Editor,
In August 2023, the Caravan magazine carried an in-depth story on the Manipur imbroglio, ‘Ethnic Cleansing in Manipur’ putting more focus on the reportage from the ground and as to why the BJP government at the Centre did become and still is a silent spectator. There is so much at stake in the North East, and when foreign players watch this unfold, they would be interested in working their strategy on this grand chessboard to change the geopolitical climate for furthering their vested interests.
Political masters at 7, Race Course Road are detached from realities, and it’s clear that the fog of war has clouded the minds of strategic experts at the National Security Council, causing them to continue supporting the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), 1958. David Kilcullen, a former counter-insurgency advisor to General David Petraeus in Iraq during 2007 and 2008 for stability operations, pressed on the need to defend and secure the population because the people are the centre of gravity. The need to understand the civilians, addressing their frustrations and expectations, and securing the trust of the population should be the larger part of the mission parameter. But with AFSPA in the wrong hands, this could spiral into a Bosnian type of massacre.
Sudeep Chakravarti’s The Eastern Gate: War and Peace in Nagaland, Manipur and India’s Far East should be an essential reading for all policymakers and military planners to understand the very complexity of regional dynamics as time is the essence in this serene part of what we call Northeast India.
Christopher Gatphoh,
Laitkor Rngi, Shillong-10
