[Previous entry: "Peace talks between Centre and the NSCN-IM Bureau Report Zee News"] [Next entry: "NSCN-K to hold talks with Centre today OUR CORRESPONDENT The Telegraph"]
10/11/2007: "Glimmer of hope in Naga talks The Tangkhul The Telegraph"
Glimmer of hope in Naga talks The Tangkhul The Telegraph
New Delhi, Oct. 10: The chairman of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah), Isak Chishi Swu, was absent at the outfit’s talks with the Centre today, but his prayers seem to have been answered.
Unlike the tenor of the outfit a few days ago amidst apprehensions about abrogation of the truce in Nagaland, the peace process took off all of a sudden. “It has been decided that talks will henceforth be held twice or thrice a month and the two parties have expressed concern for a peaceful solution,” an NSCN (I-M) source told The Telegraph. The next round of talks could be held by the end of this month, sources said.
Swu usually leads the talks with a prayer before leaving the two sides to do the talking. Though he was absent today, a home ministry source said: “there was a prayer and talks were positive”. The talks began today with the group expressing “concern” but the mood soon became positive. Led by the outfit’s general secretary, Thuingaleng Muivah, a delegation of eight representatives met labour minister Oscar Fernandez, minister of state for Prime Minister’s Office Prithviraj Chauhan and minister of state for home S. Reghupathy.
The officials included Intelligence Bureau director P.C. Haldar, joint secretary (Northeast) in the home ministry, Naveen Verma and interlocutor K. Padmanabhaiah.
Speculation that Muivah was leaving for Europe was also put to rest as sources said he would return to Nagaland after a week. A committee could soon be formed in the format of a joint working group to study the core issues, sources said. Top leaders of the Khaplang faction NSCN (K) leaders are expected to be in the capital tomorrow.
Unwarranted intrusion on Indo-Naga Affairs- Nagaland Post
The writing of RS Jassal on Naga issue, particularly at this stage of the peace process is unwelcome. Reading between the lines his writing was a thinly disguised attack on the Naga issue. By virtue marrying a Tangkhul from Ukhrul town, Jassal but a faithful servant of the Indian intelligent agencies he cannot handle the Naga issue in the manner as designed by his masters. In the counter-revolutionary movement the likes of Jassal serves a very useful purpose, as sinister as Khaplang in the person of Kughalu Mulatanu and other likeminded groups. The 'diabolic process' as very fondly used by Jassal is the exact plan and creation of counter-revolutionary Indian intelligence agencies with one single target who they find a hard nut to crack. But NSCN is well educated to follow the meaning of every single word used by Jassal under the cover of evaluating the NSCN Government of India ceasefire. He cannot preach on the Naga issue based on the text drafted by his master-gang to poison the mind of some persons with dithering and vulnerable state of mind. The irony is that what good can Ex-Indian Army officer with designated assignment by RAW-IB-MI do for the interest of the Nagas without causing political confusion on the Nagas. Therefore, a person of the nature of Jassal and his writing is perfidious.
The treacherous words of Jassal in desperately trying to put NSCN in the same level of NSCN-K, NNC/FGN exposed the despicable mindset of Jassal to fulfill his mission of destroying Naga political objectivity in the backdrop of the not so pleasing decade of Indo-Naga Peace. Process. Faking pro-Naga solution in the person of intelligence agencies is dubiously ridiculous.
Issued by: MIP (NSCN IM) The Morung Express
Regular NSCN (IM)-GOI talks demanded The Morung Express
Dimapur, October 10 (MExN): The 60th round of the Indo-Naga peace talks between the NSCN (IM) and the Government of India was held in Delhi where it was agreed that the talks will be held more frequently between the two parties.
A highly placed NSCN (IM) official today disclosed that today’s meeting decided to hold the meeting between the NSCN (IM) and the Government of India more frequently like twice or thrice in a month. However, he said that everything will be finalized after a day or two, since the Indian side has to discuss the matter about holding talks frequently with the other higher-ups.
However, the NSCN (IM) official said that besides the topic about holding the meetings frequently, no other issues were discussed. Nonetheless, he said the Indian side including Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh and AICC President, Sonia Gandhi, are ‘very much serious’ and concerned about the ceasefire and its progress.
“They (GOI) are very concerned for peaceful solution, they are concerned for the speed of the peace talks…both sides…we have a lot to discuss,” he said. Meanwhile the MIP, NSCN (IM), in a press release, informed that today’s talk between the NSCN (IM) and GOI was held in ‘a cordial manner but with a tinge of seriousness, to sort out the substantive issue’. Today’s talk will be continued in the third week of this month, the release informed. The Government of India was represented by Oscar Fernandes, Prithiviraj Chauhan, S Raghupathi, Padmanabhaiah, Ajit Lal, Joint Secretary NE Incharge and Naveen Verma, Chief Principal.
No headway in crucial Indo-Naga peace talks Nagaland Page
Dimapur, October 10: The crucial round of talk between Government of India and the NSCN (IM) held today at New Delhi ended without making any headway into bringing about an early end to the protracted Indo-Naga political issue, although both parties to the talks claimed that the talks were held in a cordial manner albeit with "a tinge of seriousness to sort out substantive issue."
Another round of peace parley between the two parties will be held in the 3rd week of October.
Wednesday's meeting was the first such meeting between India's and NSCN (IM)'s negotiators since both parties decided to extend the ongoing ceasefire between them indefinitely with effect from August 1 last in their last round of talks held at Dimapur in Nagaland.
