised by one of the leading political parties, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for electoral gains. No doubt, raising this important issue reflected in the improved political fortunes of the party. However, this also raises the important question that why people of Assam and West Bengal who are most directly affected by this problem, chose to buy this narrative. Some facts which have come out after the parliamentary elections clearly indicate that the raising of this issue was not without a basis. On the other hand, the magnitude of the problem has worsened in last ten years and if nothing is done to check this then it would seriously jeopardise India’s national security.

The illegal migration from Bangladesh has been difficult to quantify. There are several reasons for this. First, the illegal migration has been taking place over a long period of time. As a result, there has been confusion that after what point migrants coming from the region presently known as Bangladesh should be considered as illegal. This problem was sorted out after the Assam agitation and it was agreed that people coming after March 25, 1971 should be taken as illegal migrants.

All India Presence

However, even after this cut-off was decided there was no official survey done to estimate the number of illegal migrants in India. The task of estimating their number was difficult as these migrants speak the same language as people of West Bengal and are ethnically of the same origin. What was worse, once West Bengal and Assam were saturated with these illegal migrants they have decided to spread all over the country. Today, there is no important urban centre in India which is free of illegal Bangladeshis. The first attempt to estimate the magnitude of this problem was done by the Group of Ministers (GoM) on national

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security in 2001, who stated that after 1971 about 12 million Bangladeshis have illegally entered into India. This number has considerably increased in the years after that. The religion data findings of Census 2011 show exponential growth in Muslim population of Bangladeshi origin over the last census in several districts across Assam and West Bengal. Data compiled by Dr C Chandramouli, Office of Registrar General of India (RGI) and the Census Commissioner, shows an increase of about 5 to 7 per cent of illegal Bangladeshi Muslim population in various districts of the two states. It has caused considerable concern in the central and the state governments. It confirms the belief that illegal migration from Bangladesh has continued unabated in last one decade. The districts close to the international border are the worst affected ones. In many of these districts migrant population is either already more than the indigenous population or threatening to become so. According to the 2011 Census, the total population of Assam has increased from 26,638,407 to 31,169,272 in the last 10 years, recording a growth rate of 16.93 per cent. Out of the 27 districts of Assam, eight districts registered a rise in the decadal population growth rate. Muslims dominated the districts of Dhubri, Goalpara, Barpeta, Morigaon, Nagaon and Hailakandi, recording growth rates ranging from 20 per cent to 24 per cent during the last decade. On the other hand, the eastern Assam districts mostly in upper Assam registered around a nine per cent population growth. These districts do not share any international border. Muslim population, mostly of Bangladeshi origin, is 59 per cent in Barpeta, 36 per cent in Cachar, 52 per cent in Karimganj, 74 per cent in Dhubri, 51 per cent in Nagaon, 25 per cent in Kamrup, 54 per cent in Goalpara, 57 per cent in Hailakandi, 47 per cent in Uttar Dinajpur, 24 per cent in South Dinajpur, 52 per cent in Malda, 25 per cent in Cooch Behar and 64 per cent in Murshidabad as per 2001 Census. According to the Assamese people the population of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants could be 6 million of the state’s 30 million people. That means one-fifth of the state’s

The illegal immigration poses particularly high risk to northeastern India and the state of Assam. It is estimated that illegal Bangladeshis will outnumber indigenous population in every northeastern state except Assam by 2025 and in next 30 years even the local Assamese population will be reduced to minority. The uniform increase of 5-7 per cent clearly shows illegal migration has remained unchecked during the last decade. This has created a fear among the indigenous people that they would lose their hold on their own land. If this goes unchecked it can flare into a major human conflict as seen in the various riots all over Assam. Apart from putting immense pressure on resources and altering the socio-economic feature of the districts, the new demographics can also play a major role in deciding the political discourse in these areas. The illegal migration has certainly altered the politics of West Bengal and Assam. In Bengal Trinamool Congress is playing the advocate of illegal migrants and has benefited in a major way. But the rise of the BJP in the state is also attributed to this. Though in near future TMC does not face any threat from the BJP the rise of the party in the state as a political force has come about as a reaction to illegal migration and fear of local population getting swamped by them. A section of TMC is also afraid that the political capital they are making today out of the illegal migrants can come to haunt them in the future. The Left Front in West Bengal realised the problem posed by the illegal migrants when Budhadev Bhattacharjee was the Chief Minister but by then it was too late. The illegal immigrants whom Left Front earlier treated as its vote bank changed sides in the last assembly elections in West Bengal. This has allegedly happened to a large extent because of the informal alliance that TMC has formed with an Islamist outfit, Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh from across the border. Reports have indicated that in the last assembly elections many Jamaat leaders from Bangladesh shared dais with the TMC leaders in West Bengal and urged Bangladeshi Muslims living illegally in India to vote for that party. Many attribute the victory of TMC in assembly elections to this unholy informal alliance.

Pernicious Connection

Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh is an extremist force which is under pressure in that country. Its top leaders are being prosecuted for war crimes there. Unfortunately, some extremist minority leaders in West Bengal were allowed to hold a rally in the state against the war crime trials. Some recent reports also allege that funds generated from Saradha scam were used to fund Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh to enable it to run anti-Awami League movement in Bangladesh. Two of Trinamool Congress MPs including Ahmed Hassan Imran, a Rajya Sabha member were allegedly on the payroll of Jamaat. They have in the past worked for Jamaat. This kind of nexus of TMC with an extremist organisation from Bangladesh is a serious security concern. The growing number of Bangladeshi migrants close to the Siliguri Corridor is also a major security concern. This area links northeast India with the heartland. The

Bangladeshi population settled in this area can pose a threat in the event of a conflict either with Pakistan or China. The Islamist extremist groups of Bangladesh like HuJI have been engaged in terrorist violence within India. Since 2004, HuJI has been linked to most terrorist attacks ANAND KUMAR from New Delhi, Kolkata and The writer is associate fellow Bangalore to Varanasi, Lucknow in IDSA. He was Research and Hyderabad. The most Fellow at South Asia Analysis noted was the July 2006 serial Group and worked on themes bombings on the rail network related to Bangladesh, that killed 180 people. These Northeast India, SAARC and BIMSTEC. He had also groups have close links with worked as Research Associate Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh. at the Institute for Conflict The Islamist extremists of Management on issues related Bangladesh have also tried to Bangladesh and Bhutan. He is an expert on Bangladesh: to spread their tentacles in Political and Economic Issues; northeast India. In the past, Northeast Insurgency; Regional there have been attempts Organisations: SAARC, BIMSTEC. by the northeast insurgent groups to run insurgency in the region by using the infrastructure of Islamists in Bangladesh.

Al Qaeda’s Efforts

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on 20 September 2014 revealed that the international terror group Al Qaeda probably has an understanding with the United Liberation Front of Asom, the local separatist outfit banned by the government. This revelation was important as Al Qaeda had circulated a video few days ago inviting recruits for a base in India. Even before this, it had tried to set up links in the northeast and Assam in association with insurgent groups here but failed to do so. Gogoi also pointed out that intelligence reports suggest that Islamist groups in alliance with ULFA may try to carry out some attacks during the upcoming festival season. The US media and intelligence agencies had said Al Qaeda had established a new branch to wage jihad in India, return the Islamic rule and impose sharia in the Indian subcontinent. The Islamist extremists of Bangladesh have also been talking of greater Bangladesh, which includes many areas of India. Recently, the attention to this threat was also drawn by the BJP Rajya Sabha MP Chandan Mitra. He pointed out in Shillong that a policy of driving out minorities from Bangladesh and sending in illegal Muslim migrants was being pursued. This was a two-pronged strategy adopted in order to “unofficially colonise” the border areas. He also drew attention to groups which officially demand that there must be a ‘Greater Bangladesh’ because Bangladesh population is growing at a much faster rate. According to Mitra illegal Bangladeshi population in India is around forty million. The importance of illegal immigration as an important threat to national security has not been realised because of the silent nature of the problem. As migration happens quietly and over a period of time, its impact is not cataclysmic. But once demography is changed considerably the impact of illegal migration over local politics and national security would be far-reaching.

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SAVAGERY

Trafficking Of Children

For Sport, Entertainment And Terrorist Activities

It has been found that in Central Asia and South Asia and a few other regions, human trafficking activity tends to follow the same routes that the terrorists use to travel the region (Russell & Traughber, 2012). The activities of human trafficking affect almost all countries of the world. Human traffickers offer consumers several ‘products’ such as child soldier, exotic dancer, manual labourers, human organs and many more.

oday’s world is a witness to new and unpredictable risks and hazards posing serious security concerns to nation states. This is mainly due to the rapid and dynamic changes that have set in as a result of globalisation and concentration of power, weapons and wealth among a few hands. Non-traditional security threats are not only getting diversified but also increasing in intensity with speed over space and time. Internationalisation of hazards such as human trafficking in particular seems to be getting more and more entwined with terrorism and organised crime over the recent decades.

