Meghalaya's Insurgency

Recently, at least 40 armed terrorists suspected to be from Kuki militant groups have been killed in violent-hit Manipur in a massive crackdown by state police and security forces. The long pending border disputes between states in the region are also being resolved through discussions, it said. With the rapid rise of money economy, the tribal economy and archaic way of eking out a livelihood have no place in the modern economic race.

Noting that the Prime Minister has always given priority to the northeast, he said that Modi has visited the region more than 50 times in the last 8 years, while Central ministers have also visited the area more than 400 times. Although one should never support violence, it must be admitted that the anxiety of losing out control to non-locals is a genuine one, and should not be treated lightly. It should not be dismissed merely as an election issue, as locals have a legitimate fear of outsiders with the  example of Tripura hovering in their minds all the time.
Kidnapping of businessmen and politicians for ransom by terrorists also occurs regularly in the area, according to police records available and the National Crime Records Bureau . Analysts say that politicians use insurgents to terrorize people and control their votes. They pay insurgents to protect or run business ventures designed to cash in on development projects funded by the central government, such as road construction and social welfare schemes for rural residents. Contractors and distributors handpicked for public works projects act as fronts for terrorist outlets. Insurgent-controlled businesses collect income from coal mines in the Garo Hills. While government forces scramble to contain the rebel factions, however, top state officials are turning to them for political ends, in what law enforcement authorities, citizen’s groups and others describe as a symbiotic, if perilous, relationship.

The law provides for the right to strike but places restrictions on this right for some workers. The law prohibits antiunion discrimination and retribution for involvement in legal strikes and provides for reinstatement of employees fired for union activity. Police engaged in programs to strengthen their role in protecting communities vulnerable to human rights violations and HIV. LGBTI groups reported they faced widespread societal discrimination and violence, particularly in rural areas. Activists reported that transgender persons, who were HIV positive, continued to face difficulty obtaining medical treatment. NGOs reported widespread discrimination, including prohibiting Dalits from walking on public pathways, wearing footwear, accessing water from public taps in upper-caste neighborhoods, participating in some temple festivals, bathing in public pools, or using certain cremation grounds.
Till eight years ago, the entire northeast was only known for bandhs, strikes, bomb blasts and firing, and the people of the region could not live peacefully due to the activities of different militant groups. Prime Minister Modi, Governors and Chief Ministers, senior officials of several northeastern states participated in the NEC meeting. To overcome insurgency related problems and counter the unlawful activities perpetrated by insurgents groups, Counter-Insurgency Operations are carried out by the Security Forces in the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura from time to time. Meghalaya continued to be affected by Garo Militancy which dominates the insurgency scenario. On 9 August 2012, security forces arrested 5 GNLA separatists in Resubelpara, North Garo Hills district, as the militants were extorting money from a local citizen.

World Bank aided programme which aims to improve rural livelihood, especially that of women, unemployed youth and the most disadvantaged, in four North Eastern States of Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. ‘Operation All Clear’ with Bhutan in 2003 to flush out Assamese insurgents, ‘Operation Sunrise’ with Myanmar etc. Granting statehood at various points of time to various North East States, in line with their demand for greater political and territorial autonomy.
As the expenditure incurred in the name of counter-insurgency operations, like other secret services, remains beyond audit surveillance, there is hardly any way of making the ruling elite accountable even if a large share of such funds is siphoned off for personal gratification. In the context of the high level of corruption and nepotism prevalent in all the states of northeast India the motive of attracting additional central  assistance may also be another plausible factor behind the perpetuation of certain insurgent movements in the region. Geopolitical forces are very active in this region in attempting to split India on the basis of ethnicity and religion. Till the birth of Bangladesh, batches of Naga and Mizo insurgents made regular visits to Dacca to seek financial and military help. Even today, Bangladesh Army provides all arrangements for insurgent's training in Chittagong Hill Tracts ,6 even after signing of the Ganges water sharing accord. In March the NGO Compassion International, which had been placed on the government’s prior approval list, closed its operations due to the inability to transfer funds to its implementing partners.
As I noted to a young Indian student sitting alongside me on the plane from Guwahati to Delhi, the Meghalaya insurgents are doing nothing to prevent the damage to land and water from the region’s coal and sand mines, which cause rivers to turn blue and red and yellow. Indian breakfasts typically consist of a featureless gruel, some sort of stale bread parts, maybe a partially boiled egg. Other Indian meals are fabulous; gorgeously spiced chicken or beef or vegetarian, pulses and dals, garlic nan bread, and very good beer.

