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09/08/2010: "Nagaland should look into grievances of Kacharis Mr.Ansa Kharau Morungexpress"

Nagaland should look into grievances of Kacharis Mr.Ansa Kharau Morungexpress

•-It is to draw the attention of the State Govt, Civil organizations, groups and intellectuals in regard to the present status of the Kacharis or Dimasas living in the State of Nagaland.Although it may not be proper to raise this petty issue of a single tribe at this juncture when FNR and some frontal organizations are serious in the reconciliation process of the Nagas as a whole for solution of the vexed Naga problem, I beg to share the problem which confronted us in every step. It is well aware that the Kacharis are one of the recognized sixteen tribes of the State of Nagaland. The treatment meted out to this minor tribe of course is not as bad as one thought it to be and not good as one expected it to be. I as an individual believe that the people in general feel at home to be among the other 15 tribes in the State. Nevertheless the present generation of educated youth has an apprehension of being sidelined gradually in all the privileges extended by the Government. At the outset let me enlighten the present existence and concentration of the Kacharis in the State. They are concentrated in 18 villages in Dimapur district besides those dwelling in the towns of Nagaland. The population is approximately 20,000 or little more in the State. It is not by migration the Kacharis are here today they are but the remnants of the last king of the once prosperous Dimasa Kingdom of the 13th century. We are privileged to be one of the 16 (sixteen) tribes of Nagaland. We always stand by any decision of the majority people of the State for betterment of the people and the state.

The following are the reasons why we as one of the minority tribes are apprehensive of the future and existence in the state of Nagaland.
1. The Kacharis as a tribe has no representation in any of the frontal Organizations such as Naga Hoho,Dimapur Naga Council, NSF, DNSU or recently formed Naga Commission, perhaps because we are not Naga by ethnicity which is why we cannot be part of nation building in the future.
2. Certain Government Departments started advertising jobs inviting only Indigenous Naga tribes of Nagaland forgetting the existing Government policy of eligibility of all indigenous inhabitants of Nagaland such as any Naga tribe, Kuki, Kachari,Garo and Mikirs.
3. The name of Dimapur is taken to be a name of non-locals which in fact was derived from the Dimasa or Kachari dialect.
4. Not a single Officer has been recruited or appointed in the Administrative line till date. Of course it might be because we are lacking behind in education or not been able to compete with the advance tribes with whom our tribe is clubbed. The Govt. could have done something relaxing the existing recruitment policy.
5. All the Primary schools in the Kachari areas are provided with teachers from other tribes overlooking many eligible local candidates despite having a policy for appointment of teacher from respective tribes on linguistic line.
6. The land donated by the Kachari villagers to the Govt. departments are given on allotment to private individuals instead of utilizing for creating infrastructure for development.
7. In most cases the Kacharis are sidelined by the authority on any Govt. programmes such as PMEGP,CM corpus fund for educated unemployed, grants or subsidies for farmers etc.
8. The Kachari NGOs are perhaps the poorest organizations financially because of the absence of people in high positions who could have been donors to the organizations.

Despite facing all the above problems the Kacharis remain meek and voiceless till today. It should be remembered that the Kacharis would continue to be part and parcel of greater Naga society whether the authority or the people like it or not. Perhaps it is the duty of the Government to look into the above grievances and address the same in accommodative spirit.
Mr.Ansa Kharau,Dimapur Town
Naga Issue: An Approach out of the Box – I Written By James Rongmei, Imphal Mizoram Express