Big Business

According to UN estimates human trafficking is the third largest illegal “business” in the world that creates a profit of several billion dollors per year and therefore is an important source of financing for terrorist groups, providing nearly 10-15 per cent of the funds incurred for illegal activities. In regions where both terrorism and human trafficking are prominent, they are linked to one another. Human trafficking has become a significant component of the criminal economy. As a result, the nexus between trafficking groups and terrorist networks gels well with each other. Human trafficking is also used to build an army of soldiers for terrorists. The recruitment and use of children in armed conflict has been increasing. Although the exact figure is unknown, UN sources estimate that there are several hundred children in the forces of the Transitional Federal Government (“TFG”) of Somalia, or its associated militias and several thousand among the insurgent groups (UNHRC, 2011). It has been found that in Central Asia and South Asia and a few other regions, human trafficking activity tends

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to follow the same routes that the terrorists use to travel the region (Russell & Traughber, 2012). The activities of human trafficking affect almost all countries of the world, classified as countries of origin, transit and destination. The level of involvement by criminal organisations may vary from low to higher intensity and even become transnational and organised in nature. Relationship between trafficking and terrorism is but obvious given their common logistical support system such as planning, financing, realising and concealment. Human traffickers with their professional skills and strong networks provide a mechanism for the movement of terrorists across borders. Studies (Dimovski, Ilijevski & Babanoski, 2011: 510-511) have revealed that terrorists in fact provide protection to the human traffickers to accomplish their job with perfection at least in those territories that are under their control. Like guns and drugs, women and children are traded as commodities in the global black market (Skinner & Maher, 2012). Human trafficking allows terrorist and criminal organisations to finance their own operations. Human traffickers offer consumers several ‘products’ such as child soldier, exotic dancer, manual labourers, human organs and many more (Bekir Cinar, 2010).

Parental Complicity

With severe lack of job opportunities, unemployment, low income and low standard of living in certain strata of the society, international terrorists and extremist organisations make the full use of such complex situations to weave a chain of human trafficking network and reap the fruits of exploitation subsequently. Parents of children who come from impoverished families, are forced to hand over their children to the criminals in order to pay off their debts. Some families are complicit in selling or renting out their children for money. Unfortunately South Asia fulfils all the conditions

for human trafficking to flourish. South Asia is not only an origin, but is also a transit and a destination. Having no social, economic or racial frontiers, trafficking of girls and boys blatantly deprecates their rights as human beings in South Asia servitude, begging, pornography, sex slavery and so on. Most of South Asia is in the grip of conflict and violence with a gender biased society that suffers from some of the most gruesome social evils including trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and children. The victims are mostly from the marginalised lot deprived of all opportunities of financial, social and legal support. They thus become an easy prey to internal and cross-border trafficking getting engaged in forced prostitution, domestic servitude, begging, pornography, sex slavery and so on.

Societal Sanctity

It is disturbing and distressing to note that in the present times trafficking of children are not limited to sexual exploitation, but extends much beyond such as adventure sports (camel jockey), entertainment industry (circus) and over and above being inducted into terrorist activities (suicide bombers). What is most alarming is that some of these activities are undertaken with the sanctity of parents and society in the name of religion. The trafficked children, aged from three years old, are trained and forced into committing criminal activities such as pick-pocketing, organised begging, shoplifting and distraction burglary, as well as other street crimes like robbery and bag snatching etc. It is uncertain and difficult to guess the estimated number of such children but the massive numbers that have been rescued from such an exploitation speaks volumes on the unlimited number of children that have been trafficked. To prevent victims from talking to the authorities, they are conditioned to return to the group at the first opportunity. They are intimidated with false stories. For example, they are told that they will be tortured by the police or that the social workers will sell their organs. Understandably the children often refuse to provide information on the organised crime group and frequently return back to the gang within 24 hours of their arrest / placement in a juvenile detention centre.

Case Studies

The present article attempts to highlight some case studies based on primary and secondary sources of information collected during various field visits from regions of South Asia. The study also depicts the extreme level of vulnerability that children face in terms of risks involved in and around their activities through secondary sources of information. Case studies discussed in this article reflect a deep understanding and recognition of the severity and gravity of the situation. Experiences of the trafficked rescued child victims go a long way in suggesting specific preventive and protective measures for ensuring child rights and their safety and protection. Several thousands of children disappear overnight from their parental homes and are transferred to places where they remain severed from familiar neighbourhoods and communities in which they were born and brought up only to be exploited and forced into activities that deprive them of their childhood.

Entertainment And Adventure

Professional camel racing, like horse racing is an event for betting and tourist attraction. Very often children are favoured as jockeys because of their light weight

(Wikipedia.org). Reports suggest that children as young as two years of age are trafficked from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Pakistan to be used as jockeys for camel racing industry in Arab states of the Persian Gulf (Trafficking in Persons Report, 2005). An estimated number of such children ranges anywhere from PROF MONDIRA DUTTA 5,000-40,000 child camel The writer is Chairperson and jockeys in the Persian Gulf region alone. The rescued Director, Area Studies Programme Centre for Inner Asian Studies, children can neither identify SIS Jawaharlal Nehru University, their parents nor recollect their New Delhi. homes. With a lot of difficulty some of these children are taken back to their original homes from camel farms or are kept in shelter homes. Unfortunately there are many instances where the children rescued were those who had been sold away by their own parents in exchange for money or a job abroad. If they are returned, the children would again be sold for the same purposes. One such shelter home was that of the Bangladesh National Women Lawyers’ Association (BNWLA) in Dhaka (Dutta et al, 2010). The shelter home displayed a cheerful and naturally lighted atmosphere. All the four floors of the originally old age home had been rented by the BNWLA as the Shelter home. The number of child victims varied and was always more than 100 children at any given point of time. The rescued children were either physically abused or tortured and sexually exploited. Instances of young boys to the tune of 170 children had been rescued as camel jockeys. They were reported to have been repatriated and rehabilitated. Counsellors and doctors are available to meet any sudden eventuality and take care of the traumatised children.

Debasement

This was a particular group of 120 young boys all under four years of age. They had just arrived and looked visibly shaken and terrified. Their heads were clean shaved with marks of cuts and injury all over their bodies and faces. These little boys were the rescued child victims who had been trafficked to be camel jockeys in UAE and other Gulf countries. A bilateral agreement between the two countries of UAE and Bangladesh is now in place banning the use of young children (boys) for such sport. It was appalling to find many of them who could not even recall their parents’ names. Despite toys scattered all over the floor, the children showed least interest towards them. They remained huddled together as if to seek warmth and security from each other. Their childhood seemed to be completely lost. In another incident evidence of illegal employment of many young children in the circus was discovered. Subsequently more girls were discovered working in the Great Roman Circus, which formed a part of the national network trafficking of children. Complaints were received from 11 parents to the district administration, which instructed the Sub-Divisional Magistrate to carry out a raid on the encamped circus. A raid was conducted by the magistrate, a group of parents and supporters from ‘Global March Against Child Labour’ whose leader Shri Kailash Satyarthi

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SAVAGERY

has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October 2014 along with Malala Yousafzai. He has always been a crusader for child rights and their freedom, reaching education to the young children all over the world. According to reports, it is believed that the parents of the trafficked children were being held captives by the circus owner and the children remained in captivity. Many children worked under slave-like conditions in the circuses performing for entertainment of public in India. In April, Shri Satyarthi led the Global March Against Child Labour along with volunteers and local authorities to successfully free several Nepalese children who had been forced to work in the Great Indian Circus. Some of them had spent as much as more than ten years of their lives in the circus! While the two Great Roman Circus staff had been arrested (though not the circus owner) but none of the children have been freed from the circus, despite the fact that a medical examination had determined that one of the girls had been repeatedly raped over the last several months. The NGO ‘Global March Against Child Labour’ worked hard in raiding and rescuing some of these young children even at the cost of being brutally attacked.

Devilish

The most gruesome act against children is to use them for terrorist activities. The most recent incident of an Afghan girl (Spozhmai) has sent the world into a shudder. The young girl believed to be of 8 to 10 years of age and sister of a Taliban commander, was instructed to carry out a suicide attack on border police in Helmand province. She revealed at a press conference in Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan, that her brother had forced her to wear the vest and ordered her to detonate herself at a police checkpoint (www.nydailynews. com). She was consequently forced to put on the vest with explosives and cross a river to get to her target, but because of the cold she started to cry. Heed was not paid to the young Afghan girl’s request for being placed in a new home following the incident. Instead officials ignored her request and are contemplating to send her back to the family, that nearly got her killed. Even more shocking is that the girl says she was told that the vest would only kill her targets, but that she would survive the explosion. According to her reports, it is clear that the tactic commonly used by terrorists is to convince children to participate in attacks. A report of 2012 on child suicide bombers (Farmer, 2012) explains that extremists value children, who are less likely to raise suspicion or be searched at checkpoints and tell young recruits that their religious convictions will protect them during attacks. The young boys are also assured that they will miraculously survive the devastation they cause. “The worst part is that these children don’t think that they are killing themselves,” said an official. “They are often given an amulet containing Koranic verses. Mullahs tell them, ‘When this explodes you will survive and God will help you survive the fire. Only the infidels will be killed, you will be saved and your parents will go to paradise.”

Young Heroes

On the other hand there are young children who have sacrificed themselves to protect the lives of others. The world has still not forgotten young Malala Yousafzai, a 16-year-old Pakistani activist who was shot in the head at close range by

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Taliban operatives in 2012. She was targeted for demanding equal education for girls and has continued the cause even after recovering from the injury. Many children have become martyrs. An Afghan girl sent to kill herself and a Pakistani who sacrificed himself to save others − have become two unfortunate famous victims of terrorism. Another boy by the name of Abdul Samat, aged 13 years suddenly changed his mind just before the attack at the last minute. He recalls ... When I opened my eyes, I saw it was a very black thing they wanted me to do ... I began to cry and shout. People came out of their houses and asked what was wrong. I showed them I had something in my vest. Then they were scared too and called the police who took the bombs off me. In another instance, Aitzaz Hasan, a 15-year old, was with friends outside school when they spotted a man wearing a suicide vest. Despite the pleas of his fellow students, he decided to confront and capture the bomber who then detonated his vest. This was reported by his cousin to the BBC. Aitzaz has been hailed as a hero in all social media.