Top NSCN (IM) as well as Indian Government sources said that although today's peace talk was held in a cordial manner they failed to come to an understanding on the extend of implementation of cease fire ground rules as well as the role of the Indian Security Forces, particularly the Assam Rifles role in implementing the truce ground rules.
The NSCN (IM) had accused the Assam Rifles of supporting its rival group, the NSCN (K), to sow the seed of discord amongst the Nagas. The outfit has also accused the Indian Security Force of resorting to "arm twisting tactics and pressure games" to discredit the NSCN (IM). The NSCN (IM) had even threatened to pull out of the ceasefire if India fails to stop the Indian Security Force from playing its psychological operations against the Nagas.
The ceasefire was first declared in Nagaland in 1997. The truce has been extended every 12 months since then, except in 2005, when it was renewed for just 6 months at the insistence of the NSCN (IM) and further extended by another 6 months in February 2006 before it was indefinitely extended since August 1 last.
In the talks held today, the NSCN (IM) was represented by its general secretary, Th Muivah, while the Indian Government was represented by Oscar Fernandes, Prithiviraj Chauhan, S Raghupathi, Padmanabhaiah, Ajit Lal and Naveen Verma. (Page News Service)
Unrecognized party lure Nagas Morung Express news
Dimapur A supposedly, “National Level Political party”, called the “Adarsh Political Party” (APP) is recruiting members in Nagaland with big promises of ‘rags to riches and from unknown name to the realm of fame’. The party is said to be registered by the Election Commission (Government of India), under registration number 56/66/2003/J S III/ and said to be born in Nagaland on the first of October under the leadership of one T. Konyak. However, an investigation carried out by The Morung Express revealed that “Adarsh Political Party” is one of the 730 registered but unrecognized parties as published by the Election Commission in ahead of October 2005 elections.
In fact the main intention of the exercise of forming its unit in Nagaland is expected to be the party membership fee which is fixed at Rs 300 and can be legally collected as a registered party. This is concluded by the fact that the “national president” of the party is found to be a same Dinesh Kumar Sharma, head of one Bharatiya Adarsh Samachar (BAS), a national newspaper recently highlighted in this daily for duping aspiring young reporters with promise of high salary and fame but in fact collecting thousands of rupees as registration and training fee.
On being contacted, the “district president” T. Konyak disclosed that already 300 members had joined the Nagaland unit, which would amount to Rs 90, 000. Though the APP is said to have been registered in 2003, it is learnt that the party does not have even one elected member in the country and surprisingly, there was also no mention of the party ideologies in the press release provided to this daily. The ‘aims and caption of the party’ however were given as: “Do not underestimate yourself for nothing succeeds like success”.
Furthermore, the write-up urged the readers to ‘discover your real talent and worth, tread the path of guaranteed Success, Move on from rags to riches, from an unknown name to the realm of fame”. The party also assures help to achieve wishes for self-employment, social/political power and prestige etc. The APP also said that a person who desired could also become block president, district president/vice president/general secretary, municipal councilor, MLA or even MP Etc.
According to press reports, while the advertisements stated a salary of Rs. 64,000, responders often found that the starting salary for a primary member was Rs 1,500 with promises to go up to Rs 6,400 after a couple of months, or even in 15 days ‘if the performance is good.’ In 6 months’ time, a party member could graduate to become a block organiser and draw a salary of “Rs 64,000 per month.” Moreover a block level organiser is reported t o be entitled to a two-wheeler and a state level, chief organizers are offered cars, apart from a handsome amount.
Dimapur district president of APP, Thromwa Konyak, confirmed reports of the perks and bonuses. However he made known that the amount to be provided was meant as party fund but not salary. He clarified that the party fund for the moment was supposed to be Rs. 6000, but did not disclose if the amount had been released to the state at all. The “president” also said that he was the first member of the APP in Nagaland and he had come to know of its existence when he had answered an advertisement in a newspaper and visited its Delhi head office.
It may be recalled that a few months ago, The Morung Express had reported a scam of a national Hindi fortnightly paper (Bharatiya Adarsh Samachar), which had advertised widely on vacancy for reporters and reporters with the starting salary of Rs 15,000. After a great show of interviews, (telephonic and face to face), the selected are asked to pay a few thousands as recruitment fee and provided with catalogue, Identity Cards verified by the police etc. However, instead of reporting the recruits are asked to recruit fresh reporters and their recruitment fee, get specified number of subscribers for the newspaper and collect advertisements. This group had operated in Jammu and Shillong in 2005 and was in the news the same year.
Investigations revealed that the Adarsh Political Party (APP) have the same address as that of the BAS in Delhi which, according to reports, is said to be ‘a dingy two-room office on the fourth floor of an ill-kept commercial building’ in a distant, rundown suburb of the capital. The political party is also reported to have advertised in The Shillong Times for 300 parcharaks/organizers in different districts and blocks of Meghalaya promising them an income of Rs.3000/ during training and after five months an income of Rs.5000 to 20,000 with other benefits. Similar to Nagaland case, the address they had given was the same as that of BAS at 405, Kundan Bhawan, Azadpur, Delhi 33.
Naga Nationalism’s Internal Enemy – Violence The Morung Express
For months I’ve been bothered by a nightmare. A series of violent images, connected and disconnected and nauseatingly repetitive, has haunted me but I can’t get rid of it. The names of places and people in these images sound familiar...