The 64th Naga independence celebration observed officially or otherwise on 14th August 2010 has once again reminded the Nagas about their historical commitment and declaration of independent Nagalim. Nagas are now quite aware of the historical facts of the Naga struggle; its downfall, Victories, hardships and joy along the way. The whole story is not reflected in this “analytical exercise out of the box” to save time and space. However, an attempt herein is made to cite some of the significant historical developments that took place in Naga society after the independence of India. This is purposively made to easily identify and underline the two core issues that the Nagas have to strive for and address realistically at this most crucial stage of our national movement for freedom. The underlying two care issue are “ sovereignty and integrity of Nagalim”
The signing of 16th point Agreement in 1960 that subsequently gave birth to the present state of Nagaland had further divided the Nagas. Despite some good measures being made to lighten the sufferings of the Nagas in the present state of Nagaland under the constitution of India, it had virtually fractured the Naga national movement to a great extent.
Now ,it is crystal clear that the pending Indo- Nagalim issue is a Naga national issue saved by the Nagas who opposed the 16th point Agreement, 1960 and Shillong Accord, 1979 signed by GOI with NPC and NNC respectively. Nobody can deny these historical facts and miserable situations the Nagas have undergone since then. Who can deny the facts that most of the Nagas in the Present state of Nagaland were completely drifted away from the Naga national cause and national spirit immediately after the creation of the Indian state of Nagaland and subsequent signing of the shilling Accord. Notably, it was the genesis of division of Naga people and their land. It truly was the source of polarisation of Naga national polity, ideals, principles and practices. When the Nagaland Nagas were overwhelmingly appeased with the new infrastructure and other facilities of a new statehood under the constitution of India, majority of NNC members who initially opposed the creation of Nagaland under 16th point Agreement were gradually impressed by this strong wind of change. As an aftermath of 16th point Agreement, NNC at last trode- in to sign the infamous Shillong Accord, 1979. This great historical blunder shattered the hope of every Naga who truly loves a united free Nagalim.
Few NNC leaders including Isak Chishi swu , SS. Khaplang, and Th. Muivah who opposed 16th Point Agreement and the Shillong Accord tried to muster majority strength to condemn the said Accords and save NNC but to no avail. Nobody bothered about ii at that material point of time. Most of us from the present state of Nagaland remained silent and preferred to reconcile and compromise with the reality of the new system of a new state. The signing of shilling Accord by NNC was consented by majority of its members either expressly or by implication. This was how India and her agents (Pro Indian Nagas) succeeded in destroying NNC. Honestly, who can deny this historical reality?
All Nagas who opposed these two Agreement that undermined Naga nationhood and territorial integrity were compelled to form NSCN under the charismatic and dynamic leadership of Isak Chishi Swu, SS. Khaplang and Th. Muivah. This was the beginning of a new era of a new leadership. It can also be opined that Naga national struggle could have been completely destroyed had all the contiguous Naga areas been put under a single administration at that historical point of time. The arbitrary division of Naga people and their land by India has much angered the majority Nagas and this has compelled them to vigorously pursue the Naga national struggle. The movement has been intensively democratised.
NSCN has internationalised the Naqga case since it became a member of UNPO. It has earned the Indian recognition on the uniqueness of Naga history & situation. Today NSCN has successfully stirred and revived the Naga national movement through out the territory of Nagalim. NSCN has successfully made India understand all about the story and insight of Naga national cause. This bilateral political peace dialogues which are put on record are very important in endeavouring an honourable settlement. All these realities are to be equally recognised by Nagas themselves. Division of the Nagas with the objective to weaken and destroy the naga national movement has turned to be a wrong policy on the part of India. It has rather become a blessing in disguise as far as Naga national movement is concerned. India can no longer stop the Nagas from their march towards their rightful place.
NSCN has actually succeeded to bring Naga national political renaissance in Nagalim. But remember, the arrogance, complacency, material and moral corruption of some of the leaders and members of NSCN (IM) can lead to destruction unless reformed and corrected. It also appears Nagas today are very serious about the need to bring an honourable solution in the ongoing Indo Nagalim political dialogue. They are equally serious about Naga unity and unification of National workers. But it is sad to say that many Nagas including some factions do not have the basic understanding of the protracted Naga national issue. For them, the pending Naga national issue is confined to the present state of Nagaland. Some of them also do not know that the present state of Nagaland has already become a part of India as per 16th point Agreement read with Article 37-A of the constitution of India. Hence, there seems to be no Naga national issue under this purview and scope. Who can deny this fact ? There really lies the problem and the Nagas must understand it realistically.
As aforesaid, Nagas who opposed the two Agreements and who have made the Naga national issue alive only has popular mandate to deal with the issue. In that perspective, Naga unity and unification of Naga national workers won’t be a problem for those whose principles and practices are based on the sovereignty and integrity of Nagalim. The prevailing problem seems to be between the national workers and Naga factions who they think are only talking for the present state of Nagaland. Is such unification between such groups really feasible? Naturally not. Because national issue involves all Naga peoples (nearly 61 different ethnic tribes) from all Naga ancestral land in India & Myanmar whose struggle is for recognition of the sovereignty and integrity of Nagalim. To project their stand exclusively for the present Nagaland defeats their national objective, if any. This is due to the formation of Nagaland under the constitution of India which has forefeited the Naga national cause.
This reality necessitates an” out of the box approach” which NSCN has adopted since its inception for resolving the Indo-Nagalim issue. The 2nd difficult factor of the Naga National workers seems to be because of some Naga faction’s support to the Manipur Govt. And undergrounds who are opposed to the territorial integrity of Nagalim. Why did this faction try to appease the pro-talk ULFA at the cost of Arunachal Nagas in the recent Assam- Arunachal border tension? Leave alone discharging Naga national responsibility, some of our national organisations has not even extended moral support to the suffering Nagas in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Myanmar whenever they are being apposed and oppressed by the adversaries. Such Naga factions encourage the opponents of the Nagas time and again. How can we expect unification when some factions are found to be always subservient to the non-Nagas? The 3rd important difficult factor is the failure of the Nagas to identify false national workers who are like wolves in sheeps’ skin. The only methodology to identify such wolves is by observing their voices and behaviours and not by their skins. The motive of creating Nagaland and destroying NNC by India was solely to crush the Naga national movement. When India failed to succeed the mission in toto due to the emergence of NSCN, she initiated a new mission to destroy NSCN.
India had a partial success in the mission when the united NSCN was divided in 1988. Though there still is regret for the NSCN split engineered by Indian agents, the mission still hangs on. It is not all the leaders but those few in the factions who are destined to destroy NSCN with the ultimate objective of crushing the Naga national movement. Naga people can observe their voices and behaviours so as to distinguish and identify them as false national workers or Indian agents on a mission from that of true national workers. Nagas can pray to God so that such people may repent and get rid of their ill mission against the Naga cause. In this way unity and unification of true national workers and the Naga citizens would be materialised. Incidentally, NSCN (K) and NNC signed a unification pact at Monyakshu, Mon district just few days after SC Jamir, the former honourable Chief Minister of Nagaland returned from Manipur after meeting Ibobi Singh, the Chief Minister of Manipur. The unification Pact was also made just after few days when uncle SC Jamir categorically stated that Nagas should drop Naga sovereignty and integrity issue in order to bring final solution to the Naga problem. To any thinking Naga, dropping of both the sovereignty and integrity issue of Nagalim means dropping everything and compromising to the status quo. To NSCN, it appears to be a sell out. This recent developments have obviously led the NSCN (IM) to raise certain questions on the credibility of the said Monyakshu Pact. Believe it or not there are some die hard pro-Indian Nagas who hate to see true Naga national workers coming together. Nagas must also pray for those people so that God will take control of them. Taking the above Premises into consideration the Pending Naga national issue must be correctly understood and recognised by the Nagas themselves. True Naga reconciliation, unity and unification can be achieved when Nagas can call a spade, a spade. Honourable Naga solution can only be found only when all the Nagas work together for it one way or the other. The national workers alone cannot do it. It is also suggested that all the Naga national organizations should completely stop fratricidal killings. They must perpetually abandon such practice as a matter of policy. Abandoning such policy does not necessarily waive their right to self defence .NSCN (IM) must also avoid its complacency and exclusive tendency. Other Naga factions must also free themselves from being subservient to anti- Naga groups. It is further suggested that the crucial stage of Naga reconciliation and unity move under FNR be saved by consolidating and transforming the already existing Joint Working Group (JWG) of the Naga national workers into a dynamic working common platform of the national workers for evolving an effective mechanism so as to forge Naga national consensus which ultimately can bring unification and honourable solution to the Indo-Nagalim Problem.
Author’s Note: In this write up” Nagaland” is used to denote the present state of Nagaland whereas “Nagalim” is also used to denote all the ancestral (contiguous) Nagas areas in India and Myanmar including that of the present state of Nagaland. The objective of this write up is to bring peace, unity, unification and honourable solution in Nagalim.
Over 300 trucks stranded in Nagaland Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, September 07, 2010: Over 300 Imphal bound freight trucks remain stranded in Nagaland even as normal movement of vehicles on NH 39 were disrupted to a fresh landslide at a place about 2 km away from Kohima towards Dimapur.