Be ready for invisible threats: Modi

ddressing the annual Combined Commanders Conference, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “Full scale wars may become rare but force will remain an instrument of deterrence and influencing behaviour and the duration of conflicts will be shorter. The threats may be known but the enemy may be invisible”.

Conclusion

Experiences of children like Spozhmai, Samat, Hasan, Yousafzai and the like show that they have to navigate through a world that is pervasive with terrorism, but at the same time with very little support from their elders. Spozhmai’s story suggests how the Taliban in Afghanistan may start recruiting girl suicide bombers, a line it has not crossed until now. Hasan’s brave reaction to the threat of attack, indicates that it may be the most vulnerable targets who are left to publicise a culture ravaged by terrorism. Undoubtedly child casualties in Afghanistan are rising, among them children recruited as suicide bombers by the Taliban – often with their parents’ blessings. Studies show that their mothers even encourage them that they will succeed next time if they fail the first time.

Recommendations

The following recommendations are important for protecting children from falling prey to trafficking for terrorist and other hazardous activities:

• While undoubtedly education is the way ahead, there are many areas deprived of schools. Schools for children need to be created and located in close proximity to their homes.

• Child Rights are violated blatantly. An awareness

programme through puppet shows, slogans, pamphlets etc for the parents need to be initiated at a war footing.

• Encouraging formation of groups such as Kishori

groups, adolescents groups, religious groups, student leaders group and faith based organisations need to be created and activated for protection of children and their rights.

• Civil vigilance committees have often been found

to be very successful. These groups are a mixed lot with various community members being a part of this group such as a barber, a tea vendor, a teacher and many others who are willing to keep an eye in their local villages so as to see whether children are getting brainwashed by anyone.

UAVs to survey borders

n order to strengthen vigil along Indo-China and Indo-Pak borders, government of India has decided to revamp the Air Wing of Border Security Force (BSF) which caters to the air support requirements of all paramilitary forces, by approving the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for effective surveillance along the borders with China and Pakistan which have witnessed series of incursions and ceasefire violations in the recent past.

Munich Security Conference

peaking at the recent Munich Security Conference, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval reiterated that India wanted good neighbourly relations with both China and Pakistan and all pending issues and disputes should be resolved amicably through negotiations. Doval also spoke about the problems of terrorism and push for early fructification of the long-pending UN Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) which he said was being stalled by countries like Pakistan.

China India military hotlines

o revamp and step up engagements between their militaries, India and China have agreed to establish hotlines between the Army Headquarters of both the countries. New border meeting posts are also being commissioned to address the incursions and other border violations. The decision was taken during the recent Working Mechanisms for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) meeting at New Delhi to safeguard peace and stability of the border areas.

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northeast imbroglio

VENAL NEXUS of the picture. But in the same year an FBI officer alerted him about his impending arrest and he fled. Rewards were proclaimed. During his 17 year flight from justice, government raised the reward to US$ 2 million. On June 22, 2011 he was found hiding in his girl friend’s house in Santa Monica in California. She was sentenced to 8 years for harbouring him. Surprisingly the tip about his presence in Santa Monica came from Iceland!

Modus Operandi

Crime Syndications! When I was visiting UK and USA in 2013 I could watch two sensational criminal proceedings which had generous ingredients of high drama, gangland murders, land sharks and police-criminal nexus which would shame even the Hollywood-Bollywood films.

s a young police officer I used to enjoy reading the dispatches on Chambal Valley dacoits from Taroon Coomar Bhaduri, who was the Bhopal correspondent of The Statesman in the 1960s. The present generation might not remember that great wordsmith who used to bring out the total picture of those dreaded men by giving the human side of their lives. Perhaps the present generation might connect better with the late Bhaduri if I tell them that he was father of the famous Jaya Bachchan! Unfortunately Amazon says his book Chambal – The Valley of Terror is out of print while the few copies of the other available book Chambal, are with steep price tags of US$ 22. However my friend PV Rajgopal, who was one of the most successful directors of our prestigious National Police Academy which trains IPS officers in Hyderabad, has done yeoman service by bringing these dacoits to life. He has recounted their stories through the words of that great police officer, Khusro Rustamji who was the Madhya Pradesh police chief in those days. The late Rustamji, on whom the mantle of eliminating them had fallen, never wrote any book but had kept meticulous diaries and notes. These were rendered into two eminently readable books by Rajgopal who painstakingly edited his papers. He reproduces Rustamji’s “list” of dacoits which he used to keep on his table “marking the end of each gang as it occurred”. Rajgopal says: “Like the Count of Monte Cristo, he used to strike off their names with relish as and when they were eliminated”. However Acharya Vinoba Bhave, one of Gandhiji’s closest disciples, threw a spanner in the process by supporting the dacoits and criticising the police. Rustamji, who was a courageous police officer, went public by issuing a press statement on 2 June 1960 criticising Vinoba Bhave, ignoring that he had the blessings of even President

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Dr Rajendra Prasad. The public supported him. It was a great morale booster for the overstretched police force.

Gangsters And Cops

While rural gangs still terrorise our hinterland in the form of politically supported timber, sand, coal or land “mafias”, even developed countries have more ruthless urban dacoit gangs and crime syndicates. When I was visiting UK and USA in 2013 I could watch two sensational criminal proceedings which had generous ingredients of high drama, gangland murders, land sharks and police-criminal nexus which would shame even the Hollywood-Bollywood films. One was the trial of the 84 year old James “Whitey” Bulger, who had topped FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted” fugitives. His family was well connected. His brother Billy Bulger was the president of the Massachusetts Senate, like our upper houses of the State Legislatures. He started his life as an FBI informant to report on the Italian Patriarca Crime family of New England. The gang was named after Gaspare Patriarca, who was its boss during the 1950s. His nemesis was the late Robert Kennedy, who was then Attorney General. Gaspare Patriarca also came into disrepute when it was revealed in the 1970s that his gang was hired by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro. This was however not carried out. James Bulger, who was a petty criminal in that area used to pay “tribute” money to Patriarca for staying in business. However Bulger took full advantage of his position as FBI informer. His notorious “Winter Hill Gang” terrorised the South Boston waterfront for almost 20 years during the 1970s-1990s. They did extortion, “loan-sharking”, bookmaking, truck-jacking and arms trafficking. His downfall came in 1994 when a joint probe by Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Massachusetts Police and Boston Police started. FBI was deliberately kept out

Bulger faced 32 grave charges including 19 murders, extortion, drug distribution and money laundering. The National Law Journal (June 23, 2013) said: “The government claims Bulger was a long-time FBI informant who provided information about the underworld in exchange for freedom to operate his South Boston criminal empire”. Wall Street Journal said: “As expected, the trial is already excavating embarrassing FBI history”. One FBI “Supervisor” admitted that he had cooked dinners thrice for Bulger and associates. Federal public prosecutor Walter Prince told the Court that Bulger who obtained tips from corrupt agents “to stay one step ahead of honest cops” used the information “to murder people he learned were feeding the FBI, tips about him”. One FBI official (John Connolly) was already sentenced to 10 years for alerting Bulger about his arrest. Martonano, Bulger’s hit man who killed 20, described his killings calmly to the Court resembling “The Godfather” hit men’s killings. Interestingly what infuriated Bulger during the trial was not the serious crime charge but the allegation that he was an FBI informant! He openly cursed an FBI witness for that. On August 12, 2013 Bulger was convicted for 11 murders and racketeering. Other states are likely to prosecute him.

Scotland Yard’s Other Face

The other case I witnessed was of David Hunt, a London businessman who was exposed mainly by the media for operating an organised criminal network by bribing Scotland Yard policemen. This came to light when Hunt, a “businessman-gang leader” lost a libel case against Gillard, a Sunday Times journalist for his article (23 May 2010) that criminal lords including him were buying derelict lands in East London. This was for getting share of the government funds amounting to £ 20 million to acquire land for regeneration projects. In that process Gillard also annoyed the police for alleging that Scotland Yard regarded Hunt “as ‘too big’ to take on”. The article said that Hunt’s involvement “triggered a violent turf war and a large-scale police corruption inquiry”. Hunt moved the court on 8 July 2010 for damages against The Times. Simultaneously the Metropolitan Police Commissioner and Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) also moved the court to restrain Gillard from publishing confidential police enquiry papers. The 59 page judgment by the High Court laid bare Hunt’s criminal history from 1984. In 1988 he graduated into wider area like “protection” of pubs and clubs. His ostensible business was dealing in scrap metal. But he was known in gangland circles as “Long Fella”. A “Spider diagram” prepared by the police of the criminals in that area said that he was at the centre of the web. The Judge ripped open his violent career: in 1997 he had slashed a man’s face with a knife leaving a laceration of 15 cm from ear to chin. He gave instances of his subsequent violent behaviour. In 1992 a Sunday Mirror correspondent

who went to investigate Hunt’s involvement in 2 undetected murders was assaulted. He told the court: “He grabbed me by the lapels. He whacked me with his head straight into my orbit, shook me round like a rag doll, swore at me and dropped me and he was off.” During this time Hunt was on a land purchasing spree. Sunday Times complained: “When the libel trial began, the bodyguards protecting our witnesses withdrew after one day. Another renowned security firm refused to step into the breach. Such is the fear that Mr Hunt’s name engenders.”

V BALACHANDRAN IPS (RETD) The writer is a former Special Secretary of the Cabinet Secretariat. He was also a part of the high level committee appointed by the Maharashtra government to enquire into Mumbai 26/11 terror attacks. He is a prolific writer on intelligence, terrorism and insurgency issues and has also given lectures on these subjects at several institutions in India and abroad.

