Ethno-nationalism and the politics of terror in India's Northeast

South Asia: Journal of South Asia Studies

Volumn 30, Issue 1, 2007, Pages 93-110

  Hussain, Wasbir ^a  

^a Centre for Development and Peace Studies   (India)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

AUTONOMY; ETHNIC GROUP; ETHNOPOLITICS; POLITICAL VIOLENCE; TERRORISM;

ASIA; EURASIA; INDIA; SOUTH ASIA;

EID: 34247581240     PISSN: 00856401     EISSN: 14790270     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00856400701264043     Document Type: Article

References (55)

1. The Indian Ministry of Home Affairs' Annual Report for 2003-2004 lists 18 active insurgent groups in the northeastern states (there are several dormant ones). In the chapter titled 'Security Scenario in the North East', the report states: 'The North-Eastern States have been affected by insurgency for quite some time now. Militant activities of various underground groups and ethnic divisions have kept the conditions disturbed in several areas of Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura, as well as in some areas of Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh'. See Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs Annual Report, 2003-2004 (New Delhi: Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, 2004), pp.2 & 33 [http://mha.nic.in/Annual-Reports/ar0304-Eng.pdf].
2. The state of Sikkim has recently been formally bracketed under 'Northeast' after it was included in the North Eastern Council (NEC), the region's apex funding and development agency. The other seven states of the Northeast are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura.
3. It is located at longitude 89.46 degrees E to 97.30 degrees E and latitude 21.57 degrees N to 29.30 degrees N.
4. Ajai Sahni, 'Survey of Conflicts and Resolution in India's Northeast', in Faultlines: Writings On Conflict and Resolution, Vol.12 (May 2002), p.39.
5. South Asia Terrorism Portal [http//www.satp.org, accessed 27 Jan. 2004].
6. Those tribes or tribal communities that are recognised under Article 342 of the Indian Constitution.
7. The MoU with the BTC, signed on 10 February 2003, reads: 'In order to accelerate the development of the region and to meet the aspirations of the people, the Government of India will provide financial assistance of Rs100 crores per annum for 5 years for projects to develop the socio-economic infrastructure in BTC areas over and above the normal plan assistance to the state of Assam'. For the full text see South Asia Terrorism Portal [http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/states/ assam/documents/papers/memorandum_feb02.htm, accessed 16 Feb. 2004]. 8 For specific indicators demonstrating the economic under-development of India's Northeast, see Wasbir Hussain, 'Contemporary North-East India: Problems and Prospects,' in J.P. Singh (ed.), Trends in Social Sciences and Humanities in North East India (1947-97) (New Delhi: Regency Publications, 1998), pp.129-36.
8. Ibid.
9. Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Economic Survey: Assam, 2003-2004 (Guwahati: Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Government of Assam, 2004), p.83. 11 Wasbir Hussain, 'Peace in Naga Country: New Delhi's Challenges in the Far-Eastern Frontierv, paper presented at a seminar on Peace Initiatives in South Asia organised by the Delhi Policy Group and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung at the United Services Institute, New Delhi, 28-29 November 2001.
10. Hokishe Sema, Emergence of Nagaland (New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd, 1986), p.160.
11. Rev. V.K. Nuh, Nagaland: Church and Politics (Kohima: V. Nuh & Bro., 1986), p.131.
12. Wasbir Hussain, 'Father's Daughter', The Sentinel, Melange (Sunday Magazine) (31 Aug. 2003), pp.22-9.
13. For the complete text of the Shillong Accord, see Nuh, Nagaland: Church & Politics, pp.158-60.
14. Hussain, 'Peace in Naga Country'.
15. Ibid.
