Meghalaya's Insurgency

Politicians with business interests and rebels control development efforts financed by the state and the national government of India to help the area’s villages. Programs such as the public distribution system of food grains and temporary minimum wage jobs for the poor are run by local politicians and bureaucrats. They, in turn, route the programs and the money for them through businesses that are linked to terrorist groups, which assist the politicians with their election aims.

In the process, some innocent people may have suffered but the Army has also paid a heavy price through the loss of its soldiers and officers in guerrilla attacks. The Department of Development of North Eastern Region was created in 2001 and was accorded the status of a full-fledged ministry on May 2004. The ministry is mainly concerned with the creation of infrastructure for economic development of India’s North-Eastern region. It includes holding peace talks with those who abjure violence and dealing strictly with violent activities.
At that time, this decision was widely lauded as an instance of national integration successfully achieved by the then-infant free Indian government. This, however, did not impinge upon the rising national consciousness amongst the tribal populations. Indeed, this tribal nationalism came into direct conflict with Indian nationalism, and over the years, militancy in Meghalaya became embedded in the larger insurgencies in the Northeast. Not only was their tribal nationalism contradictory to that of the Indian State, there were also clashes between different tribal groups due to differing perceptions about the kind of future they had imagined. This was further complicated by the national system of wealth distribution which was implemented through per capita transfers, thus benefitting the majority ethnic groups to the disadvantage of the smaller ones. The Hynniewtrep Achik Liberation Council was the first militant group formed in the region.

The law provides for the right to strike but places restrictions on this right for some workers. The law prohibits antiunion discrimination and retribution for involvement in legal strikes and provides for reinstatement of employees fired for union activity. Police engaged in programs to strengthen their role in protecting communities vulnerable to human rights violations and HIV. LGBTI groups reported they faced widespread societal discrimination and violence, particularly in rural areas. Activists reported that transgender persons, who were HIV positive, continued to face difficulty obtaining medical treatment. NGOs reported widespread discrimination, including prohibiting Dalits from walking on public pathways, wearing footwear, accessing water from public taps in upper-caste neighborhoods, participating in some temple festivals, bathing in public pools, or using certain cremation grounds.
Authorities allegedly also used torture as a means to extort money or as summary punishment. According to human rights experts, the government continued to try individuals arrested and charged under the repealed Prevention of Terrorism Act and Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act. Under the repealed laws, authorities treated a confession made to a police officer as admissible evidence in court. The NGO Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative noted in its 2016 report that of 186 complaints of human rights violations reported against the armed forces in states under the AFSPA, between 2012 and 2016, 49.5 percent were from the state of  Jammu and Kashmir. The data supplied by the Ministry of Home Affairs under the RTI Act did not, however, indicate whether complaints were deemed to have merit.

Mining, construction activity and business attracts a large number of immigrants, who stay there for long periods. A development strategy in which the locals lose out both in numbers and positions of economic power is clearly ruled out. Sadly, of the two foremost stalwarts of the HNLC – Cheristerfield Thangkhiew and Julius Dorphang, one died in an encounter last year and another is serving jail time for raping a minor girl. It would be a good learning curve for those in government to hear from the surrendered militants as to why they chose the path that is fraught with risks.
At this time, there was a small movement of Jaintia nationalism as well, claiming a separate state on the basis of a historical kingdom calledJaintia Rajya. In most of the northeastern states, where indigenous groups constituted the majority of the states’ populations, the law provides for tribal rights, although some local authorities disregarded these provisions. The law prohibits any nontribal person, including citizens from other states, from crossing a government-established inner boundary without a valid permit. No one may remove rubber, wax, ivory, or other forest products from protected areas without authorization. Although the law protects Dalits, there were numerous reports of violence and significant discrimination in access to services, such as health care, education, temple attendance, and marriage.
The region has seen enough bloodbaths in the past three years with over 120 people, including security forces killed in different ambush, operations and terror strikes. Since December last, the situation has changed for good with most cadres of dreaded rebel outfit Garo National Liberation Army and United A’chik Liberation Army coming forward for peace. Some non- Meghalaya insurgent groups like ULFA and NDFB operated in the region but after their mass surrender and disbandment and killing of local insurgents insurgency in Meghalaya has been eliminated and state is heading for peace normalcy and progress.