But the most embarrassing development for the police was a report in The Times (London), May 11, 2013 that three “whistle blower officers” of the MET were suing their own leadership for failing to act on intelligence that Hunt had taken out a contract to have them killed. The report said: “Three Metropolitan police officers have accused some of their colleagues of police intelligence connections with alleged criminals, tampering with evidence and attempting to frustrate prosecutions. In evidence to the High Court this week, one of the detectives alleged that his enquiries into organised crime were thwarted when he was made the subject of a “flawed and malicious” investigation by the Met’s anti-corruption command”.

Muck On FBI

These two cases are classic examples of how any criminal justice system can be subverted when law enforcement authorities themselves fall prey to temptations. They also highlight the traditional police dilemma to what extent criminal activities by “Informants” could be “tolerated”. On January 8, 2014 Huffington Post published a report “Nearly 6,000 crimes were allowed by the FBI”: “Thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request by the Huffington Post, we now know how many times the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) allowed informants to break the law in 2012: 5,939 times. That’s a big jump from the previous year, the numbers of which were discovered by USA Today. In 2011, the FBI allowed informants to break the law 5,658 times”. It said that other departments – such as the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives – were not under such a directive. These cases also reveal how petty “informers” can turn out to be big criminals later under police patronage or negligence. We in India have several such examples. When this writer was a middle level police officer in the 1970s in the old Bombay city, Dawood Ibrahim was a petty criminal who used to be summoned to the police station frequently for reprimands. The question how he became such a big criminal of international repute and how much Indian criminal justice system itself had contributed to it can be answered only by an impartial historian.

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CONVENIENT VECTORS

Shipping Containers And Transnational Crime

Global container trade is expected to increase by 5.7 per cent in 2014, reaching 684 million TEU by the end of 2014. To support this increase, the global port capacity is expected to touch 994 million TEU by 2014. These are very promising trends and signal growth in global trade. However, it is also important to bear in mind that it is not possible to inspect such a large number of containers for contents and inspection can be called the Achilles heel of global supply chains.

n August 2014, the UK police ordered an investigation into a case of illegal immigration operation after 34 Sikhs from Afghanistan including eight women and 13 children aged between one to 12 years were discovered screaming for help from inside a shipping container. They were suffering from dehydration and hypothermia and sadly, one of the immigrants, 40 year-old Meet Singh Kapoor, had died in his family’s arms. According to investigating agencies, the cargo of the container included cleaning chemicals which may not have caused health risk, however, three persons of Irish origin have been charged with manslaughter and facilitating illegal entry into the UK. These immigrants had arrived at Tisbury, an Essex dockyard, onboard the Nordstream, a P&O freighter which originated in Zeebrugge, a Belgian port. There have been a number of cases of interception of illegal immigrants arriving at ports in the UK and the US. In 2001, the UK Customs officials discovered 58 people of Chinese origin dead in a container at Dover Port and British Home Secretary Jack Straw described the incident as “a most terrible death” and a “stark warning” to other would-be illegal immigrants. Apparently these Chinese immigrants had arrived in Holland from China by the sea route.

Transocean Trafficking

In the US, the Los Angeles Port Police in 2005 found 32 Chinese including four teenagers in two cargo containers embarked onboard NYK Athena. These people had undertaken a hazardous two-week ocean journey from Hong Kong. Unlike, the cases in the UK, the immigrants

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were in good health and above all, the container was well stocked with ample supplies (food and water, juices, sleeping bags) and was suitably modified for ventilation to allow the occupants to undertake the perilous journey across the Pacific Ocean. Apparently, each of these persons had paid US$ 3,000 for the passage. A year earlier, 19 Chinese migrants were found in a container which arrived onboard the ship Ningbo, a Cypriot-flagged vessel and the Hong Kong authorities linked the crime to ‘snakeheads’, a Chinese syndicate. Likewise, in Canada, 30 men and six women were discovered in a container in good health. They had spent two weeks in the container, survived on crackers, rice and water and arrived after a stormy journey across the Pacific Ocean. People smuggling is a lucrative business and criminal gangs charge large sums of money to help them reach other countries. The operations are handled by well-organised crime syndicates and criminal gangs and these groups are always on the lookout for prospective people who are willing to undertake perilous voyages and journeys and risk their lives to make a better life for themselves and their families. Ironically, shipping containers have emerged as the most convenient and a cost effective mode of transporting immigrants. In fact, containers have emerged as a potent tool for undertaking a number of illegal activities which range from transporting terrorists, WMDs, drugs, weapons and other contraband. In 2003, an Al Qaeda operative smuggled himself halfway around the world locked inside a shipping container with his own bed and toilet. Apparently he was carrying

security passes and maps of some airports in Canada, Thailand and Egypt. A laptop computer, two mobile phones, cameras, a Canadian passport, other identity documents and a certificate saying he is an aircraft mechanic were found on his person.

compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.9 per cent since 2011, while average utilisation will rise to about 69 per cent in 2014, from 67 per cent in 2011.

Drug Conduit

Inspection-proof

The shipping containers are also popular among drug cartels and smugglers. In fact, bulk smuggling of drugs takes place by the sea route. For instance, in August 2014, Jamaican Constabulary Force discovered at Kingston’s wharves 267 pounds of cocaine worth nearly US$ 1.3 million hidden in a shipping container that originated in Suriname and was destined for China. Likewise, Chinese Police and Custom officials intercepted 70 kilograms of cocaine worth more than US$ 6.5 million onboard a ship in Shanghai. The interception took place after a tip-off by the US drug control agencies to the Chinese authorities and the interception has been assessed as the largest by the Chinese police in a single case; apparently, the consignment belonged to a Mexican drug cartel.

Convenient Vectors

Perhaps the most dangerous use of shipping containers emanates from the carriage of WMDs including related materials, radiological dispersion devices, (RDDs) or “dirty bombs”. Interestingly, the shipping containers have been referred to as ‘an excellent vector, or carrier, for weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) such as nukes or “dirty bombs”. In 2008, Russian intelligence agencies had disclosed information about an Iranian flagged vessel MV Iran Devant which left Nanjing, China for Rotterdam with a cargo of 42,500 tons of iron ore and was suspected of carrying ‘radioactive powder’. In 2010, Italian port officials detected life-threatening level of high radiation from a shipping container in a dock near Genoa, Italy. In some cases, the legitimate cargo has been found to be dangerous. For instance, metal scrap loaded at Bander Abbas in Iran in shipping containers on board MV Kuo Long had fifty shells / bombs. The consignment was ordered by Bhushan Steel Company and was unloaded at Mundra port in Gujarat and was bound for the Inland Container Depot (ICD), Tughlakabad, near Delhi. The bomb disposal squads of the Indian Army and the National Security Guards successfully diffused the live shells.

Theft And Purloining

At another level, theft from containers within a secured port area is of a major concern. Prior to loading, container seals and contents were properly checked and the required paperwork completed. Later, crime gangs work closely with dock workers and help them locate containers holding high value cargo particularly cigarettes and liquor. These incidents expose the loopholes in port security and containers can be a major chink in the global supply chain security system. Notwithstanding the above, the shipping container has revolutionised carriage of cargo and newer ships capable of carrying nearly 20,000 containers are being built. According to Drewry Maritime Equity Research, the UK-based shipping consultant, the global container trade is expected to increase by 5.7 per cent in 2014, reaching 684 million TEU by the end of 2014. To support this increase, the global port capacity is expected to touch 994 million TEU by 2014, increasing at a

These are very promising trends and signal growth in global trade, however, it is also important to bear in DR VIJAY SAKHUJA mind that it is not possible to The writer is Director, National inspect such a large number Maritime Foundation, of containers for contents New Delhi. and inspection can be called the Achilles heel of global supply chains. In fact it is like searching for a needle in a haystack. This poses a major challenge for the security agencies but a boon for crime syndicates and cartels. For the security agencies, these pose important questions such as what are the contents of the container, the consignor and consignee, the trustworthiness of the shipping company etc. Further, the security agencies must be aware if the shipment originated in a ‘high-risk country’ and whether the trading parties are involved in terrorist or illegal activities. While technology is being harnessed to locate contraband, drugs, weapons, human cargo and even weapons of mass destruction have been developed, there still remain a number of gaps in container security. A number of x-ray, gamma ray and high-energy neutron scanning and detection devices have been developed to penetrate through the container to produce an image of the contents of a sealed shipping container or any vehicle. At another level, a number of initiatives such as the Container Security Initiative (CSI), Customs- Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT), International Ship and Port Facility Security Code (ISPS Code), Global Trade Exchange, DHS data-mining programme and several other similar programmes have been instituted to ensure that the containers are not used for maritime crime.

Security Gaps

The above initiatives have been globally accepted and instituted in India too. Most Indian ports are CSI compliant but there remain a few gaps. For instance, not long ago, the Indian Home Ministry has observed that the ‘the security infrastructure at most of the Indian ports is archaic and as most of the ports in the public sector are incurring losses, the managements are reluctant to invest in modernising security infrastructure’. Further, it was observed that ports are most ‘vulnerable to smuggling of radiological ‘dirty’ bombs or weapons of mass destruction’. It also expressed concern over the non-implementation of the Intelligence Bureau recommendations to ‘strengthen port security’ which ‘remains unimplemented’ and most Indian ports ‘are still not equipped with container scanners, radiological detectors, modern access control systems or anti-intrusion devices to strengthen their perimeter security’. While these are disturbing observations, the report also took note of the fact that container inspection is both a function of cost (due to installation of sophisticated inspection equipment) and time (delays due to inspection) which can be the ‘main inhibiting factors’ in upgrading of port and cargo security. In essence, a shipping container is a boon and a bane.

