Militants owing allegiance to various outfits at a surrender ceremony at Tamulpur in Nalbari district last year. Picture by Eastern Projections

Terror is no longer the proud privilege of a few states in the Northeast. Arunachal Pradesh, which was until a couple of years ago the only peaceful sanctuary, has now joined the charmed circle. Another paradise is invaded and peace is shattered. Three known militant outfits are operating in the eastern sector of Arunachal Pradesh, bordering the states of Nagaland and Assam. Of the three, the National Liberation Front of Arunachal (NLFA) has close links with the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah). Koj Tara, the NLFA chief, who was recently arrested from Dimapur, the commercial capital of Nagaland, was mentored by the NSCN (I-M) and possibly acted at its behest.

Tirap and Changlang districts of Arunachal Pradesh have been safe havens for both factions of the NSCN ? one led by Swu and Muivah and the other by Khaplang. The two districts border Myanmar and are thickly forested, thus affording the militants a steady income through timber logging and smuggling. Militancy is never a stand-alone activity. Spin-offs include extortion, drug peddling, arms and timber smuggling and a host of related criminal activities. Lack of employment opportunities within the region attracts able-bodied youth to militant outfits which actually pay the cadres a monthly salary.

Misled ideology

Proliferation of militant activities devoid of ideology only goes on to show that the present-day youth no longer question or care about what they are doing as long as they are doing something profitable. Youthful innocence and naivety are today replaced by a cynicism that is frighteningly akin to that of a hardcore terrorist operating in any part of the globe. Ruthless ambition has taken the place of hope and trust in a system which is increasingly seen as insensitive, unresponsive and corrupt. Name any state in the region and you have a litany of grouses against politicians. They care for themselves and their own and of course their party cadres. The rest of the janata be damned! Nepotism has taken a whole new dimension in all of the northeastern states. Naturally, those who do not belong to the clique of influence peddlers are bound to be discontented. And the number of the disgruntled is steadily rising.

Tirap and Changlang districts of Arunachal Pradesh are, of course, contentious spaces. They are part of the map of Nagalim or Greater Nagaland ? that sovereign territory which the NSCN (I-M) is negotiating with the Indian state. What could shatter the peace of Arunachal Pradesh completely and list it among the most troubled states of the region is the operational space it affords to its own militant outfits and also those from other states of the region. Assam?s most virulent insurgent group, the Ulfa, is presently an itinerant pedestrian of the thick forests of Arunachal Pradesh. One advantage that militants enjoy is Arunachal Pradesh?s vast uncharted territory and its difficult terrain, which is a formidable battleground.

Politicians are the most upset lot when militancy strikes. No wonder Gegong Apang, Arunachal Pradesh?s street-smart, astute chief minister, has briefed Delhi about the impending danger. Militancy is the only element of surprise that politicians are apprehensive about. For one, militancy creates too many contenders for that ?pie in the sky?. Development funds now have to be shared by more people. While politicians extort through more beguiling tactics, militants do it the crude way. They use potent weapons and do not believe in the polite language of negotiations. No wonder the comfort zone of politicians is disrupted. However, it cannot be denied that a symbiotic relation does exist between the two, especially during elections.

Islamic influence

Coming back to another very crucial point, not many would have missed the news item which appeared in several newspapers a couple of days ago, that Ulfa chief Paresh Barua, who was languishing in a jail in Bangladesh, has been invited to Karachi by the ISI, Pakistan?s intelligence agency. Barua is scheduled to visit Karachi in September this year to attend a meeting which is aimed at better coordination between Islamic fundamentalist groups operating from Bangladesh. This is a very alarming development as far as the Northeast is concerned. If the recent blasts in Bangladesh are the brainchild of Islamic fundamentalist groups who ostensibly want that country to become an Islamic state, the echoes will reverberate beyond its borders.

Jaideep Saikia, writing for Dialogue in the chapter entitled ?Revolutionaries or Warlords, Ulfa?s Organisational Profile?, says, ?One of the most important contradictions in the Ulfa movement and one that symbolises its increasing deviation from its revolutionary character and principles, is the sudden shift in stance that it engineered towards the illegal immigrants (referring to Bangladeshi migrants). Saikia avers that while the Ulfa preamble puts the blame on illegal migrants for ?turning the people of Assam into street beggars and minority in their own country?, the outfit took a completely different stance later on. Perhaps the Ulfa?s ambivalence is best illustrated by Udayan Mishra in his book The Periphery Strikes Back, when he says, ?There is reason to believe that military needs have compelled the outfit to shed much of its earlier intransigence towards foreigners and outsiders on Assam soil and adopt a position which would ensure support and sanctuary in Bangladesh.? Mishra points out that once safely ensconced in Bangladesh, the Ulfa distanced itself from the AASU-led anti-foreigners movement and from the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and even termed the movement as ?emotional?.

ISI missile

Military exigencies and the need for extended hospitality on Bangla soil will once again force the Ulfa to shed its sanctimonious self-image as the saviour of the Assamese people and instead lend its shoulders to the ISI to fire its destructive missile. In this emerging scenario, how is it possible for promoters of peace to speak of a dialogue between Ulfa and the Centre? Perhaps the dialogue drama at this critical juncture is aimed at buying time. What happened in Bhutan had dislocated the Ulfa militants and dislodged their money collection circuit. The Ulfa budget for 2001-2002 was to the tune of Rs 31 crore. According to Saikia, out of the above amount, the Ulfa rebels who were at the time not more than 1,200 in number, were paid a paltry sum of Rs 2,000 per month as salary. An amount of at least Rs 28 crore was kept by the top three leaders, Arabinda Rajkhowa, Paresh Barua and Raju Baruah, who invested the money in various business ventures.

What is clear is that Ulfa and other militant outfits in the region have a one-point agenda, which is to assume the role of warlords by accumulating wealth and becoming the capitalists that they had derided and even killed when they began their revolutionary journey. Our problem is that the state?s response to this whole challenge has been pretty unintelligent.

In several cases, the state has been reactive and thereby reinvented an equally terrifying method of dealing with terror. The saga of secret killings that have now surfaced tells its own story. How is it possible to have peace when there is so much falsehood, corruption and double standards from the terrorist groups as well as from the state? It seems we will have to wait a long time before regaining paradise.