Here are some of them:
• Thirty houses set ablaze by Sumi youth in Wungram Colony in Purana Bazar in retaliation for the torture of three boys the night before and for the bombing of a prominent leader’s residence earlier, both supposedly perpetrated by NSCN (IM) that has ties to Wungram Colony.
• Events in the nightmare come confused and jumbled as a whole, but some individual incidents are as clear as reading from a newspaper headline, like this one: “Nagaland teetered on the brink of lawlessness as the Kaplang faction of the NSCN gunned down two leaders of the Isak-Muivah group to avenge the seven casualties inflicted by rival militants four days earlier.”
• The players in this ritual of violence remain the same but their positions and alignments change. So this time it was NNC/ FGN that tortured and murdered a villager from Yoruba, which was followed sometime later by another unconnected “firing incident” between FGN and NSCN (IM).
• Next came NSCN (K’s) abortive attempts on the lives of two well-known citizens in Kohima. The tension was diffused by the Angami Public Organization, which called for an end to “the madness of violence and gun culture” among Naga nationalist groups.
• In a perverse logic of numbers reminiscent of the Wungram Colony incident where thirty houses went down in flames, NSCN (IM) cadre razed thirty houses in Jalukie-Zangdi village a few weeks later in an attempt to evict the owners from the area who, according to the group, had no right to the land they were living on.
• NSCN-IM Chaplain Stone, his wife, and three others, traveling from Imphal to Dimapur, were abducted and murdered near Phiphema by NSCN (K).
• Ten Kuki men were killed by NSCN (IM) for terrorizing Naga villages.
• The Rev. Dr. Tuisem Shishak published a confessional public letter calling for repentance and humility among his people and for humanity and understanding among Nagas. NSCN (IM) quickly questioned his authority to speak for Tangkhuls, and shortly thereafter he was ex-communicated from his community for six years by the Tangkhul Naga Long.
These events and others like them all happened in Nagaland in the last five months, from April to September. Except for the participants in this endless bloody maze with no exit, everyday reality in Nagaland has become a veritable nightmare. But Nagas seem to have become so de-sensitized they don’t recognize it as such.
UN Declaration: Unlike the nights, my waking hours are pleasant. A few days ago I was sitting with my laptop checking out Kuknalim.com in the backyard of my modest Northwest American home under a small canopy of fruit trees that had yielded the year’s harvest. It was not quite dusk yet, but the air suddenly felt milder than I had felt all summer. It was September 13, the day the UN General Assembly adopted its Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Like many others, I took the declaration as a milestone for indigenous peoples of the world and a step in the right direction for humankind. After all, if there are such things as universal human rights and freedoms that the world community recognizes, why then should they not apply to the 300 million indigenous people, including the Nagas? Of course, a declaration of the right to self-determination is just that, declaration, not the real thing. Yet the acceptance of the principle by the UN is a historic event, a promissory note, if you will, that indigenous people can redeem through negotiations with the appropriate governments. I was elated. But I was also quickly reminded of the fact that I was reading about the Declaration in the United States instead of in Nagaland, where I was born and raised but left more than twenty years ago. So what did this news have to do with me after all these years, especially in the autumn of my life? I think the reason is simply that we humans inevitably carry our past in us, and for some of us reconnecting with our roots becomes more compelling with age, especially if the cultural life of the people we left behind was as influential as the Nagas were when I was growing up. Things are clearly different there now.
Realities: So today I’m sitting in my backyard again with the nightmare of the night, trying to sort the details, events, ideologies that haunt me from back home, to clarify to myself the realities on the ground. I admire genuine freedom fighters everywhere, Nagas in particular, because they make uncommon sacrifices to secure human rights for us and for the oppressed. But I also know that they can change because they are people, and sometimes people and organizations change for the worse.
A month before the UN Declaration -- almost to the day -- Nagas enacted the ironic situation of celebrating 60 years of freedom from colonial British rule under postcolonial Indian rule. How about that? Celebrating Independence Day without independence. A symbolic gesture for a wish denied? Or was it an enactment of a paradox? But paradox and irony in the exercise are not confined to the Naga side. What about India? Is taking a paradoxical position constitutive of the history of the nation-state and of nationalism itself, both for those who would be a nation and those who would deny others the right they themselves enjoy and guard with such exclusionary patriotic zeal? For now, though, I’d like to stay with the internal contradictions of Naga nationalism.
Within days of the UN declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples, NNC/FGN felt compelled to contradict just about every other Naga organization including the NSCN (IM) by declaring that Nagas are “not indigenous people.” Because Naga territory was never completely overrun and settled in by outsiders, so the arguments goes, Nagas are not indigenous. I can appreciate FGN’s fear of losing the distinctive history of the Naga struggle for freedom, but do Nagas have to be nearly decimated to qualify for indigenous status? That line of thinking would lead us to equating the 300 live indigenous people of the world to mummies in a museum of colonial genocide. Just hours ago, NSCN (K) came out with a statement to reinforce FGN’s position. They too argue that Nagas are not indigenous people “because Nagas of Nagaland are so far the owners and rulers of our own land.” That’s a strange argument. Doesn’t the word “indigenous” signify precisely the kind of natural affinity with the place one lives in? So how does Naga ownership of Nagaland render Nagas un-indigenous? Besides pulling up the word from its etymological root, this argument parallels the logic of a man who shoots his leg because it is not a hand.