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administrative corruption and fratricidal feuds between various tribal groups is widespread and all pervasive.

What Keeps Insurgency Ticking

In The Northeast?

erhaps no other part of India is troubled and rocked as much by the violent ethnic separatist movements and no holds barred insurgencies engineered by a variety of tribal outfits and ethnic groups as Northeast India. An underdeveloped, isolated region inhabited by diverse population groups which shares borders with China, Myanmar, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal, the northeastern region of the country characterised by rough topography remains emotionally, politically and psychologically far removed from the mainstream India. From cultural and social perspective, the mindboggling variety of ethnic groups in Northeast region has very little in common with the rest of India. Indeed, Northeast is a colourful kaleidoscope of staggering and awe-inspiring diversity in terms of language, race, ethnicity and culture. The distinct Mongoloid features of the tribal communities in the region set them apart from the population groups in the rest of the country. Further, rebel separatist groups active in the region have to a large extent succeeded in creating fear

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psychosis among the local population about the possibility of the growing strength of migrants posing a threat to the dominance of the ethnic groups.

Pervasive Alienation

Clearly and apparently, a sense of alienation and aloofness is very much in evidence in most parts of the region. And except for Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram, stability and peace eludes five other states – Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur and Tripura – where a plethora of well-armed militant and rebel outfits trained in guerrilla warfare are on a spree of violence to achieve their objective of a separate homeland. The problem of insurgency in this difficult to access region is further complicated by a massive inflow of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants who are known to be sympathetic to the cause of Islamic militancy. The Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is also known to be hyperactive in supporting militant outfits in the region with illegal Bangladeshi immigrants acting as the front for creating “destabilisation and insecurity” in the region where

this most impoverished South Asian country. And the thick jungles of southern Bhutan that shares border with parts of northeastern India was for some time a hideout for ULFA and other rebel groups from the region. Because Bhutan has cordial and friendly relations with India, a joint military operation resulted in the flushing out of these groups and since then both sides have kept a strict vigil on the border. The loss of sanctuary in Bangladesh and Bhutan was mainly instrumental in rapid withering away of the clout of ULFA in Assam.

RADHAKRISHNA RAO The writer specialises in space technology, aeronautics, defence and security issues. He is a Visiting Fellow at Vivekananda International Foundation. Before taking to full time writing he was associated with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for about two decades.

Added to that the poorly developed transport and Vulnerable Corridor road network makes access to the region a challenging The northeastern region of India with its “seven sister proposition. What is more, a lion’s share of massive states” is known as the rainbow country on account of its funds made available to the states in region by the ruling staggeringly diverse ethnic population groups covers an area dispensation in New Delhi with a view to speed up the pace of 101,250 sq km with a population of around 40 million. of socio-economic development − considered one of the But then the link that connects the region with rest of the instruments of fighting insurgency − goes down the drain country is quite tenuous. Indeed, the biggest problem facing with very little trickling to the grassroot level. Politicians, the region is that its access to the rest of the country is bureaucrats, middlemen and contractors in the region through a mere 22 km stretch of land in Siliguri corridor siphon off a major part of the funds in north West Bengal for partition meant for development. Because There is no denying the fact in 1947 virtually cut off the region the proximity that the politicians from rest of the country leading to transnational linkages remain sense of “isolation and alienation”. in the region have developed a major force multiplier in the This corridor is generally referred with rebel groups, even the small spread of insurgency in the to as “Chicken’s Neck” because state of Meghalaya that came into being in 1972 today boasts region. Easy availability of of its minuscule expanse. All the of three groups of separatist rebel small arms in neighbouring two way movement of people outfits − Garo National Liberation goods between northeastern countries like Myanmar and and region and the rest of the country Army (GNLA), Achik National Bangladesh is a morale booster to need to pass through this corridor. Volunteer Council (ANVC) and the insurgent groups India and Bangladesh have yet to Hynniewtrep National Liberation seal a free trade agreement which Council (HNLC). Meanwhile, what is worrying the security agencies in India is the possibility of would have allowed free movement of goods and people the otherwise peaceful Arunachal Pradesh − formerly called cutting across the international borders. North Eastern Frontier Agency (NEFA) − ending up as a part of the terrorist map of the region if the activities of illegal Extortion Bangladeshi migrants patronised by ISI on one hand and As it is, many of the well-armed separatist groups in the region are considered no more than fronts for extorting China on the other hand are not immediately curbed. money to help the leaders of the rebel outfits who lead a life of luxury and extravagance. Not surprisingly then, there is a Politician / Militant Nexus In many cases, the ruling elite in militancy ridden states are growing opposition to various Naga rebel outfits collecting known to be hand in glove with rebel outfits to further their taxes from the common man. As an analyst of the Northeast political agenda. The support of underground militants to socio-political scenario points out the militancy and win elections has been a major factor in fuelling the spread separatist movements in the region have assumed the of insurgency in this strategically located part of the country. shape of a cottage industry with the self-styled leaders For long China has been providing moral and material of various tribal groups making loot and extortion a support to various Naga underground groups which enjoy vital part of their operations. Indeed, in many parts of safe sanctuaries in Naga inhabited areas across the border the region the man on the street has started realising in Myanmar. India’s present National Security Adviser that bandhs and blockades organised by the separatist Ajit Doval had in the past noted that China assisted insurgent groups are hitting him hard and deep. outfits based in northeast India. Similarly, Bangladesh was Though blessed with abundant natural resources including a secure hideout for the militants of United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) before the Awami League government water, forests as well as natural gas, petroleum and coal, the led by Sheikh Hasina Wajed took over the reins of power in region is conspicuous for this poverty, under development,

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Divisive Diversity

Against only one separatist outfit in 1950s − the Naga National Army − now there are close to 80 rebel groups rampaging around the region. The Mizo insurgency which took off in 1950s following series of famines and crop failures leading to the massive suffering of the people came to an end in 1986 when the Mizo National Front (MNF) led by Laldenga laid down arms and signed a peace accord with the government of India. Since then Mizoram has remained an oasis of peace and tranquillity.

lack of employment opportunities and a poor network of medicare centres. Lack of industries and inadequate business infrastructure in the region implies a poor economic growth.

Major Impediments

The looming frustration, despair, helplessness and anger fuelled by the continuing state of neglect of the region seems to be providing a fertile ground for recruiting youngsters to the cadre of rebel groups. In this context, C Joshua Thomas, Deputy Director of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), North Eastern Regional Centre, Shillong says, “The entire region has all along been facing various challenges in all round development. These challenges cut across the spheres of economy, society and polity and the region is caught in a vicious circle. Assertions of identity often leading to insurgent movements have invariably had their roots in economic deprivation and these in turn, have acted as major impediments to development. The way forward to meet the challenges is a massive financial assistance to develop the infrastructure at all levels such as physical, social and administrative for unleashing growth dynamics in the regions. Revamping the education system from primary to higher education level and imparting the skill development and need based courses is required to arrest massive exodus of students from the region to mainland India”. Perhaps the Look East Policy that India is keen to pursue can be utilised to develop the areas around international borders of the region into thriving trade and commercial hubs. Cooperation instead of confrontation should be the driving force behind giving a practical shape to the idea of “Look East”. Simultaneously, there is a need to create a robust marketing linkage of the region with other parts of the country. Perhaps India becoming an active partner in the initiatives like BCIM (Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar) and BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) could lead to the possibility of northeast leveraging important trans-border linkages to attract investment from a variety of sources into the region for speedier socio-economic growth. Sanjoy Hazarika, a widely acknowledged authority on Northeast and currently the Chair and Professor at the Centre for North East Studies at Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi advocates the need for strengthening connectivity of the region in physical, political and economic dimensions with the mainstream India. This implies that conditions conducive for such an eventuality need to be created through a slew of political and administrative initiatives and active participation of the people on both the sides.

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JOYEETA BHATTACHARJEE

There is no denying the fact that transnational linkages remain a major force multiplier in the spread of insurgency in the region. Easy availability of small arms in neighbouring countries like Myanmar and Bangladesh is a morale booster to the insurgent groups having a field day in the region. Added to that arms from SE Asia flow freely into the region through the porous international borders. As it is, 70 per cent of the region is mountainous and 88 per cent of the population is rural based. In the current context of the poor developmental indices the ethnic groups in the region are unsure of their present and apprehensive of the future. The radical social and political changes that have buffeted the region over the last five decades have left them clueless and stunned. The picture of insurgency in the region is complicated by a rebel group with a particular ethnic background being at war with another rebel group conspicuous for its different cultural background. The well-known example of this ground reality is the ongoing, raging conflict between Naga and Kuki rebel groups. Many of the tribal groups here are far from being homogeneous monolithic entities. For example, the Naga tribe is divided into various subgroups such as Ao, Sema, Angami, Tangkhul and Zeliangrong. And each of this subgroup has its own distinct cultural and social identity. The language of one subgroup is not intelligible to the other subgroup.

Political Solution?

Meanwhile, the simmering insurgency in Northeast, which continues to elude a lasting solution, has assumed an international dimension with Myanmar calling for a political solution to the insurgency in the part of India that shares borders with Myanmar. The argument of Myanmar is that insurgency in Northeast is not just an internal law and order problem of India. For the infiltration of insurgents into the already disturbed northern parts of Myanmar where a large number of ethnic groups are up in arms against the Myanmar government has given a big boost to the drug trafficking and arms running. Of course, Myanmar did admit that the tough topography makes the region difficult to access and as such exerting a total control is a challenging task. According to Myanmar’s Information Minister Ye Htut “Without bringing peace to the border, we cannot pursue economic development”. Going ahead Htut drove home the point that “We have told Indian defence forces that it is our experience that there cannot be a military solution, only a political solution”. Htut also revealed that a lot of resources have gone into the deployment of armed forces to keep an eye on Northeastern ultras trying to criss-cross the 1,640 km long porous and unguarded border with India. Perhaps a joint Indo-Myanmar strategy could go a long way towards effectively tackling the problem of insurgency in both Northeastern India and Myanmar.