Meanwhile, windshields of as many as 10 freight trucks stoned and smashed on NH 39 at Senapati district headquarter areas while they were heading Imphal with security escort provided by CRPF personnel.

A report reaching here said that many Imphal bound freight trucks were stranded in Nagaland due to a heavy landslide on NH 39 at a place beyond Kohima towards Dimapur.

The landslide occurred yesterday.

Many Kohima bound heavy trucks were also stranded, the report added.

On the other hand, around 215 trucks, reached Mao gate through the Jotsoma by-pass of NH 39 and headed for Imphal with CRPF escort.

They left Mao gate in the evening at about 4.30 pm and crossed Senapati headquarters area at about 8 pm.

While crossing the area, trucks stoned by blockade supporters and windshields of around 10 trucks were shattered.

No casualties of the truckers were reported.

A total of 215 trucks reached Imphal with no further untoward incidents and they included 17 oil tankers and five bullet tankers.

Others were with grocery and other items, police said.

Meanwhile, another 229 empty trucks crossed Mao gate today head for Dimapur.

A total of 81 loaded trucks including 35 trucks carrying petroleum products have also reached Imphal via NH-53 today.

Mention may be made that traffic was also blocked on the Imphal-Jiribam section of NH-53 at Nung Dolan in Tamenglong district, forcing hundreds of freight trucks to be stranded on the way.