With such diverse and contradictory views on every issue in the Naga Question, it’s hard to separate fact from opinion, reality from fiction. But it is important to make the effort. So, then, Fact One: Nagaland was never overrun and completely overtaken by outsiders, and Nagas are still the majority in our land. Let’s grant this fact to FGN and NSCN (K) even if their stand on indigenousness sounds masochistic.
What is the Naga Question about then? Fact Two: Sovereign Nagaland. For once, the sworn enemy NSCN factions agree on this goal, except that they disagree bitterly on details, including the size of the Naga nation, over which they are both prepared to go to war. Interestingly, FGN holds rather adamantly that independence from India is a non-issue, though they are for a sovereign Naga nation. If that sounds convoluted to others, it’s not to them because Nagas who never surrendered their independence to India in the first place cannot be asking it back from India. Naga sovereignty has been and is under attack by GOI, and the day India leaves Nagaland, the Naga Question will have been resolved. The explanation sounds logical as far as logic goes, but what is logical is not necessary true or reasonable. These are the nationalist positions on the Naga Question. The rest, namely the majority of Nagas, are mostly ambivalent. They seem to function fine under the Indian State Government of Nagaland, which has been in existence since 1963, but there are many among them who are also not averse to the idea of an independent Nagaland if it should arrive someday wrapped like a Christmas gift.
If Naga sovereignty and its recognition by the world community is the goal of Naga nationalists, while the state government under India runs the show, what then is the nature of the relationship between Nagas and the Government of India? Is Nagaland Indian territory or is it under Indian occupation? Nationalists believe it is under Indian occupation. Many Nagas don’t think so, however, and insist that Nagas were “a free people” and are a free people under India. Nagaland is not under Indian occupation, they say; indeed, Nagas ought to be grateful to GOI for the financial sustenance it provides the people of Nagaland and for keeping the state from disintegrating. So whether or not Nagaland is under Indian occupation is up for grabs. Until we realize that there is a fact beneath the confusion of opinions, which leads us to Fact Three: Nagaland is under Indian occupation whether we like it or not, whether we deny it or not. We are free of course to ignore the fact and live as though the occupation doesn’t exist, as many do, but the daily events associated with it, including the governmental institutions and financial sustenance, are all reminders that Nagaland is indeed under Indian occupation. If you don’t believe me, try telling India to leave Nagaland for good (which is what Nagas have been doing since 1947) and see what happens. India hasn’t left. Or imagine the UN declaring tomorrow that Nagaland is a sovereign nation, not a state within India, and see what India says and does.
Fact Four: At this stage in the history of Naga nationalism, the signs of implosion are real and looks like Nagas need to lean on GOI. But while not dismissing Nagas who say we ought to be grateful to GOI, let’s not forget too that it was GOI in the first place that broke our legs and is now throwing us a pair of crutches.
Fact Five: There was a time when Naga national workers rightly commanded the respect and gratitude of the Naga people because of their love and sacrifice for our homeland. There must still be national workers who belong to that tradition of dedicated service, and Nagas value them. But all right thinking Nagas of every tribe and station in life who love our land, people, and cultures are sick to death of Nagas killing each other and destroying ourselves from within in the name of bogus “freedom” and through a blasphemous use of the “Nagaland for Christ” slogan. The Naga public knows there is neither freedom nor Christ in violence. There is no excuse for this inhumanity.
Action now. The needs in Nagaland are many and urgent, but two things are a foundational must for a better Nagaland. The first requires action from Nagas, the second a fresh start and negotiation between GOI and Nagas:
• We must stop Naga-on-Naga violence and resolve our differences on the Naga Question.
• The Indian occupation of Nagaland must be addressed. Why? Because like all other human beings, including Indians, Nagas too have the right to self determination, and the subversion of that right by GOI has led to too much suffering and unspeakable cruelty among Nagas, and has also created a moral burden for India and for right-thinking, human rights-respecting Indians. India will not be worthy of its illustrious past, and cannot remain a self-respecting postcolonial nation, as long as it refuses to settle the Naga Question once and for all. The Government of India and Nagas have a timely catalyst in the UN Declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples. We can use the declaration as an opportunity for a new and mutually enriching Indo-Naga relations. Once GOI commits to an implementation of the Naga right to self-determination, Nagas can work out the future among ourselves and begin peaceful negotiations with GOI as to independence or integration, and upon what terms. But without India’s commitment to Naga right to self-determination, conflict is inevitable because of the nature of the relationship in place, namely control on the Indian side and resentment on the Naga side.
As I write these lines in the first week of autumn under the same canopy of trees I read the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People two weeks ago, I know spring will arrive in Nagaland, as it does in the rest of the world, if we survive the winter of our violence. The choice is ours. (Kuknalim columnist Dr. Pimomo was born in Nagaland, is Professor of English at Central Washington University, USA).
A major victory for the Indigenous Peoples The Morung Express
On the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples the Naga International Support Center, NISC, lauds this Declaration as a historic milestone.
• This Declaration affirms the collective rights of the Nagas to self-determination, to the lands, territories and resources, cultures and intellectual property; the right to free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous peoples for any state intervention into their environment and the right to determine what is the desired kind of development for Naga communities.
We celebrate this Declaration as a major victory for the Indigenous Peoples of the world and India, in particular, the Naga Peoples along with all other Indigenous Peoples of the North East of India.
