Ghastly attack in Tirap

Ghastly attack in Tirap

Tuesday’s ghastly attack on the convoy of Arunachal Pradesh legislator Tirong Aboh in Tirap district, which led to the killing of eleven persons including the MLA himself, must be condemned with the harshest words. The government has accused the NSCN(IM) for it. There appears to be no doubt that it was the handiwork of the NSCN(IM) because this group, which is in ceasefire with the government has been active in the frontier state despite its top leaders like Th Muivah signing a ‘framework agreement’ with New Delhi a few years ago. The NSCN(IM) has been active in Tirap, Longding, Changlang and Namsai districts of Arunachal Pradesh for more than two decades now. The outfit which swears by Jesus and has the slogan ‘Nagalim for Christ’ in its masthead, has been terrorizing the small local ethnic groups of the four frontier districts, at times even reportedly forcing them to give up their own faith. There are reports that young boys often below 18 years of age have been forcibly inducted into the outfit, made to take to the gun, give up school and live in the jungles, come out to towns and villages to extort money, and abduct and kill people who refuse to follow their diktat. There are also reports that some politicians also have a hand in the expansion of the NSCN(IM)’s activities into Arunachal Pradesh, allegedly to use the armed misguided youths against their political rivals. Such a phenomenon was also visible in Assam till a few years ago, with different political parties taking direct and indirect help of the ULFA, NDFB and numerous other bunches of criminals to win elections and at times even settle scores with their rivals. Those in power too have allegedly used the ‘services’ of these criminals similar outfits to suppress others, and such incidents had reportedly occurred in Nagaland, Manipur and Meghalaya too. A section of right-thinking people believe that incompetent politicians do not want ‘insurgency’ to come to an end. There was a Union Home Ministry report several years ago which had clearly mentioned about the unholy nexus of politicians, ministers, bureaucrats, contractors and militant groups – all of whom share the booty by diverting and misappropriating huge central funds meant for development and welfare of the common people. In Assam, the most glaring example was Dima Hasao district, where names of numerous politicians, ministers, elected representatives, government officers, contractors and militants were found mentioned in several multi-crore scandals. While Arunachal Pradesh legislator Tirong Aboh was reportedly already under threat from the NSCN(IM) for the past several months, there can be no doubt that chief minister Pema Khandu and deputy chief minister Chowna Mein do not know the details about the NSCN(IM) and also of the politicians who are hand-in-glove with the militants. The NSCN(IM), which definitely has a network with various other criminal and insurgent outfits of the region, is also aware that the Union government has taken a wait-and-watch policy as far as hammering out a final solution to the Naga issue is concerned. The recent crackdown by security forces on rebel camps inside Myanmar too could be one reason for the NSCN(IM) to strike. Moreover, there is a section of people among politicians, bureaucrats and contractors which does not want the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act to be entirely withdrawn. This is because once withdrawn AFSPA will also take away with it a lot of direct and indirect benefits to a lot of people. All said and down, the government must act, and must heavily crack down on the NSCN(IM) for that ghastly attack in Tirap.

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