The landslide occurred in the evening of Monday but with rock and mud clearing works near completion trucks have started crossing the area.
Abducted brick kiln owner found dead A Staff Reporter | EMN
DIMAPUR The highly decomposed body of Shyam Singh, owner of brick kiln Kishan Bricks, Ittabata, abducted six months ago on February 15 by unidentified miscreants was recovered on September 7 at Lontibok Bora Bosti forest area under Karbi Anglong district of Assam.
The body was recovered based on a statement given by an accused, identified as Chotu alias Jatin Basumatary of Longtibok Boro Bosti, who was arrested on the same day, Tuesday Sept 7, during a joint raid carried out by Dimapur Police led by SI Jenmai Konyak and Assam Police. The accused is also stated to have revealed that the victim was killed in the month March while also disclosing that members of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) are also involved in the abduction and killing of Shyam Singh.
The abductors had demanded Rs 10 lakhs for the release of the victim, which they insisted should be paid in Assam. However, with police keeping close track of the negotiations, the abductors had stopped contacting the family members since the second week of February.
Another suspect, identified as one Nating Kachari, was also arrested by the police earlier from Dimapur in this connection.
It may be recalled that after the abduction of Shyam Singh, brick kiln owners had stopped sale of bricks in protest against the rampant kidnapping and extortion and also demanded the release of their abducted member.
Following the recovery of the body and the arrest of one accused, Police today revealed that it has also obtained the names of others involved in the abduction and kidnapping. Efforts are on to nab them at the earliest, they said.
China military leader urges closer Myanmar ties (AP)
BEIJING: A senior Chinese military official called for further military cooperation between Myanmar and China after meeting a top official accompanying Myanmar’s top leader, Gen. Than Shwe.
Chen Bingde, chief of the general staff of the People’s Liberation Army, met with Thura Shwe Mann on Tuesday, calling for developing stable bilateral ties and military cooperation between the nations, the official Xinhua News Agency reported late Tuesday. Gen. Than Shwe is expected to seek China’s support for plans to hold nationwide elections in early November, which the country’s junta portrayed as a key step in shifting to civilian rule after five decades of military domination. Critics have called the elections a sham and say the military shows little sign of relinquishing control.
Thura Shwe Mann, who had been the junta’s third—ranking general, is among several military leaders who apparently stepped down from their posts in order to run as civilians in the upcoming election.
Gen. Than Shwe will also meet President Hu Jintao along with Premier Wen Jiabao in Beijing. He is scheduled to visit the Shanghai Expo and the manufacturing hub of Shenzhen in southern Guangdong province before he leaves on Saturday.
Though no details have been released about their agenda, experts expect talks to centre on the upcoming elections as well as economic deals signed by Mr. Wen earlier this year.
“He needs to talk to China about how to further develop their mutual relations if he wins the election, and how China and Myanmar can go further in cooperating politically and economically,” said Zhao Haili, associate professor at the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies at Xiamen University.
The countries have generally enjoyed strong relations in recent years, though there was some friction when factional fighting sent tens of thousands of Burmese refugees across the Chinese border last summer.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a regular news conference on Tuesday that the election was Myanmar’s internal affair.
“We hope the international community can provide constructive help to the upcoming election and refrain from making any negative impact on the domestic political process and the regional peace and stability,” she said.
Gen. Than Shwe’s visit comes three months after Mr. Wen went to Myanmar, the first trip by a Chinese leader since 2001. Mr. Wen signed 15 agreements on cooperation in areas including a natural gas pipeline, hydropower station and development assistance, Xinhua said.
China is Myanmar’s third—largest trading partner and investor after Thailand and Singapore. In 2009, bilateral trade totalled $2.9 billion, Xinhua said. By January 2010, China’s investment in Myanmar amounted to $1.8 billion, accounting for 11.5 percent of Myanmar’s then total foreign investment.
But this May, China made huge investments in hydropower, oil and gas, totalling $8.17 billion, Xinhua said, quoting Myanmar government statistics.
Ultra extortion spree in Karbi Anglong Ajit Patowary Assam tribune
GUWAHATI, Sept 8 – Militants have virtually robbed the tea estates (TEs) of Karbi Anglong district of their lifeblood by making their owners and employees live under an atmosphere of constant threat and to cough up hefty sums of money to satisfy the militants.
To fleece the tea estates of hefty sums of money, these militants are now abducting employees of the tea estates and in one case they have kidnapped a child belonging to a TE employee's family. One TE owner received gun shot injuries when the militants tried to abduct him.
Moreover, to compel the TE owners to pay the extortion amounts, these militants are now forcing them to close their gardens. Significantly, the district's TEs, numbering around 20, are not big in size. They are medium-sized TEs and mostly concentrated in the Borpathar Police Station area. Most of them even do not have their own factories. Together, they produce about 30 lakh kgs of made tea annually.
These TEs are not in a position to afford for the Tea Security Force deployments in their gardens. They are owned by indigenous tea planters.
Though the members of the anti-talk faction of the Karbi Longri National Liberation Front (KLNLF) were initially found to be involved in such activities, it is now found that the members of the pro-talk faction of the outfit are also hand in glove with these elements, alleged the affected tea planters.
The North Eastern Tea Association (NETA), to which most of the affected TEs are affiliated, has sent letters to the State's Chief Minister, Industries Minister, Chief Secretary and Director General of Police and to the Union Home Minister, seeking effective measures to bring an end to this situation.
The NETA has said in its letters that the situation has turned from bad to worse in the district, particularly after the surrender of the militant groups. There are recent incidents where the militants forcibly closed down tea estates by threatening the labourers and other employees, jeopardising the livelihood of the workers.