• The UN Declaration on Indigenous Peoples Rights—promulgated by a vast majority of 143 states against four former white settler colonies with large indigenous minorities—presents the North-East of India with an instrument, a tool, with which they can both, (1) demand the implementation of rights promulgated in the Declaration which the Indian Union has now signed, and (2) raise awareness of their own rights in the indigenous communities/societies they are part of and to fight for their rights.
Since they have been suffering long from injustice, discrimination and marginalization the Declaration is a guide for governments to address the situation Indigenous peoples are in and can further empowerment the Nagas and all other Indigenous Peoples of India and Burma/Myanmar.
NISC supports all Nagas and this includes the Naga National Council and the NSCN-Kaphlang, which stated that Nagas are not Indigenous Peoples. As the original inhabitants of the land Nagas were never conquered, did not consent to be rules by others or signed a treaty through which they conceded to be part of another nation. Nagas stem from the same cultural root and because they are occupied by India and have formed a nation of their own they are indigenous to their land and have every right to determine their own future. NISC recalls the that Mr. Kaphlang himself ventured out of Nagaland to attend a meeting of the Working Group of Indigenous in Geneva some years ago. Who is Mr. Kaphlang to state that Nagas are not Indigenous Peoples?
India supported the Declaration and is now bound to live up to it!
NISC thanks the Indian Government for its wisdom in voting for the Declaration. And, although India is yet to give due recognition to its Indigenous peoples by signing it NISC believes India leapt forward and will accord the Indigenous peoples with their right status in due course. But, to implement this Declaration NISC urges the Government of India to work in close partnership with the Indigenous peoples. To conform with the Declaration NISC calls on all regional UN bodies to realign the developmental programmes of all Indigenous peoples.
• NISC is committed to disseminate the Declaration, to make it known in all its recognized basic Indigenous Peoples rights and duties by the states in regards to indigenous peoples.
NISC extends heartfelt gratitude to the President of General Assembly Haya Rashed Al Khallifa whose relentless support made the adoption of the Declaration possible.
NISC thanks all Indigenous leaders, NGO’s, and the 143 governments who voted in favor of the Declaration. NISC expresses thanks to all actors who were involved from the beginning and calls on every leader, activist, state and NGO to ensure the effective implementation of this Declaration.
Notes on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples:
Over 80 million (Adivasi and NE peoples) and 250 million Dalits of the 1.200 million Indigenous peoples in the world live in India. Over 330 million of the 1.200 million Indigenous peoples in the world live in India. This makes India a country with the largest Indigenous population in the world. North-eastern India is known as the region of Indigenous peoples. Northeast India, endowed with abundant natural resources is also known for its rich cultural heritage.
Naga International Support Centre Amsterdam, October 10 2007
BURMA: India Shamed Into Revising Stand on Junta Nagarealm.com
Faced with a pro-democracy popular upsurge in Burma, the Indian government first brazenly sided with the military junta. But it is now reluctantly revising its stand under international and domestic pressure, and trying to salvage what little is left of its credibility.
On Thursday, India voted at the United Nations Human Rights Council in favour of a resolution calling for the release of incarcerated, pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. But India did so after expressing regret that the ‘’text of the resolution was not ‘’fully in conformity’’ with New Delhi’s own ‘’forward-looking, non-condemnatory approach’’.
India went along with the resolution that strongly deplored ‘’the continued violent repression of peaceful demonstrations in Myanmar, including thorough beatings, killings, arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances’’ and called for ‘’reinvigorated national dialogue with all parties with a view to achieving genuine national reconciliation, democratisation and the establishment of rule of law’’.
But India still opposes economic sanctions or other tough measures against the Burmese regime. Earlier this week, Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in New York: "I do not subscribe to penal sanctions at all times." He added: "We should instead try to engage the country concerned in negotiations... Sanctions ... should be the last resort ...because (they are) counter-productive. Instead of correcting the errant rulers, they end in the suffering of innocent people."
Worse, India sent its petroleum minister Murli Deora to Burma last week to sign a deal worth 150 million US dollars for the exploration of natural gas off the Rakhine coast -- just when state repression was at its peak of brutality.
"This sent a terrible message to the world," says Soe Myint, a Burmese pro-democracy activist long exiled in India, who works with the Mizzima news agency. "The message was that India, despite its credentials as a democracy, wouldn't lift its little finger to counsel restraint upon the Burmese regime and prevent wanton bloodshed. Rather than use its leverage with Burma, India would meekly tail the generals as they butchered innocents. We were greatly disappointed."
It is only on Sep. 26, about a week after the pro-democracy demonstrations had gathered mass proportions, that New Delhi made its first official comment on the issue. India expressed concern at the situation in Burma and said: "It is our hope that all sides will resolve the issues peacefully through dialogue India has always believed that Burma’s process of political reform and national reconciliation should be more inclusive and broad-based."
India’s conservative and pro-junta position on Burma is widely believed to derive from three considerations: an eagerness to enlist Burma’s help in fighting insurgencies in its turbulent north-east, India’s interest in Burma's natural gas reserves, and India’s anxiety to contain and counter China's influence in Burma, and more broadly, South-east Asia.
"It’s utterly shameful that India should allow its approach to a major issue like Burma to be determined by such narrow, parochial realpolitik-based considerations," argues Anuradha Chenoy, from the School of International Studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University here.
Adds Chenoy: "This means abandoning all principles and doctrines, including India's professed commitment to democracy and human rights, which it loudly voices in Western-sponsored institutions like the Concert of Democracies and the Global Democracy Fund. This raises a credibility issue. Worse, India claims to be pursuing a ‘Look East’ policy. In Burma, that evidently means turn a blind eye to dictatorship."
