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North East

	August 09, 2004

Manipur crisis : No let-up in protests over AFSPA

Manipur continues to witness mass protests which began last month over the death of a woman, Thangjam Manorama, on July 11 allegedly in the custody of the Assam Rifles, operating in the north eastern states under the overall control of the Army.

The agitation which engulfed Manipur following naked protests by over a dozen women outside Kangla Fort, headquarters of Assam Rifles, Imphal, over the Manorama tragedy, erupted again last week with reports reaching the state that the Centre has turned down the proposal of Chief Minister Ibobi Singh to revoke the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA).

The Chief Minister on his return to Imphal from New Delhi on August 4 was greeted with a series of agitations as students and protesters courted arrest at several places in Imphal East and West which escalated tension in various places leading to pitched battle with the police.

Soon after his arrival in Imphal, the Chief Minister summoned a Cabinet meeting to take stock of the situation. According to media reports, a decision was taken to get a resolution passed in the Assembly urging the Centre to withdraw the AFSPA, but the move failed as the Governor who is a representative of the Centre, prorogued the House.

Meanwhile, the intensified agitation led the state government to reclamp the day curfew from 1.30 pm in Imphal West and 2.15 pm in the Imphal East district. Rapid Action Police Force had to be deployed and the capital city once again looked like a battle field. At several places the police clashed with hundreds of protesters including students.

The police fired several stun bombs, rubber bullets and tear gas shells at the Raj Bhavan gate, Kakwa, Airport Road, Tera and Sagolband. The clash left hundreds injured. The police also arrested several women and student protesters.

Police arrested 14 Opposition MLAs who violated Section 144 of Cr.P.C. and staged a dharna in front of the Assembly. They were later released in the afternoon. A 65-year-old man identified as Elangbam Surja of Hiyanglam died at Wahengnbam Leikai while trying to board a bus in a hurry.

The Opposition also lambasted the Centre for appointing S.S, Sidhu as the new Governor who, it alleged, is involved in a corruption case.



PM talks with allies

In a bid to work out a formula for bringing peace in Manipur, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh discussed the volatile situation in the north-eastern state with key supporters of the ruling UPA, a day after the Centre directed the Union Home Ministry to restore normalcy in Manipur. Singh also met Mrs Sonia Gandhi as well as the Manipur Chief Minister Ibobi Singh over the issue.

The Chief Minister had been camping in Delhi with a mission to resolve the problem in his state in the wake of the demand for lifting the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.

However, New Delhi has rejected the demand for lifting the AFSPA. In his reaction to the Chief Minister’s demand for repeal of the Act, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil said in New Delhi on August 6 that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act will not be revoked in Manipur. Speaking to “The Indian Express, Patil said the Act, first introduced in 1958, was enforced to deal with the “abnormal” situation there. “Let normalcy return,” he said. “Then, we will look into it.”

On Chief Minister Ibobi Singh’s demand to do away with the Act, Patil said he had only expressed his personal view. The Centre is willing to talk to any militant organization, but will not revoke the AFSPA, he added. According to reports, the Centre is likely to appoint a committee of experts to look into the working of AFSPA.

On August 7, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee reiterated that there was “no thinking or re-thinking” on the withdrawal of the AFSPA from Manipur. “We are watching the situation. We had detailed discussions with the State Ministers. I myself was present. We have already indicated that in order to assuage the feelings of the people, a court of enquiry is looking into the incident of killing of a woman activist”, he told media persons at Avadi.

The Defence Minister, however, assured that whoever had committed a mistake would be “taken to task. Nobody will be spared.”



CM’s threat to quit

Chief Minister Ibobi Singh who has sought the removal of the AFSPA from his state, has publicly announced that if New Delhi does not yield to his demand, he will have no recourse but to quit. He has failed to do the most basic of raj dharma (Principles of Governance) to listen to his people.

Observers say resignation is the only option for a leader who has lost the confidence of his colleagues and his people. He should, in fact, resign before the deadline and let another, younger figure, untainted by incompetence and scandal (if such a person exists) take over.



Centre, State on “collision course”

According to observers, the political situation in Manipur has become very sensitive with the Centre firmly refusing to revoke the AFSPA and the State Government determined the get it revoked, thus putting the Centre-State on a collision course.

They have also questioned New Delhi’s move to change the Governor which was apparently carried to appease the agitating general public.

Commenting on the change, they ask : “Can a change of the Governor (the new man has no experience of the region at all) and the setting up of a committee to review the functioning of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act calm the anger, reduce the bitterness and bring back a semblance of governance to the state ?”

According to another thinktank, the heart of the crisis in Manipur and elsewhere in the North-east is the abysmal failure of governments at the state level and of governance of bringing the basic facilities and fruits of infrastructure and development to the people.

