Problems and Solutions

Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura have been in the grip of insurgency for the last few decades. There are at least 18 underground organisations operating in the region. While ULFA has launched an " armed revolution for an independent Assam", the Unite d National Liberation Front (UNLF) of Manipur and the Revolutionary People's Front (RPF), the political wing of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), are fighting for an "independent Manipur". The NSCN, fighting for a "sovereign and independent Nagaland", split in 1988. While the NSCN(I-M) has been active in Nagaland, Manipur and parts of Assam, the NSCN(K), is based in upper Myanmar. It has formed the IBRF together with the Manipur-based UNLF. The IBRF's avowed aim is to liberate what it calls the Indo-B urma region (the northeastern region of India and northwestern part of Myanmar).

The All Tripura Tribal Force (ATTF), which demands a separate homeland for the tribal people, is considered the strongest underground organisation in Tripura. It is actively involved in ethnic-cleansing, killing non-tribal people inhabiting the hills. Wh ile the Achik Liberation Matgrik Army (ALMA) and the Hyniewtrept Volunteer Council (HVC) are active in Meghalaya, the activities of the Hmar People's Convention (HPC) are confined to Mizoram. Of the seven Manipur-based militant organisations, the UNLF, t he PLA, the Kuki National Front (KNF) and the People's Revolutionary Army of Kangleipak (Manipur), known as PREPAK, are active in Manipur, particularly in areas along the Nagaland-Manipur border.

One thing that is common in most of the struggles going on in the northeastern region is that every agitating group seeks a 'permanent solution' to this or that problem. This is a matter of life and death for the people whose interests the various groups claim to represent. Fortunately for the people in whose name such a demand is pressed, its proponents do not possess the same kind of single-minded viciousness and material resources as those who historically sought a 'final solution' did.

The various issues facing this region include the illegal influx of foreign nationals; land alienation; perceived or real threats to real or manufactured identities based on language, religion, 'ethnicity', caste, clan and tribal affiliations. It also include demands for the creation of a separate subdivision or a district; demand for greater autonomy or a separate state; and separatist and secessionist struggles with demands ranging from the right to self-determination to recognition of the right to conduct armed struggles for independence from the Indian union.

The various groups spearheading the movement for the redressal of these demands, cries out for an "immediate and permanent solution". Indeed, this is true even of more realistic and remediable grievances such as the lack of economic development, the recurrent problem of floods, the mess in education, corruption and unemployment.

A unique feature of this movement is that even if those in a position to make concessions in respect of these demands were to do so, the situation on the ground admits no such solution. Even a feasible solution, not to speak of a 'permanent solution', is nowhere in sight in most of these struggles.