The writer is Research Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi. Views expressed are personal.

Illegal Migration A Security Nightmare In contrast to the popular belief migration has been continuing till date impacting major socio-cultural change in the region. Although there is no authentic data to verify exact number of illegal migrants from Bangladesh but some estimates suggest that the number ran into millions. Migrants today constitute 30 per cent of Assam’s population and can influence election results in not less than 40 out of 126 Assembly constituencies in Assam.

he Northeast region, home of eight states Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura, shares eighty per cent of its boundary with countries like China, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh. The region’s only link to the rest of India is through a narrow corridor at Siliguri in North Bengal referred to as Chicken’s Neck. The region’s close proximity to international borders has made it susceptible to various tensions and insecurities which often is an impact of internal strifes and struggles taking place in the neighbouring countries. The region’s complex conflict, which started almost after India’s independence to a great extent had been caused due to migration from the neighbouring countries. Many states in Northeast have been receiving migrants from the neighbouring countries, who often enter the region for reasons like avoiding religious persecution, internal conflict, environmental disaster, better economic pastures etc. Migration from neighbouring countries has changed the demographics of the region. Impact of the demographic changes had been one of the prominent reasons for conflict generation in the region. Many of the states have witnessed violent agitation against migrants like the one

in Arunachal / Mizoram against the Chin migrants from Myanmar or against the Bengalis from East Pakistan (present Bangladesh) in Assam. However, with the rising incidents of the terror having cross-border links changed dynamics of the issue of migration, especially from Bangladesh demand immediate intervention from the government.

Liaquat–Nehru Pact

Migration of Bengalis to the tribal dominated Northeast region is a legacy of the British Raj. Initially, migrants were economic as the peasants from East Bengal. Migrants mostly Bengali Muslims, were encouraged to settle in the region for agriculture as vast tracks of fertile land were vacant because of the apathy of the indigenous people to adopt to the new methods of agriculture and retaining their traditional way of life. Partition of India in 1947 changed the nature of the immigration as large groups of Hindu Bengalis from East Pakistan started migrating to Northeast to avoid religious persecution. Subsequently, Immigrants Act of 1950 was passed in the Parliament which mentioned that only people who were displaced because of civil disturbances could migrate to India. However, deportation of the people was not received well in Pakistan. The two countries signed the Nehru-Liaquat Ali Khan Agreement in 1950 which allowed return of those people who

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were facing deportation in Pakistan. This led to a wave of migration of Hindus from East Pakistan.

Pressure On Forest Land

Besides, migration is having adverse economic impact on the region as it is creating pressure on the existing resources. Cut-off Date The biggest pressure has been on the land. Migrants often During Bangladesh’s liberation war large number of occupy government lands and reserve forests which has population from East Pakistan came as refugees to India griping effect on the environment as large number of to avoid atrocities of the Punjabi dominated Pakistani trees are cut to clear forest areas. The local population, authorities. At the end of the war India’s Prime Minister employed in the informal sector, often complain of Indira Gandhi and Bangladesh’s Sheikh Mujibur Rahman migrants taking their jobs as they offer to work on cheap signed an agreement that declared all who entered India wages challenging employment of the local population. In before 25th March 1971 are not Bangladeshi. From this economic underdeveloped Northeast region invasion of agreement it is clear that whoever entered India after that migrants to the employment sources is point of concern. date are Bangladesh nationals. Lack of economic opportunity Also, it was apparent that a person driving many youth of the Indian is some Meanwhile, will be considered an illegal region to work in other parts thinkers believe that in a of the country which has a migrant it he / she enters India densely populated country like connotation for the already fragile from Bangladesh without valid documents not conforming to Bangladesh where 2.8 million economy of the Northeast. India’s immigration laws. The people are added annually agreement also mentioned that Most prominent concern arising it is obvious to push for this Bangladeshi national who would out of the migration is the security population migration enter India after that date will be threat. As mentioned earlier sent back for resettlement. The migration has been major cause belief was the agreement would put an end to the of rise of insurgency in the region. Northeast region has problem of migration from Bangladesh. the largest concentration of the insurgent groups in the country who are either demanding independence from In contrast to the popular belief migration has been India or greater autonomy. Among them worth mentioning continuing till date impacting major socio-cultural change is United Liberation Front of Assam that was established in the region. Although there is no authentic data to verify against the influx of migrants from Bangladesh. However, exact number of illegal migrants from Bangladesh but activities of ULFA suggest the group orientation has some estimates suggest that the number ran into millions. changed substantially. The group till few years back had Migrants today constitute 30 per cent of Assam’s population close links with the politicians and Bangladesh’s military and can influence election results in not less than 40 out intelligence and had established safe haven in that country. of 126 Assembly constituencies in Assam. The change The group had been accused of protecting the illegal is more perceptible in the bordering districts as there has migrants from Bangladesh. Incidents of attack on Hindi been significant rise of one particular religious community speaking migrant labourers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in these areas. In Tripura migrants have outnumbered the working in the brick industries in districts of Tinsukia indigenous population. Migration from Bangladesh has and Dibrugarh in 2007 is a case in point. The incident become an existential threat for the indigenous people of was viewed by the local population as conspiracy to drive Northeast. They fear becoming a minority in their own land Indian labourers to create space for the migrant population which has ramification to their ethnic and linguistic identity. to be employed in such industries.

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Since most of the migrants, mostly Muslims, are poor they lack the financial resources to send their children to liberal educational institutions and often send their children to private madrasas, which are not registered. Some of these madrasas have been engaged in hate campaign against other religions. With the rise in the number of migrants in the region, there is also increase in the communal feeling amongst the religious communities of the region.

Global Jihad

Complexity of the problem multiplied with the rise of global jihad and the region is not out of its influence. There had been reports of efforts made by various groups to influence the border population by circulating anti-India and fundamentalist propaganda, having roots in Bangladesh. In 2001, calendars of Osama bin Laden were circulated in Karimganj district of Assam. Also, number of CDs and jihadi literature were recovered from various parts of Assam which had its links with Bangladesh.

To deal with illegal migrant problem India enacted laws like Illegal Migration Determination (IMDT) Act that came into force in 1983. The act was formulated to detect and detain illegal migrants. But IMDT proved insufficient in tackling the problem. In fact, IMDT was identified as a major impediment for the deportation of the illegal migrants as the onus of proof lies on the complainant instead of the accused. IMDT was repealed following a Supreme Court order in 2005. Meanwhile, since people of same ethnic, linguistic, cultural, physical similarities live in both side of the border, illegal migrants from Bangladesh easily merge with the local population making it near impossible to detect them. Meanwhile, the corruption at the lower structure of governance is also impediment for deportation of the illegal migrants as they easily acquire proof like voter identity cards, ration card and birth certificate that validate their claim to the land.

Bangladesh Cooperation

Experiences suggest that the problem of illegal migration Meanwhile, proliferation of the Islamic militancy in cannot be resolved without cooperation from Bangladesh. the region added to the security threat. Some of the major But the country has been on the denial. Although India and Muslim groups are Muslim Liberation Tigers of Assam, Bangladesh relationship has seen major developments in the Muslim United Liberation Front, Islamic Sevak Sangh, past few years and the two countries are cooperating on issues Harkat-ul-Jihad, Harkat-ullike security, which was unthinkable Mujahideen and others. The It’s time for Bangladesh to in the past. But the government Harkat-ul-Jihad is alleged of stand on illegal migration stands be pragmatic and cooperate unchanged. United Nations in a having close links with various with India, particularly when report had claimed that migration anti-India organisations like international terror organisations of Bangladeshis to India has Pakistan’s ISI. These organisations are spreading Islamic militancy penetrate been the largest migration in to working are in the northeast region. deep inside South Asia region the history of mankind. But the Hasina led Awami League and many of the militant Sheikh government declined to accept The most important concern has organisations of that country have the report. Bangladesh’s stand has been use of migrants to carry out joined hands with them given rise to speculation about subversive activities. Members of various conspiracy theories. The various militant organisations both international and Bangladeshi often enter Indian territory most significant one is establishment of Greater Bangladesh to carryout clandestine activities. Recent Burdwan blast in including whole of Northeast and Arakan region of Myanmar. Meanwhile, some Indian thinkers believe that in a densely West Bengal is an example. populated country like Bangladesh where 2.8 million people Border Management are added annually it is obvious to push for this population To tackle problem of migration, India has undertaken a policy migration. Such speculations transform into belief because of controlling the border by deploying border guards at the there are many in the Bangladesh who are propagating entire stretch of the 4,098 kilometre long India-Bangladesh Lebensraum (living space) for Bangladeshis. border. Also, India has taken initiative of laying barbed wire fencing and also floodlighting the border. Besides, India is also The problem of illegal migration today has two aspects: implementing national identity cards to identify foreigners. a) to deport all those who have entered India illegally and Considering complex topography of the border that runs have been living for years; b) to stop future illegal migration. through hills, rivers, agricultural fields and human habitation So far deportations of the existing illegal migrants had made it porous, such measures have not been successful are concerned it seems to be a Herculean task. But the in controlling illegal migration. government should focus on preventing future migration. In this context along with taking internal steps like involving local citizens in identifying migrants, curbing corruption in the lower echelons of government machinery, more efficient border management, enacting an immigration policy and also India should engage in a dialogue with Bangladesh. Bangladesh should also understand that by not addressing the issue it is not only affecting India but also putting risk to its own security. It’s time for Bangladesh to be pragmatic and cooperate with India, particularly when international terror organisations are working to penetrate deep inside South Asia region and many of the militant organisations of that country have joined hands with them.