The plains people, as opined by many others, consider the Mizos or Naga or Khasis as nomadic and uncivilised. These people, on the other hand, equally look upon the plains people with distrust and regard them as outsiders which transpires from their use of such disparaging terms like Dakhars , Vais , Mayang . This recalcitrant attitude from either side has poisoned the friendly relations among different groups of people, and thereby opened the gates of hostility.
In March the Ministry of Labor and Employment added 16 industries and 59 processes to the list of hazardous industries where employment of children below the age of 18 is prohibited and where children under 14 are prohibited from helping, including family enterprises. The law, however, permits employment of children in family-owned enterprises, involving nonhazardous activities, after school hours. Authorities generally prosecuted and punished individuals responsible for intimidation or suppression of legitimate trade union activities in the industrial sector. Civil judicial procedures addressed abuses because the Trade Union Act does not specify penalties for such abuses. Specialized labor courts adjudicate labor disputes, but there were long delays and a backlog of unresolved cases.

I’ve spent almost nine weeks in India on three trips that spanned four regions and eight states. I’ve stayed in more than a dozen decent hotels and guest houses, and awakened to more than 60 daybreaks. In all those days, at all those places, I recognized what I’ve eaten for breakfast in two places. A young man from Rajasthan was held up as a martyr in late January after he and a group of villages attacked two poachers in a game reserve who were hunting chinkara, Asia’s smallest antelope species. The 25-year-old villager was shot by a poacher wielding a double-barreled rifle.
The messages were signed by the militant group, A’chik National Voluntary Council , and they demanded that he support the minister. The investigation grew out of a complaint by the Independent candidate from Williamangar constituency, Jonathon N. Sangma, who lost the 2013 election to her, said the Superintendent of Police Davis N.R. Marak . Jonathan Sangma alleged that Deborah Marak had used GNLA militants to intimidate villagers into voting against him. In the southwest corner of the state sits the Cherrapunjee rain forests, once considered the world’s wettest place in terms of annual rainfall, but now facing water shortages and deforestation. Jonathone N Sangma, a Nationalist Congress Party leader in poll-bound Meghalaya was killed in the very constituency he was scheduled to contest the election from. There is a need to encourage and create manufacturing hubs so that it makes economic sense to truly use the Northeast for trade with the ASEAN economies.

He underscored the need for measures to wean away people, especially the youth, from the path of terrorism and violence. Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,000+ magazines and newspapers. After the 2000s, the government of India has begun peace talks with several insurgent groups. During independence, the whole North Eastern region was comprised of Assam, the North East Frontier Agency , and the princely state of Manipur and Tripura.
Counter-insurgency operations led to neutralisation of five insurgents, arrest of 79 and recovery of 73 weapons in Assam in 2020. It said that in 2020, there were only five insurgency-related incidents in the state and no casualties of civilians and security personnel in violent incidents reported in the state. Although BJP is increasingly flagging the initiatives taken for the Northeast ahead of elections in Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya early next year, militancy has still remained a worry in  Manipur, Nagaland and parts of Assam. The process to sign the "final agreement" with Naga insurgent groups has remained stalled, several insurgent groups in Manipur have not yet joined the peace process. In Assam, the Ulfa group led by Paresh Baruah too has not joined the peace process. It is widely believed that had an accord been signed with the undivided ULFA, the insurgency problem in Assam would have been solved like in Mizoram.