This has created an atmosphere of unrest in the tea estates. Frequent disruptions in tea plantation activities result in complete chaos of the tea plucking cycle making the entire operations unviable and improvident, NETA said.
An employee of the Bhagawati TE was abducted at gun-point in broad daylight on the afternoon of August 31 last by the militants, who are now demanding a huge ransom. On finding no response forthcoming from the owner of the garden MD Khetan, the militant group closed down the operations of the garden on September 2 by threatening the labourers. The management duly informed the police station concerned and the NETA has also informed the district authorities of Karbi Anglong about the incident. In another incident, the owner of Dhanseri Tea Estate Angshuman Das was tried to be abducted by a group of militants and when he tried to flee from the scene he was shot at and one bullet hit him in his thigh. The incident took place around 7-30 pm of September 6. Das was immediately shifted to Golaghat Civil Hospital.
The NETA requested the Governments to urgently look into the matter and provide the district's TEs with security in their garden areas, by way of frequent patrolling or by any other means. It has also called for steps to help reopening of the Bhagawati TE by providing special security forces.
Moreover, it called for steps to rescue the Bhagawati TE's abducted employee from the clutches of his abductors. The militants have threatened to kill him if the ransom amount is not paid by September 7, said the Association.
NETA chairman Bidyananda Barkakoty told this newspaper that the State Police authorities have assured effective measures to ensure safety of the owners and employees of these TEs.
Meanwhile, M D Khetan has requested the district authorities to provide security cover so as to salvage whatever is left of the plucking season in his Bhagawati TE. The TE is by this time ruined by the bedlam created by the militants, Khetan said in a letter to the Deputy Commissioner of the district.
Press Invite : Conference on Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act in New Delhi Posted by kangla-online
PRESS INVITE
“We need to break the deadlock in the debate on AFSPA”
One Day Conference to Asses the Call to Repeal the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958
Wednesday, 8 September 2010, 9.00 a.m. – 5.00 p.m., Conference Room I, India International Centre, 40 Max Mueller Marg (Near Lodhi Gardens), New Delhi
New Delhi, 6 September 2010: Indian civil society organisations, women activists from the Northeast and other parts of the country, scholars, parliamentarians and members of the armed forces are joining hands to assess the call to repeal the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) during a one day conference at India International Center in New Delhi.
“AFSPA has entered its 52 years of implementation. Government panels, United Nations and hundreds of civil society organisations across India have called for its repeal, but the issue continues to remain deadlocked,” says conference organiser Binalakshmi Nepram. “Our meeting is intended to break this deadlock and to bring forward various views on the issue, so that we can consult and advise each other to the best viable solution.”
The conference is an initiative of the Northeast India Women Initiative for Peace (NEWIP), a network initiated by the Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network and Control Arms Foundation of India, in collaboration with People’s Union for Civil Liberty (PUCL), Indian Social Action Forum (INSAF), KRITI and others organisations.
Among the participants will be survivors of violence such as Ima Sinam Chandragini from Malom Village in Manipur, who lost two sons in the Malom Massacre of November 2000. There are also Hon’ble Members of Parliament such as Dr. Thokchom Meinya from Manipur, as well as security experts such as E. N. Rammohan, former Director General of the Border Security Force.
Enacted in 1958 as a short-term measure to allow deployment of the army against an armed separatist movement in India’s northeastern Naga Hills, AFSPA has been invoked for more then five decades and since been used throughout Northeast India. A variant of the law was also used in Punjab during a separatist movement in the 1980s and 90s, and has been in force in Jammu and Kashmir since 1990.
Officials have long sought to justify the use of the law by citing the need for the armed forces to have extraordinary powers to combat armed insurgents. However, human rights abuses facilitated by the AFSPA have fed public anger and disillusionment with the Indian state.
“Not only is AFSPA a draconian law that should not have remained in force for decades, it has now become an objective of hate. It has been abused directly by soldiers, and has also created a climate of impunity and abuse that has emboldened other police and paramilitary to commit human rights violations”, says Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia Director of Human Rights Watch.
AFSPA has allowed members of the armed forces to perpetrate abuses with impunity, because certain clauses in the law provide them with relative immunity from prosecution, adds Security Analyst, Ravinder Pal Singh: “The military feels protected by AFSPA. But this has negative outcomes for the military in its discipline and professionalism. It would be useful to examine a modifying legislation that discourages possible of acts of impunity by the security forces.”
The Supreme Court already has issued guidelines to prevent human rights violations, but these are routinely ignored. Following widespread protests after the 2004 murder in custody of an alleged militant called Manorama Devi in Manipur, the Indian government set up a five-member committee to review AFSPA. The committee submitted its report in June 2005, recommending the repeal of the act. In April 2007, a working group on Jammu and Kashmir appointed by the prime minister also recommended that the act be revoked. However, the cabinet has not acted on the recommendations because of opposition from the armed forces.
“All rights given to citizens under the Indian Constitution is destroyed under AFSPA”, states noted women activist Mrs Lourembam Nganbi from Manipur. “AFSPA is black law which should be erased from the face of the earth. Therefore women in Manipur have taken a decision that we shall not rest in peace till this is done. We call upon all to help us in this our legitimate effort so that peace comes back to Manipur, the Northeast and the rest of India.”
The conference will be held on Wednesday, 8 September 2010, from 9.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. at Conference Room I, India International Centre, 40 Max Mueller Marg (Near Lodhi Gardens), New Delhi. Journalists are invited to join the conference. Programme schedule is attached.
For more information, please contact Binalakshmi Nepram at 09968233373 or Mary Khuvung at 09891513551