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DISINFORMATION Revelation attracted attention of media towards International Conference in support of the People’s War in India, held in Hamburg where over 300 delegates from 23 foreign organisations participated in the conference to express their “solidarity” with India’s Naxals movement. The support may be seen as the result of successful propaganda itself.

Political Warfare

The significance of the political warfare is evident from the arrest of renowned activists, intellectuals. When arrest is made a number of prominent people appeal for their release and announce detention as illegal. A lot of lobbies were made and actions against them were criticised. These events highlight the political support that Naxals are getting as a result of propaganda.

Propaganda

An Effective Tool Used By Naxals

The counter-propaganda is believed to have a productive effect keeping in view the surrender of Naxals. Recently spurt of surrenders by Naxals is perceived to be the product of constant counter-propaganda campaign from state and central police forces. Naxals are under pressure keeping in view of counter-propaganda against them by government apparatus.

nderstanding the power of propaganda Naxals are using a systematic form of intended persuasions which influence the emotions, attitudes, opinions, of specified target audiences. Propaganda as effective tool is being used for ideological, political or commercial purposes in their interest and to make their movement successful. Propaganda also has the effect of polarising an audience in support of them. Naxals are putting greater emphasis on using propaganda than armed fighting. Contrary to popular belief and perception it is not all about guerrilla warfare but about revolutionary politics. Revolutionary politics is a combination of information warfare and political warfare. It accounts for approximately 70 per cent of the whole strategy of Naxals. In information warfare strategic, tactical, operational warfare merge.

Front Organisations

Naxals turn some small issues to large problems through manipulation of realities and propaganda. As per reports the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) has as many as 128 front organisations across 16 states for carrying out Naxal propaganda and bringing newer areas under its influence. Apart from the Naxals-affected states, many such outfits are also working in Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand. With the help of frontal organisations they create resentment among the masses against the government apparatus to

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raise disputes and disagreements into conflicts. Naxal front organisations spread their views in the media favourable to their causes which often create an adverse image of the state and project a police action as an atrocity. Naxals constantly emphasise in their propaganda material that government is ignoring development in the areas, exploitation of poor people, the government’s inability to tackle social, caste-related and political issues to touch sentiment. The election boycott campaign is done by issuing press releases and distributing / pasting anti-election pamphlets, posters and banners. As part of propaganda tactic to disrupt the polls, they organise meetings, rallies, torchlight processions and cultural programmes to spread the message of poll boycott. Threatening and taking action against its own cadres and people indulging in electioneering are also used to get desired result. “Vote Bahishkar Committees” formed by the Naxals are tasked to raise issues like setting up of security forces’ camps, displacement, inflation, unemployment, arrest of Maoists and “Operation Green Hunt.”

Role Of Ideologues

It is also accepted by MHA that ideologues have kept the Naxals movement alive with supports of propaganda and are in many ways more dangerous than the cadres of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army. The ideologues and supporters of the CPI (Maoist) in cities and towns have undertaken a concerted and systematic propaganda against the state to project it in a poor light and also malign it through disinformation.

The Naxalites have exploited the media in planned and professional manner. The Naxals have ensured the use of media to their benefit with an efficient and strategic media management. The media is being utilised in a systematic, planned and conscious manner to mould or influence the opinions of those who are not happy with the system. They have expertise in the tactics to propagate, agitate and act to convert mass movement into armed struggle. The banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) has dedicated media cell and printing press which are called press units by Naxals. There is a central propaganda bureau to look after this work. Units reach out to the masses through mass media. The media cells led by a regional level spokesperson visit the local organisational squads and Dalams in forest regions to gather information. It is also reported that clipping on mobile phones in the red stronghold of Gadchiroli highlighted the rebels’ dream to capture power in the country and also see their red flag fluttering atop the Red Fort.

Dramatis Personae

It is also learnt that Milind Teltumbde, secretary of Maharashtra State Rajya Committee, operating in north Gadchiroli-Gondia Balaghat division writes the outfit’s press release in Marathi under the pseudonym ‘Sahyadri’. Senior cadre Gopi too releases press notes for the outfit. Sriniwas, whose actual name is Aitu, releases press notes for western regional committee of south Gadchiroli division, which is part of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC). Gudsa Usendi works as spokesperson for DKSZC carrying a cash reward of Rs 20 lakh on his head surrendered before Andhra Pradesh Police. Usendi is sharp, well-read and well-versed with the latest technology. He used to send emails from ghost IP addresses, used novel ways to deliver messages and releases to the media. Intelligence agencies claim the Naxals nurture and care for their own trusted media men to spread their ideologies and counter government versions.

media reports, a senior officer in the anti-Naxals operations admitted that even police often wait for the press releases and publications from the rebels to find out their side of the story to compare intelligence reports with Naxals literature and fill in the information gaps.

Public Opinion

CMDT SUDHIR KUMAR Naxalites have strong belief The writer is a Commandant that propaganda can mould public opinion. Presently (PRO / OPS) in Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). He has Naxals publish many journals served in all parts of the country in different language like, including militancy affected Awam-e-Jung, Peoples March, areas of J&K and Northeast. He has done Management Lal Pataka, Chingari, Biyukka, Prabhat, Maoist Bulletin. Course in Human Resources and Psychological Counselling. Naxalites use perception He has also worked in management to influence the elite security organistion attitudes, objective reasoning Special Protection Group (SPG). of local people as well as intelligentsia. Through their cultural troops – Chetana Natya Mandali, Jan Natya Mandali and their regular meetings at village level try to influence people through propaganda. The Naxals through cultural troupes, literature, pamphlets, meetings, propagate their ideology of class war. Sometimes they hire some intellectual to make propaganda material for them. The Naxals also publish their thoughts through blogs like ‘Vanguard’ and there are different websites like ‘bannedthought.net’, ‘countercurrents.org’ and such portals which they use to propagate their thoughts and ideologies. A recent document seized from Naxals exposed the fact that Naxals were strengthening their publicity cells in every village and preparing publicity material in Marathi.

Urban Movement

After realising the power of propaganda they visualised that movement needs an urban platform for propaganda. Naxals are building a strong urban revolutionary movement oriented towards people’s war. Their urban plan aims at giving political orientation to the work in urban areas which will be favourable and influence the all-India perspective for guerrilla zones. Moreover the feasibility to cultivate the

Naxalites ensure that the masses and their cadres remain updated about their movements, agenda, military exploits, heroism and sacrifices through press releases meant for popular media and also their own publications. Naxals also regularly issue press releases with their own version of events after encounters of civilian or police killings. Apart from projecting their point of view, the Naxals press releases frequently counter the version given by the police. As per

November 2014 | DEFENCE AND SECURITY ALERT

northeast imbroglio

DISINFORMATION

northeast imbroglio

HINDSIGHT

The 1962 War

provision of supplies, technology-expertise, information, political support and other requirements will be conducive to Urban Centre. Urban Centre also helps to create propaganda because of their access to intellectuals and the media and will widen their horizon of work.

is also being used to counter Maoist propaganda and urge villagers and tribals to join the mainstream.

In addition to that paramilitary forces including CRPF are playing a vital and active role to counter Naxalism. They are committed towards community programmes through civic Urban Centre will enhance long-term capability of Naxals actions and supporting development works in Naxal affected and the means available to Naxals will increase in strength. states. In order to create awareness among innocent villagers It will widen their mass bases also. Revolutionary politics to fight against Naxals for their betterment and development, help Left Wing Extremism in sustained, systematic attempt CRPF has been deeply involved and are setting up camps to regroup. A campaign of propaganda enhances their ability in remote and backward areas to counter the propaganda to live and operate freely among the urban population. propagated by Naxals. As a part of campaign various Politicising and radicalising of public by Naxals in large scale medical camps, distributing bags, notebooks, items for will continue. Taking benefit of political opportunity they school children, utensils to poor, youth activities, outside tour will purposefully exploit issues. programme for locals, distribution of pamphlets, display of banners, The Naxalites have exploited the door to door contacts are being done To counter and fight against media in planned and professional to influence people against Naxals. Naxals there is an urgent need to plan, conceptualise and carry out manner. The Naxals have ensured They are educating the villagers propaganda operations with clarity the use of media to their benefit and students about government of goal. The state should proactively laws and schemes which with an efficient and strategic policies, employ media in perception are beneficial. The use of local media management management strategy. Mass language is also being encouraged media should be used to highlight to spread the governments’ message the aimless ideology, loss of life and property caused by of development for better understanding. Naxals. The media strategy in the government should be institutionalised. However Maharashtra government has The counter-propaganda is believed to have a productive taken a step towards countering the Naxals in the field of effect keeping in view the surrender of Naxals. Recently propaganda. The state government has placed a group of spurt of surrenders by Naxals is perceived to be the personnel to set up the specialised cell which would not product of constant counter-propaganda campaign from only counter the Naxalites’ powerful wing of propaganda state and central police forces. Naxals are under pressure but also initiate media strategies regarding issues and keeping in view of counter-propaganda against them incidents from rebels’ zones. by government apparatus. They are facing constant and regular resistance from villagers and have to compromise Recently Chhattisgarh police have started at various levels. Even in elections people braved Maoist dance-drama for a counter-propaganda campaign against threats and overcame the reluctance to trek to distant Maoist activities to win the hearts and the minds of local polling booths to exercise their franchise. Success of poll was tribals through establishing Police Natya Chetana Manch never expected in view of past experience during elections. (PNCM). They have been giving performances, set to the Anti-Naxal press material also exposes the background of tunes of songs in the local Gondi, urging the tribal people to each surrendered rebel and his or her disillusionment with the stop supporting the Naxals and to create awareness among movement in detail. They are being exposed at various fronts tribals over the mindless violence of Naxals. All India Radio and are being cornered in their narrow dens.