16. 'Unified Naga Homeland; Foundation of Any Political Settlement', Nagalim.NL News (9 September 2005) [http://www.nagalim.nl/news/ 00000138.htm].
17. Ibid. See also Bibhu Prasad Routray, 'Manipur: The Siege Within', in South Asia Intelligence Review, Vol.4, no.1 (18 July 2005) [http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/sair/Archives/4_1.htm].
18. Wasbir Hussain and Bibhu Prasad Routray, 'Naga Identity, Meitei Nationalism and Electoral Politics: Sub- Nationalism in Northeast India', in Faultlines: Writings on Conflict and Resolution, Vol.10 (Jan. 2002), p.128, [http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/publication/ faultlines/volume10/Article8.htm].
19. Ibid., pp.128-9.
20. The joint statement issued in Bangkok, for instance, said the ceasefire agreement was between the 'Government of India and the NSCN as two entities without territorial limits'. See 'Extension of Truce Beyond Nagaland Withdrawn', The Hindu (28 July 2001) [http://www.hindu.com/ thehindu/2001/07/28/stories/01280001.htm].
21. Interview with K.S. Paul Leo in Guwahati on 5 November 2001.
22. Letter no.1116-PMH/56 cited in the UNC memorandum to the prime minister dated 26 October 2001. See Hussain and Routray 'Naga Identity, Meitei Nationalism and Electoral Politics: Sub-Nationalism in Northeast India.
23. Sahni, 'Survey of Conflicts and Resolution in India's Northeast', p.46.
24. For the text of the Bodoland Autonomous Council Agreement 1993 see Chandana Bhattacharjee, Ethnicity and Autonomy Movement: Case of Bodo-Kacharis of Assam (New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., 1996), pp.347-83. For the Memorandum of Settlement on the Bodoland Territorial Council signed on 10 February 2003, see http://www.satp.org/ satporgtp/countries/india/states/assam/documents/papers/ memorandum_feb02.htm.
25. Wasbir Hussain, 'Our Land, Our Refugees', The Hindu (26 May 2000).
26. Interview with Dr. A.K. Bhutani, Deputy Commissioner, Kokrajhar, 26 February 2004.
27. Ibid.
28. Wasbir Hussain, 'Meeting the Challenges of Insurgency in NE: The Centre's Responsibility', paper presented at a national seminar organised by the Indian Council of Social Science Research on Terrorism: An Unending Malaise, New Delhi, 2-3 March 2000.
29. According to one estimate 750 Kukis lost their lives and a total of 114,300 others belonging to both Naga and Kuki communities were displaced during the conflict. See Bhagat Oinam, 'Patterns of Ethnic Conflicts in the Northeast: A Study on Manipur', Imphal Free Press (26 June 2003). 33 Bibhu Prasad Routray, 'Naga Cease-Fire Extension: Clash of Imagined Homelands', Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies [http://www.ipcs.org/ipcs/issueIndex2.jsp?action= showView&kValue=812&issue=1014&status=article&mod=b, accessed 27 Jan. 2004].
30. Ibid.
31. Syed Sajjad Ali, 'The Reang Refugees', in Frontline, Vol.15, no.15 (18-31 July 1998).
32. 'Mizoram Assessment 2006', South Asia Terrorism Portal [http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/states/Mizoram/ index.html].
33. See Bibhu Prasad Routray, 'Mizoram: Surrender Swindle', inSouth Asia Intelligence Review, Vol.5, no.21 (4 Dec. 2006) [http://satp.org/ satporgtp/sair/Archives/5_21.htm#assessment2].
34. Ibid.
35. On 20 January 2004 Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga met Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in New Delhi and assured him that that the Reang tribal refugees, sheltered in six North Tripura camps for over six years, would be taken back within two months. See 'Mizo Refugees to be Taken Back: Zoramthanga' [http://sify.com/news/othernews/ fullstory.php?id=13369784, accessed 12 Feb. 2004].
36. The Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution provides for the creation of autonomous district councils in exclusively tribal areas so they have an elected politico-administrative body of local representatives who can run their respective regions through powers vested in them. These councils are empowered to prepare their own annual budgets for the development of their regions, although the allocation of funds has to be ratified by the legislature in the respective states.