Visit our website www.neiwip.blogspot.com
Or get in touch with Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network & Control Arms Foundation of India
B 5/146, First Floor, Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi – 110029
Phone: +91-11-46018541 Fax: +91-11-26166234
Email: cafi.communique@gmail.com
The General In His Labyrinth by indoadmin Hiranmay Karlekar
September 8, 2010: India’s unrolling of the red carpet for Burma’s General Than Shwe, who was on a ‘religious-cum-official’ visit to the country from 25 to 29 July, understandably raised eyebrows.
As chairman of an organisation euphemistically called the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the general has been presiding over an obnoxious military dictatorship. The junta has a well-documented record of human-rights abuse, and is credibly accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity under international law, including the use of child soldiers, the destruction of villages, the displacement of ethnic minorities, the use of rape as a weapon of war, extrajudicial killings, forced relocation and forced labour.
Its persecution of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under detention for 14 of the last 20 years, does not require elaboration. In 2007, the SPDC ordered a crackdown on peaceful protests that resulted in the murder, beating, torture and imprisonment of Buddhist monks. In an act of breathtaking irony, the general started his tour of India with a visit to Bodh Gaya and other centres of Buddhist pilgrimage.
There has been little indication that the junta would turn over a new leaf.
National elections, now scheduled for 7 November, are being carefully orchestrated to be a sham. The Constitution of 2008, on the basis of which these are to be held, and which was approved by a farcical referendum, strengthens the supremacy of the military. Among other things, it grants the commander-in-chief of the armed forces the right to appoint 25 percent of the members of both houses of Parliament.
Besides, the SPDC has enacted five draconian election laws that give the junta absolute control over the election process and bar political prisoners, including Suu Kyi, from contesting. Even campaigning will be restricted, with the Election Commission issuing a directive, on 21 June, prohibiting political parties from campaigning in a manner that ‘harms security, the rule of law and community peace’.
It is a reflection on the credibility of the forthcoming polls that the foreign ministers of ASEAN countries, who ended their annual meeting at Hanoi on 20 July, gave ‘an earful’ – the Thai foreign minister’s words – to Burma, while demanding that it hold free and fair elections. This is a significant development, given the caution that has generally marked ASEAN’s proceedings and pronouncements, and the oft-levelled allegation that it overlooks rights abuses in member countries. Not surprisingly, Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), has announced that it will not contest the elections under the existing laws.
Meanwhile, the junta is preparing its own forces for the election. In April, Prime Minister Thein Sein quit the military and announced the formation of a new grouping, the Union for Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which now looks set to be the army’s party.
Marriage of convenience Why is India, a vibrant democracy, courting a man such as Gen Than Shwe and the junta over which he presides? The answer has to be sought in the context of New Delhi’s steadfast efforts to woo the generals since mid-1990. At that time, the V P Singh-led National Front government reversed policies of Rajiv Gandhi that had strongly supported the Suu Kyi-led movement for democracy.
A contrary note was sounded a few years later, in 1993, when India awarded its highest civilian award, the Jawaharlal Nehru award for Peace and International Understanding, to Suu Kyi. But that proved to be a one-time exception, and the process of cosying up to the junta continued.
This was most glaringly underlined in October 2004, the last time Gen Than Shwe visited India. At that point he came along with his ministers for industry, energy, communications and railways, and discussed trade and economic development with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Political realism was the reason cited for this volte face. First, the rhetoric suggested, it was essential to checkmate China’s penetration of Burma, which posed a grave security threat to India.
Second, cooperation from Rangoon (and now the new capital, Naypyidaw) was needed against the rebels in the Indian Northeast, who retreated to their bases in Burma whenever the security forces made things difficult for them in India. Third, economic cooperation with Burma promised rich rewards, particularly in the energy sector. Finally, India’s new ‘Look East’ policy demanded good relations with Burma, through which land routes to countries such as Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam would run.
The trouble is that the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. ‘Realpolitik’ can be a trap – as the Soviet Union, which signed the disastrous non-aggression treaty of 1939 with Nazi Germany, found to its cost when Adolf Hitler invaded it in June 1941. In the case of Burma, the danger is not of an invasion but of India being taken for a ride. Gen Than Shwe is known not only as a savage military dictator but also as a master manipulator. The name of his game is playing India against China and vice-versa.
He first visited India in 2004 after sacking his prime minister, Khin Nyunt, who was reportedly a favourite of China. The underlying message – that he did not want to put all his eggs in one basket – was reinforced later that year, when Burma agreed to sell to India 80 percent of the electricity generated from a dam in Sagaing Division in return for assistance in its construction.
