GUWAHATI, April 8 – The whole system of governance in the North-east has failed or is in a state of collapse. A parallel system of government exists in the region in the form of militants. Most of the money spent in the North-east ultimately ends up in the hands of militants. These were the grim observations of a group of retired bureaucrats, police and military officers who constitute the North East Study Group (NESG). The advisory group, set up on the instructions of Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani in November 2001, is chaired by former Meghalaya chief secretary SK Agnihotri and has ‘Supercop’ KPS Gill, Prof Mrinal Miri, Lt Gen (Retd) SK Pillai, Dr Krishnan Saigal and Dr PD Shenoy of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) as members. Surendra Kumar, Joint Secretary at the MHA is the member secretary.
The advisory group has been formed to keep the security situation in the North-east states under constant watch and recommend suitable measures for remedial action to the MHA. Four members of the group, SK Agnihotri, who is currently secretary of the New Delhi-based National Foundation for Communal Harmony (NFCH), KPS Gill, Lt Gen Pillai and Dr Krishan Saigal, a former bureaucrat with a long stint in the region, are in the city now. They met Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi yesterday to discuss the situation in Assam. Releasing its first set of recommendations to the Press here this morning, Saigal clarified that the group is merely taking secretarial assistance from the MHA. “We do not speak on behalf of anybody,” he clarified.
Saigal, spokesman for the group for the occasion, said that the group is concerned over the growing sense of alienation of the people of the region which, he said, was largely due to the inappropriate development. The rich potential of the region has not been harnessed, he pointed out. There is political instability in the region, he said, adding that a long-range vision to integrate the region with the rest of the country, socially, economically and psychologically, is needed.
Saigal said that most of the money spent in the region on the development front has ended up in the hands of only 1000 to 1200 families. The rest of the people have been deprived, he said while calling for a development approach that gives money to the hands of the masses. He pointed out that a contractor regime exists in the region which takes away all that is invested here. Moreover, the insurgents also extract their share from it. “The militants will not be able to take away the money if it is given to the masses,” he stated.
According to the NESG, there is a need to strengthen civil institutions in the region. “You cannot run the region with bullets or the army,” observed Saigal. He said that the very fact that the North-east has governors with mostly police or army backgrounds sends out wrong signals to the people.
The group has recommended that the primacy of the local ‘thana’ be restored and the armed forces’ presence be minimised. Lt Gen Pillai said that the withdrawal of the Army from the region has to be gradual along with the creation of “islands of peace”. He pointed out that the equipment, organisational set-up and intelligence network of the police were not updated, which led to its decline and the need to bring in the armed forces. The cycle has to be reversed, he stated. He also said that political interference in police functioning has to stop to make it effective.
KPS Gill stated that the problem in the region is the neglect of the civil institutions. He pointed out that the equipment and arms of the police in the region is “pathetic”. He said that merely raising more armed battalions is not the answer to the problem of militancy. What is needed is the strengthening and effectiveness of the local constabulary. It is this which helped fight militancy in Punjab. Gill said that he was “extremely opposed” to the launching of Operation Bajrang in Assam in the early 1990s. “I had written then that it was a wrong move. It was not much of a success,” he stated. He said that the police can be good enough to tackle any situation provided they are allowed to work unhindered.
“We are only suggesting that the rule of the law should be brought back,” said the chairman of the group, SK Agnihotri. Interestingly, the NESG has been trying for the last six months to meet with the Chief Ministers of the North-east states. So far they have succeeded in meeting with just Tarun Gogoi. “Tarun Gogoi was entirely in agreement with what we had to say,” mentioned Saigal.