The root problem is not of insurgency; insurgency is merely the face of governmental failure to address local needs by the Centre and the state. There is no point simply blaming New Delhi for the trauma that Manipur is going through. Of course, it is to blame. But so are the current state government of Chief Minister Ibobi Singh and his predecessor governments which did nothing to deal with realities at the ground level, or tackle corruption and the lack of public trust.

The members of the Legislative Assembly, both Congress and Opposition, realise how alienated they are from the public. A number of them are prepared to quit their seats if the deadline of 15 August is not met for the revocation of the Act. In addition, there is the demand to clear Kangla Fort of the Assam Rifles, which may happen in part to restore the temporal and spiritual centre of Meitei culture.

In view of the mass uprising in Manipur over the reported frequent abuse of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, experts have also posed a question mark over the validity and effectiveness of AFSPA.

“What should be done about the AFSPA ? The first question that should be asked is what good has it done in 46 years of operation? Has it improved public security, reduced insurgency and helped calm the violence ?” The answer to all three is in the negative.

The second is that in a democratic state, the government, experts say, must heed the voice of the people. If the people are angry, hurt and embittered, then do they not have a right to be heard? Do they not have a genuine grievance or is it to be dismissed as a security threat organised by anti-national forces? Such an attitude is absurd. Home minister Shivraj Patil or Prithviraj Chauhan, minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office, need to go personally to talk to people and their organizations. Sending a junior Minister at the Centre is to send a negative signal, say observers

If AFSPA is to be used at all, it must be used minimally and only under the authority of an officer not less than a Major or Lt. Colonel, feel observers. According to them, one of the reasons why militancy has not abated is because of the concentration of powers in the armed forces and the weakening of the police. The police must be strengthened and given a primary role in tackling problems, not a side role.

The brass of the Indian Army is reportedly opposed to the demand for withdrawal of the AFSPA. It has been around in more or less the same format since it was enacted in 1958 it was used first against the Nagas when they launched their independence movement in the late 1950s, then in Mizoram and Manipur and briefly also in Assam. It also remains in place in Tripura, where two major insurgent groups dominate parts of the state.

The reluctance of the security forces over the AFSPA is understandable. They are worried that insurgents would have the run of the place if the law was lifted or repealed. But this in itself, say observers, is a devastating indictment of the failure of the government and the armed forces to deal with a political problem through military means. Men in uniform are not the best judges of a political situation.



Nagaland : A new deadline

The extension of the cease-fire between the Government of India and the NSCN (I-M) for another year is a step, according to observers, in the right direction. For after all is said and done, there is really no alternative to sitting across the table and dialogue to settle disagreements and differences.

It is said that the two days’ of talks at Chiang Mai, Thailand, between the Government of India and the NSCN ran into some rough weather on extension of the cease-fire for another year. But now that it has been unanimously agreed upon, the fact should be kept in mind that the interests of the Naga people are uppermost in the minds of both sides.

Both sides have given each other another year to sort out issues and this augurs well for the Nagas, as also the people of India, because conflict situations hamper human development and progress. Hopefully this year, both the may agree to a consensus on some core issues which have impeded the talks over the past seven years.

For one, both sides, say observers, could prioritize areas of agreement, which could have a positive impact on the areas of disagreements, perhaps even reduce them. Of course, it is difficult to say which are the areas of agreement and which aren’t because neither the Government of India nor the NSCN (I-M) have been very forthcoming with details of the dialogue. However, from a Naga perspective, a priority is that the cease-fire ground rules should be adhered to by both sides in letter and in spirit. When they are not, the people inevitably become the victims.

It should also be suggested that neither party should allow things to come to such a pass that people become victims of egos and perceptions of prestige. Attention should also be focused on the fact that the cease-fire between the Government of India and the NSCN (I-M), or the NSCN (K) for that matter, does not resolve the several disagreements and differences of opinions that exist on numerous issues among the Nagas themselves.

This calls for a wider dialogue with a more tolerant approach. Considering the ever-changing global political and economic equations, perhaps Nagas should rethink the hitherto-held belief that India stands to gain by the divide and rule policy and open their minds to a broader perspective and consider that it is no longer in India’s interest to have a conflict situation in its backyard.

Perhaps with this perspective can both sides endeavour to come to an understanding which would be mutually beneficial. One year does not hold enough time to resolve the issues of over 50 years the past seven years have proved that. But one year also holds enough time to make efforts to rethink, redirect and re-prioritize the focus of attention, as much as motives and priorities, objectives and goals.

Observers say the people must emerge winners in this process because the raison d’etre for the cease-fire between the Government of India and the NSCN (I-M), as also the NSCN (K), is the interest of the Nagas, of the North-east and of India.



Assam : Resolution on protection of its territory

Cutting across party lines, members of the Assam Assembly last week passed a resolution to protect the state’s territorial integrity from the expansionist designs of the NSCN (Isak-Muivah). The resolution also appreciated the stand of the UPA Government at the Centre which in its Common Minimum Programme (CMP) has clearly stated that territorial integrity of North East will be maintained.