Dismayingly, India’s Burma approach was spelt out in a practical and forthright manner by India’s new chief of army staff, Deepak Kapoor, at his maiden press conference on Monday. He said: the state-directed violence is Burma’s "internal affair", but "we have good relations" with its government, and "we should maintain these."
The army chief’s policy pronouncement represents an intrusion into the executive’s prerogative. Yet, it reproduces the essence of India’s Foreign Ministry’s stand, driven by so-called "realism".
Ironically, India’s realpolitik-based Burma policy has yielded none of the desired results.
Thus, Burma has been ineffectual or highly selective in preventing North-eastern insurgents from India from establishing camps on its soil. It has effectively contained only the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang), with which it has anyway a ceasefire agreement.
"But the Burmese military has at best taken token and desultory action against other groups, especially those from Assam and Manipur", says a counter-insurgency analyst who demands anonymity. "Burma has shrewdly played China off against India, while milking both for military and economic assistance. India has walked into this trap".
India’s famed "interests" in gas in Burma have produced international embarrassment. Four Indian companies figure among the "Dirty 20" implicated in gas exploration -- with terrible human rights violations and environmental destruction, detailed by EarthRights International, the Shwe Gas Movement and Arakan State Human Rights Commission.
However, India has got no gas nor tangible contracts for gas supply from Burma. Just weeks ago, Burma awarded the A-1 and A-3 gas blocks off the Arakan coast to PetroChina. Originally, two Indian public sector companies had a 30 percent stake in these. And India had extended concessional credit to Burma to finance the project. India has alternative gas sources. Besides, Burma’s gas delivery will critically depend on transit through Bangladesh. But Bangladesh is not yet cooperating. Says Chenoy: ''The argument that India should befriend and favour Burma’s regime to counter China is specious. India can and must live with military relationships between some neighbours and other powers. This shouldn’t overwhelmingly determine foreign policy.''
Many of those who demand that India must become a countervailing force to China advocate a new Asian Cold War -- with disastrous consequences for India’s long-term security. An arms race with China --that too with a strong nuclear component -- will sharply raise India’s already bloated military expenditure. However, the Indian government is now coming under pressure to revise its stand on Burma. The pressure comes from international opinion, and domestic sentiment which strongly favours solidarity with the pro-democracy movement in Burma.
Major political parties in India, including the ruling Congress, the Communists, and even the right-wing, opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) , have demanded a change in the government's stand. Civil rights defenders too want a major revision.
''Particularly significant here is pressure from India’s north-east,'' says Soe Myint. ''Many political and civil society organisations there are alarmed at the repression unleashed in Burma on ethnic groups which cut across the India-Burma border. They want India to support democracy in Burma.''
This would bring Indian policy more in line with the position of the early 1990s, when India advocated a dialogue between the military regime and the National League of Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi, who had won the 1990 election with a thumping majority. India awarded the 1993 Nehru Prize for International Understanding to Suu Kyi and made a strong political point -- without severing its relations with the Burmese government.
''This only shows that India can follow a broad-horizon policy based on a global vision; it has many options in the neighbourhood,'' argues Chenoy. Ironically, India's official vision is shrinking just when India's global profile has greatly risen, opening up new opportunities to engage with the world with the "larger ideas and objectives" which have long been at the core of India’s foreign policy agenda. This is not the sign of a self-confident emerging power with a fiercely independent foreign policy orientation, commentators said. [Analysis by Praful Bidwai, IPS]
'Look East' policy a distant dream By IANS
Guwahati, Oct 11 (IANS) India's much-hyped 'Look East' policy has come a cropper even before taking off, with the utopian idea drawing flak for its lack of direction and sincerity. 'The Look East policy is not even a written document yet and the harvest of the initiatives is so far nil,' thundered Mani Shankar Aiyar, central minister for Development of Northeastern Region (DoNER). The minister was speaking at the valedictory function Tuesday at the end of a three-day conference on 'India's Look East Policy - Challenges for Sub-Regional Cooperation' in Assam's main city of Guwahati.
The candid remarks by the DoNER minister go to prove that India's 'Look East' policy is, in fact, a non-starter and lacks focus. The Guwahati conclave on the 'Look East' policy, the third such meet organised by the Public Diplomacy Division of the ministry of external affairs (MEA) in the last five months, was a real shocker.
India's external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee opened the Guwahati conference Sunday by speaking almost verbatim from a written speech that he delivered June 16 at Shillong. The fact that New Delhi was harping on the 'Look East' policy without any real commitment to turn the mega dream into reality was established with divergent opinions from two senior central ministers speaking in the Guwahati conference. Mukherjee said India could emerge as one of the world's fastest growing economies if it was able to boost its 'Look East' policy by strengthening bilateral and regional relations with Southeast Asian countries.
But the DoNER minister countered by saying India's hopes of establishing relations with its immediate South Asian neighbours for business was far-fetched. 'Economic ties with neighbouring countries like Bangladesh were not good, there was an ongoing dispute with China, while Myanmar's own internal problems were hindering trade prospects with the northeast,' Aiyar said in a lengthy speech that numbed the modest gathering into silence.
