Chozuba (Phek), June 8: A sub-inspector in the Border Security Force (BSF)’s Nagaland-based 111 Battalion, Ahoto has five years of service left. But he is already 75, which means he will be 80 by the time he calls it a day. Four of his friends, all of them based at the Satakha battalion headquarters in Zunheboto, are in their seventies and will retire around the same time. These men were members of what the BSF describes as the “Naga Revolutionary Army” and were inducted into the paramilitary force in 1973.
Explaining why such elderly people had been retained, BSF commandant Man Singh said: “When these chaps were recruited, they did not have any document mentioning the exact birth dates. Most of them were illiterate and so when their age was asked, they mentioned whatever came to their minds. And that was recorded as their official age. On paper, they will retire as any other personnel of the force at the age of 57.”
He said the battalion, whose headquarters is located about 20 km from Zunheboto, still had about 80 former Naga insurgents. The 111 Battalion of the BSF was raised when over 2,200 Naga insurgents surrendered after years of fierce fighting with security forces in Nagaland. Though the one-border-one-force policy adopted by the Centre led to the BSF shifting to the Indo-Bangladesh border from Nagaland and Manipur, the 111 Battalion is here to stay.
Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had signed the agreement that facilitated the insurgents’ induction into the battalion, a BSF official said. It is a unique battalion, given the fact that it was decided during its inception that the unit would not be shifted from Nagaland “till the last Naga retires from the BSF”. Indira Gandhi herself made this promise, and she visited Satakha once to inspect the battalion headquarters. “The last Naga soldier in this battalion is likely to retire around 2009,” Singh said.
At the same time, more Nagas are being recruited and the BSF has even suggested that the minimum educational qualification for induction into the force be reduced from Class X to Class VIII for the Nagas.
Singh and his colleagues visited Suthozu village recently. The state government and the Assam Rifles jointly adopted Suthozu to make it a “model village”. The BSF has been focusing on “confidence-building” measures mainly in Phek and Zunheboto districts. These areas often witness factional clashes among Naga militant groups.