37. For details see 'The Karbi Anglong and NC Hills Experience' [http://www.cpiml.org/PGS/polorgreport/7.htm, accessed 27 Jan. 2004].
38. For a profile of the United People's Democratic Solidarity, see South Asia Terrorism Portal [http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/ states/assam/terrorist_outfits/upds.htm, accessed 27 Jan. 2004].
39. For a profile of the Dima Halam Daogah, see South Asia Terrorism Portal [http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/states/assam/ terrorist_outfits/dhd.htm, accessed 27 Jan. 2004]
40. 'Hmar People's Convention-Democracy', South Asia Terrorism Portal [http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/states/mizoram/ terrorist_outfits/HPC_D.htm, accessed 20 Feb. 2004].
41. 'Dispur Needs to Apply Wise Counsel', The Statesman (Calcutta) (1 July 2003).
42. The first organised militant grouping, the Sengkrak, was formed in the mid 1960s in opposition to nontribals settling in the tribal reserve forest areas. See website of the Tripura State Police [http://tripurapolice.nic.in/amilitancy.htm, accessed 30 Jan. 2004].
43. For a profile of the National Liberation Front of Tripura, see South Asia Terrorism Portal [http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/ states/tripura/terrorist_outfits/nlft.htm, accessed 27 Jan. 2004].
44. For a profile of the All-Tripura Tiger Force, see South Asia Terrorism Portal [http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/states/tripura/ terrorist_outfits/attf.htm, accessed 27 Jan. 2004].
45. Wasbir Hussain, 'We Picked Up our AKs and Fled', The Sentinel (24 Dec. 2003).
46. Shelby Tucker, Among Insurgents: Walking Through Burma (New Delhi: Penguin Books, 2000), pp.82-3.
47. This information was disclosed by a top ULFA leader who had surrendered during an interview with the author on 23 October 2002 at Guwahati.
48. Hussain, 'We Picked Up our AKs and Fled'. Surrendered ULFA lieutenant Domeshwar Rabha stated that Afghanistan-trained rebel Satabda Kumar was the chief instructor of the ULFA's artillery squad inside Bhutan. Kumar, he said, was also the commander of the group's General Headquarters in Bhutan that was smashed during the Bhutanese military assault in December 2003.
49. For profiles of the ULFA, NDFB and KLO, see South Asia Terrorism Portal [http://www.satp.org, accessed 27 Jan. 2004].
50. Wasbir Hussain, 'Northeast Rebels: Strategic Alliances and Open Borders', paper presented at seminar on Dynamics of Border Management, Past, Present and Future, organised by the Border Security Force at the Police Officers' Mess, Shillong, 7-8 October 2002. 55 See Wasbir Hussain, 'Ominous Signs in the Northeast', The Hindu (9 Sept. 2002) [http://www.hinduonnet.com/2002/09/09/stories/ 2002090900041000.htm].
51. Ibid.
52. 'Bhutan to ask ULFA to Close Down HQ', Assam Tribune (internet edition) (8 July 2002) [http://www.assamtribune.com/jul0802/at02.html, accessed 15 Feb. 2004].
53. Wasbir Hussain, 'ULFA gets New Weapons from Khmer Rouge', The Asian Age (14 Aug. 1995). Bo Mya, vice chairman and elder statesman of the KNU, has been engaged in successive rounds of talks with the Myanmarese authorities since January 2004. 'Karen Rebels Wrap Up Peace Talks with Junta, Describe It as "Successful"', Associated Press (25 Feb. 2004) [www.burmanet.org, accessed 26 Feb. 2004].
54. Wasbir Hussain, 'NE should be Bridgehead to SE Asia, Centre ready to Meet NE Ultra Threat: PM', The Sentinel (Guwahati) (21 Jan. 2004).
55. Between December 2003 and January 2004 the federal government advanced grants for the development of small towns in the Northeast. States like Arunachal Pradesh, where the BJP government was in power, received the sum of Rs192 crore while Assam, which was under Congress rule, received a paltry Rs40 crore. 'Arunachal Scores over Assam', The Telegraph (Guwahati) (22 Feb. 2004).