AKRSU president Biswajit Ray and other members in Bongaigaon. File picture

Citizens of the Northeast have long surrendered their rights to the State as a quid pro quo for peace. They have been conditioned to believe that the price for peace is to cede their fundamental rights. It is only in a state like Manipur, Nagaland or Assam that citizens can be stopped and searched when they travel from one place to another. It is as if every citizen is a potential terrorist. Peace is a word whose meaning we hardly understand. Does peace mean just silencing of the guns and the absence of body counts?

The draconian Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, which gives unfettered powers to the security forces to kill suspects who are believed to be colluding with terrorists, curtails many of our rights, including the right to question why someone is killed. The rule of thumb is kill first, then stop to conjure up excuses to justify the killings.

Those who have watched Madras Café, an almost true-to-life construct of the Rajiv Gandhi assassination episode and the graphic portrayal of the civil war in Sri Lanka where India had decided to assist the LTTE, would know the intrigues in the highest echelons of the power centres of this country, including the intelligence agencies. We are all victims of these intrigues and we hardly know that we are actually pawns being moved around at someone else’s convenience.

Several thousand lives have been lost over the decades in this so-called war against terror, euphemistically called counter-insurgency operation (CI-Ops) where even the worst form of human rights violations are sanctioned. Did those who lose their lives after being shot like rabid dogs really cause non-peace? What else is the opposite of peace? Last week, I visited the BTC areas and was appalled at the living conditions of the camp inmates who were displaced from their hearths and homes in the violence of July-August 2012 and some since 1998. While visiting an Adivasi camp in Sapkata, the villagers narrated the story of a young man suspected to be a Maoist sympathiser who was shot by security forces from point blank range a few days ago. As always, the security forces claimed that it was an encounter. As if a single person could cause damage to thoroughbred and trained CI-Ops guys who have become trigger-happy sharp-shooters. The person who was shot had visited his family members in the village. He was alone. I find it hard to believe that a single person would challenge the armed-to-the-teeth security forces. But who will counter the claims of uniformed killers? Can people who are disempowered by poverty and disease, are almost stateless and treated like non-citizens ever raise their voices? Isn’t there a chance that anyone who speaks and protests will also face the wrath of the State?

Peace & rights

In a conflict situation, the State is like a tiger that has tasted blood. It wants more power and more resources ostensibly to maintain peace. But the State gets so used to receiving funds to maintain this elusive peace that it develops a vested interest in non-peace. Why? Because peace would mean a reduction of the flow of unaccounted money and extraordinary powers which it is now so used to. Often peace is sought to be enforced by infringing on the fundamental rights of citizens. It is instructive that the failure of the State to govern and deliver services to the people has been blamed on terrorism. Yet the State is known to partner with many of these armed groups and perhaps even share in the loot collected from extortion. And I will explain why.

A teacher from Garo hills recently received a message on his mobile phone asking him to pay Rs 30 lakh to a certain militant group or else… The teacher went to the superintendent of police and showed him the message expecting to get some assurance that he would be safe. But to his horror, the SP counselled him to negotiate with the group/individual that had sent the extortion message. He even said the extortionists usually agree on reducing the sum to about 10 per cent of the amount they demand. This is happening in Garo hills on a large scale. Since police protection is nowhere to be seen, people are paying up. But when they have had enough, people get together and lynch the extortionists. Can anyone blame the people for taking the law into their hands when the law has completely failed to protect them? Nay, the law may even be hand-in-glove with the extortionists and the booty we are sure is shared.

Role of State

How is it that despite so much investment in peace over decades and the huge presence of armed forces we still have a cloud of non-peace hanging over us? The reason is because the State has itself become the cause and the location of unrest and violence. Many of the groups that have taken up arms did so after they found that the State does not give credence to peaceful protests. It only responds to the sound of gun and bloodshed.

One example is that of the Bodos. Years of statehood demand fell on deaf ears. The State did not even bother to respond to overtures from the moderates like U.N. Brahma who proposed a non-violent struggle. Only when different armed groups emerged and violence spread beyond Bodo areas did the State actually respond and signed the peace accord with the Bodoland Liberation Tigers (BLT) led by Hagrama Mohilary.

Now that different tribal groups are demanding statehood, Dispur should ask why they are doing so. Consider the size of Bodoland. It is 25,000 square km and has a population of roughly 30 lakhs.

Meghalaya is more or less the same size (22,249 sq km and 30 lakh population). Meghalaya’s Plan allocation by the Centre this year is Rs 4,000 crore. Recently, chief minister Mukul Sangma made an additional demand for Rs 3,000 score to create infrastructure and for livelihoods generation. The Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) gets a measly Rs 300 crore annually and another Rs 200 crore from the Finance Commission which goes towards establishment costs. The BTC has 40 subjects under it and Rs 300 crore to meet those needs. And even that amount is released by Dispur at the fag end of the financial year! This was articulated by several tribal leaders at a conference organised by Centre for Development and Peace Studies (CDPS), Guwahati. They, in fact, squarely blamed Dispur for the present unrest and statehood demands. The autonomous councils are impoverished and cannot meet the expectations of their people.

Inequity

There are, of course, allegations of corruption among members of the different autonomous councils but this is a poor excuse for not releasing funds on time. The councils need capacity building and good accounting practices.

Their accounts must be subjected to scrutiny by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). After all it is public money that the autonomous councils are spending. And since they are under the ambit of the Right to Information, they can be held accountable.

Inequity is the source of discontent, leading to violence.

Let Dispur do a reality check before castigating the different indigenous groups who are now restive and want their own states a la Telangana. Is there anything wrong in demanding greater autonomy and devolution of powers? The Constitution of India has not put a cap on the number of states that can be created. Period.

(The writer can be contacted at patricia17@rediffmail.com)