Most of these groups were fighting either for regional autonomy, a separate state, or complete regional independence. The Northeast and the Maoist insurgencies have posed major security threats to the Indian state since the 1950s and late 1960s. In 2012, the Home Minister of India declared the Maoist insurgency as the ‘most formidable security challenge facing the country’ . In República Square in the downtown Centro neighbourhood, African migrants sell clothes - some of them counterfeit designer wear,, some not - and handicrafts. Abu, 37, from Thiès in western Senegal, came to Brazil in 2010 with the hope that World Cup would make Brazil a prosperous country and offer him a new life.
In the old days, since Manipur was often at war to keep off invaders and protect its borders, the number of families with women as the heads was comparatively high. The National Policy for Empowerment, 2001 has provisions on protection of women in the country. Common platform is needed for the NGOs and people should work collectively,” she said, adding that sharing information with the public is needed for giving benefits to women and society. The underground outfits maintain that Manipur had been an independent country before India became a free country. There was the Constitution, the Assembly with elected representatives in Manipur before 1947. The merger agreement was signed by the Manipur King, Budhachandra at Shillong on September 15, 1949.

The law hindered transparency and accountability with regard to electronic surveillance. According to a government report quoting NCRB provisional data for 2016, Minister of State for Home Affairs Ahir cited 30 registered cases in violation of the law in 2016 compared with nine in 2015. The government continued efforts to reduce lengthy detentions and alleviate  prison overcrowding by using “fast track” courts, which specified trial deadlines, provided directions for case management, and encouraged the use of bail. Some NGOs criticized these courts for failing to uphold due process and requiring detainees unable to afford bail remain in detention.
“To boost the confidence of the people of Manipur and to provide the healing touch, the All India Trinamool Congress demands that an all-party delegation be sent to Manipur, in the next one week. The message till now from the Union Government has been one of ignoring; that needs to change to healing, caring, restoring peace and harmony,” the statement said. Violations of wage, overtime, and occupational safety and health standards were common in the informal sector (industries and/or establishments that do not fall under the purview of the Factories Act), which employed an estimated 90 percent of the workforce. Small, low-technology factories frequently exposed workers to hazardous working conditions. Undocumented foreign workers did not receive basic occupational health and safety protections. In many instances workers could not remove themselves from situations that endangered health or safety without jeopardizing their employment.

That being said, while the aforementioned successes can at best be classified as tactical operational gains, the need to execute efficient governance aimed at alleviating the grievance of local population continues to be an essential element of the larger strategy for the regional security. As the militancy related fatalities peaked in 2014, the Meghalaya Police Special Weapons and Tactics teams along with Commando Battalion for Resolute Action commandos of Central Reserve Police Force launched Operation Hill Storm from July 2014 in four phases. The primary aim of the operation was to deny militants safe haven and at the same time establish a permanent Police presence in the affected regions.
Moreover, Police force are relatively better poised to generate Human Intelligence , especially in areas within the insurgents strongholds. But she was able to take up the issue only a yearand-a-half ago, and  with a few like-minded friends from the region, founded the campaign called 'Weaving Histories of North-East India'. Much background research has been followed up by talks with local historians about the need for incorporating the region's history into mainstream Indian textbooks. "We have approached all those bodies that make school syllabus because that's where the change has to begin first, " says Nepram. "We've also met Shashi Tharoor, the minister of state for human resources development, as his ministry is the final authority in approving any changes in the syllabus, " she elaborates, adding that she was greeted with positive responses.