India needs to shore up its military capabilities in Arunchal Pradesh in order to strengthen its defence posture in the eastern sector, improve governance in the state to gain the full backing of the people and adopt a flexible stance to resolve the border dispute with China.
The Ibobi dispensation would do well to understand that the people have reiterated their faith in democracy and have cold shouldered the militants, if not politely shown them the door.
For the first time one of the main leaders of the NSCN (IM) has acknowledged the sincerity of the Union government to resolve the Naga issue, signalling a distinctive change of discourse.
In one of the most well-written and extensively researched books on the subject, Anuradha Chenoy and Kamal Mitra Chenoy attempt to holistically examine the state of armed conflicts in India. In their own words, the book has the modest aim of understanding the roots, the nature and the impact of the armed conflicts in India. However, the title gives the reader the erroneous impression that the Maoist conflict will be the central theme while other conflicts will be peripheral.
The granting of scheduled tribe status to the Kuki-Chin people eroded their allegiance to clan and linguistic/dialectal identities. While they do not have any problem with a pan-ethnic identity, their primary loyalty is to their own clans and communities. Invocation of kinship ties by different groups does not necessarily translate into a common political agenda. There are at least 15 armed groups among them that have combined into two larger groups—the United People's Front (UPF) and the Kuki National Organisation (KNO)—and signed a peace agreement with the state and central governments.
Most nation-states in Asia and Africa that gained independence from colonial rulers during the middle of the 20th century are diverse in their ethnic composition. The national governments make efforts to politically integrate their constituent units in the face of the continuing resistance of several ethnic groups. India adopted various means to integrate the more than 600 princely states and other loosely administered areas.
Given the hostility of Assamese society to indiscriminate violence and the sullied image of the ULFA leaders due to their amassing of wealth through extortions, the anti-talk ULFA faction would not be able to make a determined come back.
Although law enforcement agencies have been receiving timely reports about growing Maoist activities in Assam, it appears that they do not pay much attention to the issue.
Manipur: Post-Assembly Elections 2012
The Ibobi dispensation would do well to understand that the people have reiterated their faith in democracy and have cold shouldered the militants, if not politely shown them the door.