Trade between the two countries has been growing in volume at the rate of USD 1 billion per year. The Indian private sector is also active. Tata Motors is setting up a vehicles plant, which is expected to be functioning from 2011. However, there is no getting around the fact that the economic cooperation between India and Burma is heavily tilted in the latter’s favour. While India is providing trade concessions, funds and expertise for infrastructural development, Burma is giving comparatively little in return.
India is assisting Burma in a host of projects, including in railways, road and waterway development, power and industrial training centres, telecommunication, industrial development, power generation and energy. A number of Indian public-sector units are active in Burma, including the National Hydel Power Corporation, the Border Roads Organisation, the Inland Waterways Authority of India, the Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) and the Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL).
One could argue that both current equations and future returns must be considered, and that cooperation with Burma promises much. Burma’s mining sector offers considerable opportunities to Indian companies, as does the oil and natural-gas sector. The ONGC and GAIL are active in Burma’s A-1 and A-3 offshore natural-gas blocks, and are constructing a gas pipeline connecting the Burmese island of Ramree with Yunnan in southern China.
India’s need is particularly acute in the energy sector, given the demands of its rapidly growing economy and its large, increasingly prosperous and consumption-oriented middle class. There is, however, a need to guard against being carried away by future expectations and ignore current realities on the ground – one of which is the indication that Burma has been short-changing India on the energy front.
Burma has delivered little of substance, and has also given China far better deals; the returns have consequently not been commensurate with New Delhi’s contributions.
There remains the issue of security. India has 1640 kilometres of border with Burma, abutting four of its northeastern states, and Naypyidaw’s cooperation is essential for tackling the ongoing insurgent activity along it. Burma is claimed to have been helpful, and the last Home Secretary-level talks at Naypyidaw led to important decisions.
This might well have been so, but going by results, Burma’s assistance in this area has been of the kind whose impact is mainly felt in the realm of the imagination. The rebels (including Naga, Manipuri, Assamese and Bodo groups) have been little impacted in the aftermath.
Burma has achieved nothing on par with Bhutan, which launched a military offensive in 2002, expelling United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) fighters from its soil; or Bangladesh, where the government’s crackdown has landed leaders such as the ULFA’s Arabinda Rajkhowa and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland’s Ranjan Daimari in custody, and transferred them to India.
Realpolitik quagmire Few people are suggesting that India should have nothing to do with the junta. But there is a world of difference between that extreme and falling all over oneself to please, which is what New Delhi has been doing. Gen Than Shwe, who visited Bodh Gaya in Bihar and the Sarnath temple in Uttar Pradesh after arriving in India on 25 July, reached Delhi the following day to be received by Foreign Minister S M Krishna.
He was accorded a ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhawan, the presidential mansion, on 27 July, and a banquet was hosted by the president in his honour. On the same day, he met Prime Minister Singh and delegation-level talks were held. On 28 July, the general travelled to Hyderabad, where he visited information-technology and biotechnology units, as well as the renowned Salar Jung Museum. On 29 July, his final day in India, he visited the Tata Motors plant in Jamshedpur.
A joint communique issued at the conclusion of the visit mentioned agreements on a number of projects. These included Indian assistance in the construction and revamping of the Rhi-Tiddim road, connecting Burma with Mizoram, at a cost of more than USD 60 million; a line of credit of USD 64 million for the construction of electricity-transmission lines; a grant of USD 10 million for the procurement of agricultural machinery from India; and another line of credit, of USD 6 million, for upgrading microwave links between Moreh in India and Mandalay in Burma.
The joint statement also noted the signing of a Treaty on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters and memoranda of understanding on India’s assistance for small development projects in Burma, along with information cooperation and the conservation and reconstruction of the Ananda temple at Bagan.
It can be argued that all this is realpolitik. But the question that, like Banquo’s ghost, refuses to go away is whether its pursuit at all costs makes sense. As noted, realpolitik recoiled on the Soviet Union in 1941, as it did on Great Britain, which in the 1930s watched Hitler’s rise with benign indifference, with a section even welcoming it as a counterpoise to the Soviet Union. Realpolitik has landed the United States, which had lavishly backed Afghan jihadi formations against the Soviet Union during the 1980s, with Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
What price India will have to pay for supporting the junta is not clear at this point. At the very least, it will be the moral condemnation of history, and eventually something more concrete – such as the hostility of the democratic government that is bound to be established in Burma one day. Meanwhile, New Delhi finds itself with rather strange bedfellows on the Burma issue. In November 2009, it opposed a resolution on Burma’s human-rights violations at the United Nations General Assembly. The other countries to do so were Belarus, China, Iran, Libya, North Korea and Zimbabwe.
Hiranmay Karlekar is consultant editor with The Pioneer, and the author of Bangladesh: The next Afghanistan? and Savage Humans and Stray Dogs: A study in human aggression.
Suu Kyi ‘concerned’ as BBC Burmese risks being dropped
Thomas Maung Shwe (Mizzima)