'The northeast cannot really establish relations with China unless the disputes are resolved,' the minister went on to justify his statement. Enunciated in the 1990s by then prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, the 'Look East' policy had its genesis in the end of the Cold War following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Indian government made a shift in its foreign policy when it embarked on a programme of free market restructuring at home and sought new markets and economic partners abroad, with focus on Southeast Asia because of the geographical contiguity of the northeast with the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) countries. But the focus shifted when India's information technology and business process outsourcing companies started to concentrate on the US market. Since then, the 'Look East' policy has been rudderless.
The recently concluded Northeast India Trade and Investment Week in Bangkok was also a near farce with most of the trade delegations from the northeast consisting of more politicians than entrepreneurs. If the '
Ulfa eyes gem of an investment- Arrested rebel spills story A STAFF REPORTER The Telegraph
Guwahati, Oct. 10: Stocks and mutual funds are for the taxpaying investor. For the extortionist Ulfa, the ideal investment is a piece of jade worth several crore rupees. Arrested Ulfa commander Prabal Neog has told police that apart from putting its money in real estate and hotels in Bangladesh and beyond, the militant group is after a jade stone that a leader of the Kachin Independent Army (KIA) — a Myanmarese outfit — wants to sell.
A senior officer quoted him as saying that the KIA had fallen on hard times and wanted to sell the stone to procure arms. “Ulfa informed the KIA several months ago that it would like to purchase the stone but was not being able to pay the amount. The Myanmar-based militant outfit asked Ulfa to pay an advance since other prospective buyers were making offers,” he said.
Jades from Myanmar are considered among the best in the world and fetch huge prices. Neog, who was arrested along with his wife and child in Tezpur last month, told the police that the task of negotiating with the KIA for the stone was assigned to Antu Choudang, a Bangladesh-based militant of Ulfa’s 28 Battalion. Choudang is known to be close to the militant group’s commander-in-chief, Paresh Barua. “Choudang instructed Neog to keep in touch with the KIA leadership regarding the procurement of the priceless stone,” the officer said. Neog’s arrest ostensibly stalled the process of negotiations.
“So desperate was Ulfa for the stone that Choudang immediately gave Ram Singh, also a member of the 28 Battalion, the responsibility of starting the negotiations that Neog was supposed to begin. Another militant, Samrat Gohain from Golaghat district, has been in the thick of the action,” the officer said. Neog told the police that he had no idea about the price quoted by the Myanmarese outfit for the piece of jade. The police believe the stone is worth several crore rupees. Look East' policy remains a mere slogan and business summits abroad to woo investors are considered junkets by politicians, prospects of boosting the economy of the northeast will be a distant dream in a region wracked by separatist insurgencies for decades.
Unrest in Myanmar, tension in region A STAFF REPORTER The Telegraph
Buddhist monks during a pro- democracy rally in Yangon
Guwahati, Oct. 10: The pro-democracy uprising in Myanmar has made life a little easier for militants of the Northeast hiding in that country and a lot tougher for a security establishment that was banking on the junta to shunt them out.
A team of officials from central intelligence agencies will visit Myanmar to convince the army regime about the need to keep the heat on militant groups operating from that country.
Militant groups like the Khaplang faction of the NSCN are getting a respite from military operations across the Indo-Myanmar border because of the junta’s preoccupation with muzzling pro-democracy voices in that country.
A senior member of the Naga militant group confirmed that pressure from the military, which had peaked in the first half of the year, had slackened after violence on the streets of Yangon.
“The military movement that was noticeable in the early part of this year has not been seen of late. But we are not taking any chances,” the deputy kilonser (minister) of the NSCN (K)’s information and publicity wing, P. Tikhak, said from his hideout somewhere along the Indo-Myanmar border. Ulfa is known to share camps with the NSCN and Myanmar could become its strongest base after Bang-ladesh, replacing Bhutan.
Officers of the army and paramilitary forces deployed in the region said there was no doubt that the Myanmarese military establishment had dropped its guard in the areas bordering India, which is exactly where several militant groups of the Northeast have their bases. The junta had attacked these camps, including the council headquarters of the NSCN (K), last year and in 2005 too.
There was a massive build-up of troops in the Naga-inhabited areas north of the mountainous Sagaing division this year, but the units were recalled from the area recently, sources said. “Recent developments in our neighbouring country have been a source of worry for us. Myanmar has been one of our more co-operative neighbours in taking action against militants. The preoccupation of that country with its domestic problems is a big disadvantage for us,” an army officer said. Myanmar had been targeting militants of the Northeast not just for India’s sake but its own, too. “The NSCN (K) has been fighting for a separate homeland for the Nagas of Myanmar, so it is in the junta’s interest to keep the group in check,” the army officer said. The army recently told Delhi that it could crush Ulfa within a few months if it were allowed to continue counter-insurgency operations without political interference.
Junta crackdown in Myanmar Strict vigil at border area Staff Reporter Sangai Express
A satellite picture of Myanmar and a UAV
IMPHAL, Oct 9: To prevent possible influx of Myanmar Nationals seeking asylum in Manipur in view of the ongoing crackdown on pro-democracy protestors by the ruling Military Junta in neighbouring Myanmar, India Government has taken up plans to more deploy security forces along the border areas even as Un-manned Air-borne Vehicles (UAVs) have been pressed into service for constant aerial survey.
