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India North East Neglect



Editorial
Asian Age Newspaper, August 13, 1999

NORTHEAST NEGLECT

The Northeast has always been a neglected part of India. Successive
governments in the states and at the Centre had paid lip service to the
development of the region with the result that insurgency has grown to a
point where normal life is continuously disrupted. Before Independence
Day each year the militant outfits in the Northeast become hyper-active
and succeed in paralyzing the region. This year it has been no different
with the militants being very successful in cutting off road and rail
links to isolate the Northeast from the rest of India. Bridges and
railway tracks have been blown up with the government watching
helplessly as the militants call the shots. It is true that the Pakistan
ISI has made inroads in the Northeast and is backing many of the
outfits. But it is also true that apart from the occasional crackdown
the government is largely unable to cope with the militancy. Reports in
the newspapers suggest that ISI men paid as little as Rs. 200 to
personnel of the Border Security Force to enter the Karimganj district
in Assam. The ISI agents were looking for a new route to push insurgents
and explosives into the region. The Ulfa, NSCN ­K and other militant
outfits have teamed up with Burmese organizations to revive the
Indo-Burmese Revolutionary Front. The front has called for a 17
hours-strike on August 15 when obviously more violence can be expected.
The point is that Pakistan or any other hostile state will try to
destabilize India. And it is for India to ensure that insurgency is
driven back, not just through military actions as has been approached in
the Northeast, but through a political initiative which is completely
absent. The Northeast has always been looked upon by Delhi with a
distant eye. And this has given rise to a feeling of alienation, which
is compounded by gross under-development and poverty. This often finds
expression in militancy and a certain disaffection with the state that
helps foreign networks like the ISI gain more than a major foothold in
the region. Delhi has taken the easy way out by deploying the army to
flush out militants and control the violence. This can be done only up
to a point and in the long run the army used in civilian operations
loses its professionalism which always proves very costly. The Lok Sabha
elections are being held and it is about time that those elected from
the Northeast use their combined strength to pressurize the Central
Government to develop a policy for the region that can effectively cut
into militancy. Presently the Union Home ministry looks upon the North
East as a law and order issue and the only programmes emanating from
Delhi for the region involve the strengthening of security forces. The
region has come under the grip of the militants and a government can
legitimize its intervention in the region only if it is able to break
this stranglehold. A two pronged approach with a fresh political
initiative backed by military action is the only answer but one that
governments over the years have been unwilling to take. Matters have
been allowed to drag on for far too long and the new government which
takes over Delhi in October should pay immediate heed to the Seven
Sisters before it is too late.

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