Moving in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s oft quoted vision of a “insurgency-free North East”, the Union government has been painstakingly working on achieving this and it is heartening to acknowledge that even in the midst of a pestilence outbreak, New Delhi has managed to ink two peace accords in neighbouring Assam in a span of just a little under two years.
Last year on January 20, the government of India signed the Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) with factions of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), All Bodo Students Union etc.
Yesterday, September 4, another watershed moment was etched in Karbi Anglong with the landmark signing of a peace pact between the Union government and various rebel groups fighting for greater autonomy for the Karbi people residing in Assam.
Closer to home in Meghalaya, however, it is a different story. Other than threats and counter-threats, offers and counter-offers through various platforms in the public domain, there is hardly anything to write about leave alone talk.
Successive governments; some tough, some tame, have attempted taming the ugly head of insurgency through either parleys or police action and have been partially successful in the Garo Hills but in the western part of the state but sadly, that is not the case with the eastern part.
Proscribed outfit, the Hynñiewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC), which has slowly gained media space again by various criminal acts including two IED explosions in the recent past this year, seems to be on a collision course with the system and in a more aggressive manner this time.
This is due to the fact, perhaps, that there is no visible roadmap towards lasting peace laid out in the public domain either by the government or civil society groups/individuals that would like to play the role of interlocuter. Hence divergent views and stands have emerged over the last two decades over this thorny issue.
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma however admitted last month that several sitting legislators, businessmen and individuals have received extortion notes from the outfit in the recent past and that police have initiated a massive exercise to nip this menace in the bud.
Sangma has often extended the olive branch but and lately this has been more frequent after the questionable killing of the outfit’s founder general secretary Cherishstarfield Thangkhiew by a police team sent to arrest him from his house.
A former minister in Conrad’s cabinet and senior BJP legislator, AL Hek, has criticized the government for the incident and opined that it would be tough for the government to regain the trust of the HNLC given the manner in which its former leader’s life was snubbed by either a trigger happy or panicky man in unform.
The six-time MLA stated, “It seems the police and the government are applying the methods of Taliban, and this is unacceptable in our society,” even as he deplored the manner in which a supposedly crime was handled by his government. “Cherishstarfield Thangkhiew was no longer a militant. He had surrendered before the government and was living a normal life like any other citizen but to brutally kill him is like an action of Taliban and I condemn it.”
Hek, who had initiated peace parleys between the HNLC and the state government even going to the extent of interceding with the Centre on this matter, is not disheartened, however, and expressed optimism. “I will not give up. As I had made the initiative, I will continue with it to ensure that peace returns to the state. Each and everyone in the state wants peace,” Hek said.
On the other hand, former home minister Robert G Lyngdoh who has been vehemently against all acts of violence and intimidation and an active advocator of life without arms, feels that too much “credibility” is being given to the outfit.
“I think we are giving them (HNLC) too much credibility. You can’t talk to every group of gundas. First and foremost, they should stop their unlawful activities and then approach the government for talks. I believe only through mutual understanding we can come to a peaceful arrangement,” he affirmed.
Blaming the government for some of its “faulty policies” as the root cause of regrouping of rebels in the state, Lyngdoh asserted, “They (youth) join these outfits when they do not see a future for themselves. Something must be done to generate employment. Running away from society and inflicting harm on people is not an inherent attribute of a human being.”
