Blood-red sunrise in the East

At one level, peace and normalcy in our border states in the North East requires co-operation between Myanmar and India. Fortunately, the government in Yangon has been forthcoming in such co-operation over the past decade. They also face similar challenges on their side and this creates a common interest in restoring the rule of law in the region. The building and opening of the Tamu-Moray road (in Manipur) was meant to open up surface communication between the two countries, especially for legitimate trade and transit. And we should take steps to build on this further.

At another level, we have to ensure that the overall situation in Manipur — and the North East in general, is improved. But deploying the army for tasks which are constabulary in nature must be seen as a short-term contingency to meet a crisis situation, and normal administration and its law enforcement must take over as early as possible. Unfortunately, we seem to have relied on the army for internal security and law enforcement duties on a near-permanent basis in the North East over the past five decades. We must examine and even question the wisdom of this approach.

The Group of Ministers had taken certain decisions to improve national security management three years ago, including strengthening the normal administrative machinery and law enforcement for internal security. These need to be reviewed for the progress made as well as addressing the gaps and shortcomings discovered so far.

The State carries the obligation to protect the citizens, and it must maintain its monopoly over instruments of violence if peace — and hence development — are to be ensured. But citizens’ involvement and mobilisation in reshaping the security situation and rolling back crime is vital. Manipur undoubtedly has more than a nucleus of courageous men and women committed to restoring normalcy. There is a need to tap their motivation and build a movement for change through non-violence. But this process would not succeed if the security situation, threatened by extortions and fear of militants, is not concurrently improved.

This requires us to understand the nature and roots of militancy and the reasons for its support. Here we seem to have slipped into a vicious circle: inadequate development, especially gainful employment for the youth, adds to the attraction of joining the bands of militants for gains from the barrel of the gun; and the illegal rule of the gun in turn retards development. This is why the secret of success in eradicating militancy, controlling transnational crime, and decimating extortions by private groups of criminals and fear in society, lies in mobilising the tremendous energies of the youth.

Unfortunately the North East does not get the attention it deserves. We need to improve connectivity between the North East and the rest of the country in every way before the sense of alienation grows bigger. We need to attend to the aspirations of the youth and use their tremendous energy towards charting more productive activities and gainful employment opportunities. Above all, we need to provide the people with a new vision and hope of a better future. This was the foundation which made the non-violent struggle for independence a historic success. And this is the formula that the Congress-led government would do well to apply in this case to energise the people for their own future.