Parliamentary Standing Committee panel on Home Affairs finds Rise in Insurgency in Arunachal Pradesh

ELUSIVE PEACE

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, July 24: Unlike other North Eastern States showing a declining trend in insurgency-related incidents, Arunachal Pradesh has surprisingly witnessed a rise in the number of such incidents.

Such a development in Arunachal Pradesh is an irony considering the fact that the hill State bordering China does not have any active indigenous or local insurgent group.

A department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, in its latest report on security scenario in NE, has expressed serious concern that unlike the overall northeastern region which shows a declining trend of insurgency-related incidents and casualties suffered by the civilians and an improvement in the security scenario, Arunachal Pradesh has seen a rise in the number of such incidents.

The Parliamentary Committee, headed by former Union Home Minister and MP P Chidambaram, tabled the report in both Houses of the Parliament last week.

The committee was alarmed to observe that in 2012, Arunachal Pradesh accounted for just 5 per cent of the insurgency-related incidents in the entire NE region. But the State accounted for almost 20 per cent of the incidents in the region in 2017.

The development is an indication that the security situation has deteriorated in Arunachal Pradesh vis-à-vis the entire northeastern region. The Parliamentary Committee recommends that the government should intensify its efforts to contain the spill-over of insurgency activities from other States and improve the overall security scenario in Arunachal Pradesh.

The Parliamentary panel has also expressed surprise that there is a rise in insurgency-related incidents in Arunachal Pradesh despite the fact that the State does not have any active indigenous or local insurgent group. But the State’s geographical contiguity with Myanmar and ethnic similarities of some districts with Nagaland has been exploited by insurgent groups based in Assam and Nagaland for their nefarious activities.

Even though the Parliamentary Committee accepts that the insurgency-related instances of kidnapping and extortion may be on the decline, there general rise in the instances of such crimes is worrying. The committee is perplexed that despite a waning trend in insurgency, violent crimes and kidnappings have been on the rise.