Disclosing this to The Sangai Express, sources from the Defence Establishment said Government of India has decided to step up deployment of security forces along the border areas not only in Manipur but also in other North Eastern States sharing border with Myanmar to prevent possible influx of Myanmarese pro-democracy protestors. Inspite of being a democratic country, the Government of India has taken up this measure keeping in mind the bilateral relationship with the Military Junta, the source added. It may be recalled here that of late, India has been supplying weapons and other logistic supports to Myanmar. The recent visit of the 3 Corps Commander to the State was also significant from this point of view, the source said, adding that the locations where the additional forces would be deployed in the border areas have already been finalised. Even if the situation in the border area, as of now, is not so alarming, there is the need for security preparedness and consequently, security forces deployed in the border area have been alerted. Apart from keeping a close watch on the movement of the people along the 350 km long porous border being shared by Manipur with Myanmar, there is also the need to be alerted and sensitive on the part of the people living in the border area. As to the aerial survey being carried by Un-manned Airborn Vehicles (UAVs), the Defence source, said the aerial survey would be intensified if there is the possibility of more violence incidents in the neighbouring country in the days to come. Night goggles and other sophisticated equipments are being used by the security forces deployed in the border area, the source added.
India all set to sign trade agreement with Myanmar Sentinel (UNI)
AGARTALA, Oct 10: Union Commerce Ministry has finalized the procedures to move forward with the proposed project enabling Northeast (NE) states to conduct trade directly with South East Asia through Sittwe port of Myanmar, bypassing Bangladesh. Senior officials of the ministry said here today the development of the port was part of the Kaladan multi-modal transport Project, envisaged to facilitate movement of cargo vessels from NE states via Mizoram through Kaladan river, to Sittwe. They asserted the papers were lying with the Myanmar authority, who had already given indication to sign the trade deal and India was going ahead with signing the agreement with the militant junta paving the way for development of the Sittwe Port. According to the officials, Minister of state for Commerce Jairam Ram had initiated the mission to set up bilateral trade relation with Myanmar and India is likely to seal the deal in next two to three weeks. Earlier, India had announced to invest about 103 million US dollar in the construction of a port in Sittwe town of Myanmar’s Rakhine State, while Myanmar has agreed to spend 10 million US dollar in the joint venture project, which would likely to be completed by 2010. The project would not only benefit NE states, but also be an exit point to mainland India that lies about 12 hours route from Haldia, 36 hours from Vishakapatnam.
India not in favour of change of guard in Myanmar Indo Burma News
October 10, 2007: (Tribune News Service ) India is not in favour of regime change in Myanmar and is in constant touch with both the parties --the military junta led by Senior General Than Shwe as well as the pivotal Opposition figure Aung San Suu Kyi.
India is also against the imposition of sanctions on Myanmar as it is of the view that sanctions serve no purpose on regimes like that in Myanmar which knows how to live with sanctions and the only sufferers of the sanctions are the people. New Delhi’s ties with Myanmar are getting deeper and richer by the day and have already acquired strategic dimensions. Far from distancing itself from the military junta, New Delhi is stepping up its involvement with Myanmar in coming weeks when it will finalise the Kaladan project with Myanmar.
Kaladan project is the centre-piece of the diplomatic and strategic edifice that India is busy building with Myanmar over the past few years. Kaladan is an important trans-border infrastructure project that will let the land-locked North-Eastern states gain easy access to the Bay of Bengal through Myanmar. It envisages a multi-modal transport corridor and building of a pipeline that will bring natural gas from Myanmar into the North-East. The economic, security and geopolitical stakes for India are so high in Myanmar that it is prepared to overlook the growing Western criticism of its engagement with Yangon.
India favours that the Myanmar regime holds a broader dialogue with the Opposition. A good sign in the evolving political situation in Myanmar is that Suu Kyi is willing to talk to the generals and the generals too, in their own way, are ready to talk to her. There are signals that a broader dialogue process aimed at national reconciliation in Myanmar will start sooner rather than later. While India awaits the start of the all-inclusive political process in Myanmar, it is in close contact with the generals as a foreign policy imperative. The good sign is that the Myanmarese military junta is cosying up to the idea of having some form of national reconciliation and has signed separate agreements with 17 of its 18 ethnic groups.
Indian envoy meets detained Burmese democracy icon Syed Ali Mujtaba Mizzima News
October 11, 2007 - The Indian ambassador to Burma met pro democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi a couple of weeks ago and there are indications that talks could take place between the military junta and pro democracy groups soon. India's Ambassador met Suu Kyi once and the Foreign Secretary met her twice. The generals and the Nobel Laureate have made some reconciliatory gestures and indications are that dialogue will soon begin between the junta and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, India's External Affairs spokesman said here on Tuesday.
"India has been both privately and publicly seeking release of Suu Kyi and pressing the junta to hold talks with her to make her inclusive in all processes," he said.
New Delhi notes that the present military regime in the neighbouring country has reached agreements with 17 ethnic groups. "Myanmar's [Burma's] process of national reconciliation initiated by the authorities should be expedited," sources said.
New Delhi was hopeful that the UN Special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari's endeavour would bear fruit. "We are ready to work with like-minded countries on Burma and have been extending support to Special UN Envoy Ibrahim Gambari," the official said. India has also asked the military regime to hold an inquiry into the recent bloodshed. It is of the opinion that military crackdown this time was not as severe as in 1988-89 and feels that there should be a 'credible inquiry' in the recent incidents and report should be published, a Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson said.
"We are concerned at the situation in Burma and are monitoring it closely. It is our hope that all sides will resolve their issues peacefully through dialogue." he said. "As a close and friendly neighbour, India hopes to see a peaceful, stable and prosperous Burma, where all sections of people will be included in a broad-based process of national reconciliation and political reform," he added.