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MAJ GEN VK SINGH (RETD) The writer served in the Army for 35 years, his last appointment being Chief Signal Officer of the Western Army. In November 2000 he joined the Cabinet Secretariat, (R&AW), where he served up to June 2004, when he retired from government service. He has authored five books including India’s External Intelligence – Secrets of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) in 2007.

Could It Have Been Averted By Nehru In 1951? In 1951, Major General Hira Lal Atal, who was then Adjutant General (AG), at Army HQ, proposed that the tenure of the Army Chief and Army Commanders should be limited to four years, even if they had not reached the age of superannuation. Nathu Singh felt that the one tenure system of four years, proposed by Atal, was primarily to ensure his own promotion as Army Commander. It is difficult to believe that Cariappa supported the move; perhaps he acquiesced, since he must have felt that to do otherwise may appear selfish, since he too was affected.

he reasons for the debacle in 1962 are well known, with all the top political and military leaders sharing responsibility for the ignominy suffered by the nation. However, the genesis of the disaster was a little known decision by Nehru more than ten years earlier, in 1951. Apart from Nehru, the dramatis personae were two military officers, Lieutenant General Thakur Nathu Singh, then GOC-in-C Eastern Command and Major General Hira Lal Atal, the Adjutant General. They had very little in common except that both were King’s Commission Indian Officers (KCIO), trained at Sandhurst.

The Man And The Moment

Nathu Singh was a Rajput from Gumanpura, in the princely state of Dungarpur in Rajputana. He was educated at the Mayo College, Ajmer where he topped all his classes. He was a rebel even in school and was nicknamed ‘Baghi’ (rebel), by his colleagues for his outspoken and forthright manner. In 1921 he was selected for Sandhurst from where he passed out on 1 February 1923, being commissioned in the 1/7 Rajput Regiment. During his stay in England, he met Subhas Chandra Bose who was in the Indian Civil Service (ICS) at that time. They had a common meeting ground, in their dislike of British rule and desire to be rid of it. Even at Sandhurst, Nathu’s anti-British views led to his being dubbed the ‘Fauji Gandhi’ by his Indian colleagues.

Throughout his service, Nathu Singh was known as a stormy petrel and his brushes with authority are now a part of legend. A nationalist to the core, he was frequently in trouble for his anti-British views. He was almost thrown out of the Army in his first unit, the 1/7 Rajputs, when he refused to dine in the officers mess with British officers. He remained in close touch with almost all prominent leaders of the freedom struggle, such as Motilal Nehru and his son Jawaharlal, Jinnah, Sarojini Naidu etc. In 1926, when he wanted to resign and join the freedom struggle, the elder Nehru advised him not to do so. When the INA trials were ordered in 1945, he protested vehemently, writing an eight page letter to the C-in-C, General Auchinleck, couched in the strongest language, even though he was just a lieutenant colonel. In November 1946, when he was a brigadier, he was offered the post of the first Indian C-in-C after Independence by Sardar Baldev Singh, the Defence Minister in the interim government, which he declined, since Cariappa was senior to him.

The Counterpoint

Hira Lal Atal was a Kashmiri Brahmin, like Nehru and ‘Bijji’ Kaul, who were destined to play prominent roles in 1962. His father, Major Pyare Lal Atal was an army doctor in the Indian Medical Service who was killed in France in 1914 during World War I. Incidentally, Jawaharlal Nehru’s father-in-law, Jawaharmal Kaul of Bazaar Sita Ram in Delhi was the real son of Dewan Kishan Lal Atal who was later given

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HINDSIGHT

in adoption to Bishamber Nath Kaul of Hardoi. Hira Lal was educated at the Prince of Wales Military College, Dehradun, where he became the first Head Boy. He too was trained at Sandhurst and was commissioned on 29 January 1925 into the 16th Light Cavalry. Significantly, Atal was the last among the five Indians and 15th overall out of 16 cadets who were granted King’s Commissions on that date. After a none too illustrious career – he did not take part in any major campaign in World War II – Atal became Independent India’s first Indian Adjutant General in May 1948. His major achievement was designing the Param Vir Chakra medal with the help of Savitri Khanolkar, a Russian-Hungarian who was married to his friend, Captain Vikram Khanolkar, from the Sikh Regiment. Ironically, the first PVC was awarded to Savitri’s only daughter’s brother-in-law, Major Som Nath Sharma of 4 Kumaon in 1947.

Retention Of British Officers

comparatively young age – Cariappa at 53, Nathu Singh at 51 and Thimayya and Thorat at 55. This was at a time when the Indian Army needed officers with experience and had decided to retain British officers on this account. In fact, the British heads of Technical Arms, such as Engineers and Signals – Major General Harold Williams and Brigadier CHI Akehurst – continued up to seven years after Independence, as did the C-in-C of the Navy, Vice Admiral CTM Pizey. The only persons affected by the four year rule were the Army Chief and the Army Commanders, where experience was needed the most. The rule did not apply to the civilian bureaucracy, or to the Navy and the Air Force. Even in the Army, it was made applicable only to the Chief and Army Commanders and not the heads of Technical Arms and Services. It is difficult to believe that Cariappa supported the move; perhaps he acquiesced, since he must have felt that to do otherwise may appear selfish, since he too was affected. And being the gentleman he was, that was the last thing he would have liked to be accused of. In the event, he recommended the proposal and Nehru accepted it, without going into the implications. If he had done so, perhaps the Indian Army would not have had to suffer the infamy of 1962.

Soon after Independence, the Prime Minister held a conference of senior Army officers, to elicit their views regarding keeping British officers for some more time, as advisers. Nehru felt that Indian officers lacked the experience to take over the responsibility for such a large Army and wanted to retain Chinese Threat British officers for a longer period, as Pakistan had done. As was later revealed, Thorat had warned the political Almost everyone agreed with Nehru, except for Nathu Singh. leadership about the threat from China in 1959, when he He said: “Officers sitting here have more than 25 years service was the Eastern Army Commander. When he found that the and are capable of holding senior appointments in the Armed Prime Minister and Defence Minister were not taking serious Forces. As for experience, if I may note of the problem, he decided to ask you Sir, what experience do put it in writing. On 8 October Nehru felt that Indian officers 1959, Thorat produced a paper on you have to hold the post of Prime lacked the experience to take over the defence of NEFA and sent it to Minister?” There was a stunned silence, and Nehru did not reply. the responsibility for such a large the COAS. This was forwarded Finally, it was decided to keep the Army and wanted to retain British to the Ministry of Defence but British advisers for some more time, officers for a longer period, as Krishna Menon did not show it to the as proposed by Nehru. Prime Minister, accusing Thorat of Pakistan had done being an alarmist and a warmonger. Loaded Military Advice Subsequently an exercise, code Cariappa had taken over as C-in-C on 15 January 1949 and named LAL QUILA, was held in Lucknow, in March 1960. retired after exactly four years, on 14 January 1953. At that This was attended by the Chief and all Principal Staff time, the three Army Commanders were Maharaj Rajendra Officers in Army HQ. It was clearly brought out that with Sinhji, Thakur Nathu Singh and SM Shrinagesh. In 1951, the troops, weapons and equipment available at that time, a Major General Hira Lal Atal, who was then Adjutant General Chinese attack could not be contained or defeated and the (AG), at Army HQ, proposed that the tenure of the Army ‘forward policy’, being advocated by Menon and Kaul was not Chief and Army Commanders should be limited to four practicable. Thorat also gave out a time table, showing how the years, even if they had not reached the age of superannuation. defences would fall day by day in case the Chinese attacked. Nathu Singh felt that the one tenure system of four years, Kaul, who attended the exercise as Quarter Master General, proposed by Atal, was primarily to ensure his own promotion had different views. By that time Thimayya’s position had as Army Commander. Atal had no chance of ever becoming a been undermined and he had lost all authority. In May 1961 Lieutenant General, since there were only three appointments both Thimayya and Thorat retired and Kaul was appointed in that rank and all three incumbents had several more years CGS. With Thapar as the Army Chief, Kaul had a free hand to serve before they superannuated. Nathu Singh wrote to to implement his ideas. The rest is history. General Cariappa, making specific allegations against Atal. The letter was brought to the notice of the Prime Minister, What Could Have Been who turned down the allegations. This was not surprising, If the four year rule had not been promulgated, Thimayya considering that Atal was a Kashmiri and close to Nehru. as well as Thorat would still have been around to say ‘No’ As for Nathu Singh, he was conveyed the ‘displeasure’ of the to Nehru and Krishna Menon, as Sam Manekshaw did to government of India, for trying to impugn the character and Indira Gandhi in April 1971, when she wanted to go to war with Pakistan. By approving this rule, Nehru committed military reputation of another officer. a blunder, which indirectly resulted in the ignominy India Officers Wasted Out faced in 1962. As regards Atal, poetic justice awaited him. Whatever one may say about the propriety of Nathu Singh’s Though he succeeded in getting Nehru to approve the four representation, it is difficult to refute the logic of his arguments. year tenure, he never became a Lieutenant General and The four year rule ensured that senior officers retired at a retired in the rank of Major General.

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RNI NO. DELENG/2009/31195