The Assam resolution comes close on the heels of a similar resolution in the Manipur Assembly which was passed unanimously and forwarded to New Delhi.

The NSCN(IM) which is engaged in a peace process with the Union Government in an attempt to solve the five decade old issue, has often made it clear that the solution to the Naga issue lies in its demand for Greater Nagaland by annexing Naga-inhabited areas in the adjoining states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.

The militant outfit’s map of an integrated Naga homeland includes chunks of Assam’s territory. After an animated discussion on the subject, Assembly members reached a consensus on adopting a resolution not to part with even an inch of land to the NSCN (I-M)-proposed Nagalim.

The NSCN (I-M) has long been demanding that all contiguous Naga-inhabited areas of the region be brought under a single administrative umbrella. The Nagaland Assembly, too, has adopted a resolution for the unification of all Naga contiguous areas.

The 16-point Agreement, on the basis of which Nagaland became the 16th state of the Indian Union, contains a clause on integration of contiguous Naga areas. But the three states that border Nagaland - Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Manipur - have always opposed any mention of this clause.

Apart from Nagaland, the NSCN (I-M)’s vision of a Nagalim encompasses the four Naga-dominated hill districts of Manipur, Tirap and Changlang districts of Arunachal Pradesh and parts of the North Cachar Hills and Karbi Anglong districts of Assam.

The Manipur Assembly was the first to adopt a resolution to protect the state’s territorial integrity.

The state’s resilience was in evidence during the uprising that followed the Delhi’s decision to extend its ceasefire with the NSCN (I-M) beyond Nagaland.

The discussion on the subject began with Assam legislators expressing concern over reports of Nagaland gradually extending its territory. They demanded steps to end the border dispute at the earliest.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour, AGP member Hitendra Nath Goswami asked the government how it proposed to go about settling the dispute. Leader of the Opposition and AGP chief Brindaban Goswami attributed the impasse to the government’s weak stand.

Minister of State for Home Rockybul Hussain assured the members that the government was committed to the task.

Dispur formed a four-member ministerial committee to tackle inter-state border disputes after suspected NSCN (I-M) activists shot dead an Assam government official and a constable during a campaign to evict Naga settlers from Monglumukh in Karbi Anglong district. The incident occurred on July 1. Health and Family Welfare Minister Bhumidhar Barman heads the panel.



Rebel influx puts forces on red alert

Security forces in Upper Assam are bracing for possible pre-Independence Day revenge strikes by the Ulfa. This is the first Independence Day since the outfit suffered severe a setback during the Bhutan operations.

The police headquarters has sounded an alert after an arrested Ulfa leader, Bastav Deodhai Phukon, revealed during interrogation that several groups of militants had recently entered Upper Assam districts from Myanmar through Nagaland.

Phukon, along with another militant, Dulal Baurah, was arrested from Napam Mising village in Sivasagar district on last Monday. The duo has been remanded to seven days’ police custody.

The senior Ulfa leader entered Assam on May 1, along with seven other militants, with the aim of carrying out subversive operations, a police officer interrogating Phukon said.

On previous Sunday, Phukon, along with four other militants, took shelter in the Khonamukh area in the district. The group had exchanged fire with security forces in the wee hours of Sunday and managed to escape. The Ulfa leader was caught the next day.

The group led by Phukon was armed with two AK-56 rifles, one US carbine and other explosives.

Intelligence sources said the outfit had dispatched surveillance teams to the region to identify possible targets and arrange logistical support for armed groups.

According to highly-placed sources in the police department in Upper Assam, latest intelligence reports claim that the underground outfit was keen to prove its might in the post-Bhutan scenario.

The outfit has already carried out 11 blasts in Upper Assam this year, which included blasts in crude oil pipelines, cinemas, telephone exchanges and even in a passenger bus on June 24 in Sivasagar district, in which six persons were killed and over a dozen injured.

Security forces in the region have been put on a red alert. The police, paramilitary and the army are carrying out counter-insurgency operations, especially in the border areas. They are also carrying out surprise checks of vehicles and flag marches in vulnerable areas.



Tripura : CPM begins purge

The CPM has launched a purge in its lower echelons but the expulsion of two senior and influential leaders in Khowai subdivision has sparked a controversy.

The ongoing purge is being seen as a clear campaign to weed out undesirable elements who entered the party in the immediate aftermath of the Assembly elections last year.

The state CPM leadership launched a rectification drive, as part of which a large chunk of party workers has been served expulsion notices by local and divisional committees.

The decision to expel the two warring but influential leaders in the Kalyanpur area of Khowai subdivision has caused a ruckus. The first of these two Khowai divisional committee members is Makhan Chakraborty, who had been CPM legislator from Kalyanpur for four consecutive terms between 1978 and 1993, while the other is his archrival Romakanta Paul.

Though both are aware of the proceedings being finalised against them, they are yet to receive formal expulsion notices.