Chiang Mai– The BBC’s Burmese service broadcasts could be eliminated next year as part of the Cameron coalition government’s dramatic reduction in spending on the BBC World Service, The Guardian of London on Tuesday, quoting an unnamed source.

However, late yesterday in response to that report, BBC News quoted British Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt as saying that no decision had been taken about possible cuts to its World Service’s annual £264 million (US$409 million) grant, Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has told website’s entertainment and arts section

“Government departments have been told to shave at least 25 per cent off budgets to tackle the UK [British] deficit,” the report said.

Win Tin (above), a veteran Burmese journalist and co-founder of the Burmese opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), expressed hope that the British government would reconsider cuts at BBC Burmese, calling it an essential service for millions of people in Burma, who would otherwise be stuck with Burmese junta-controlled media. Photo: Mizzima
The British government funds the World Service, which receives allocations from the Foreign and Commonweath Office (FCO), Britain’s foreign ministry.

Hunt was reported as saying that the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government was “absolutely committed to the global reach of the World Service and the very important job it does as a beacon for democracy around the globe”.

An FCO spokesman told the BBC: “Any proposal to open or close a language service requires ministerial approval – no such approval has been sought or given.”

All aspects of the FCO’s future budget were being considered as part of the government’s spending review, the outcome of which would be on October 20, he added.

But that is all information for public consumption.

The Guardian report quoted an insider who said: “The Burma office is up for grabs. It is a question of costs. It is very expensive and has relatively few listeners. The ‘human rights’ argument doesn’t hold much sway with the new Foreign Office [FCO].”

The service, which recently celebrated its 70th year on air, is routinely denounced in Burma’s state-controlled media. Burma observers say that cancelling or reducing BBC Burmese broadcasts would be a major victory for the military regime.

In a recent interview with Mizzima, the BBC Burmese service chief, Tin Htar Swe, foreshadowed the funding difficulties. Because of the economic recession in Britain, the FCO might be forced to reduce the funding of the World Service, which could have a knock-on effect regarding the Burmese language service, she said. However, the impact on programming would not be significant, she hoped.

Subir Bhaumik, the BBC’s East India correspondent based in Kolkata, who also contributes to the Burmese service, told Mizzima he was aware of general cost-cutting but was more hopeful considering the importance placed on coverage in the run-up to Burma’s first elections in two decades.

“I am not aware of any major budget cuts in Burmese and Bengali services in the immediate future, though there is a general tightening of belts … across the BBC,” he said. “But the BBC is giving much importance to the Burma elections and I don’t see any compromise that the BBC will make with our Burma coverage.”

A screen capture from a broadcast by state mouthpiece Myanmar Radio and Television that denounces the BBC World Service. The British government funded broadcaster is facing possible funding cuts that may threaten its Burmese service to an audience of more than 8 million people inside Burma.
Reached for comment, Win Tin, a veteran Burmese journalist and co-founder of the National League for Democracy (NLD), said that termination of the BBC’s Burmese broadcasts would be a “gift” for Burma’s military authorities “because the BBC tells the people of Burma what is really going on, something the regime doesn’t want”.

He said he hoped the British government and FCO Secretary William Hague, would reconsider the cuts at BBC Burmese “because it is an essential service for millions of people across Burma, especially the millions who don’t speak English and otherwise would be stuck with Burmese state-controlled media”.

The NLD leader added that broadcasts from the BBC Burmese service played an key role in keeping the population of Burma informed during important national events in the country’s history, including the 1988 popular uprising, the 1990 election won by the NLD and the 2007 “saffron revolution”, named so as it was led by monks.

For many years the Burmese regime has officially outlawed people listening to BBC Burmese, though the BBC estimates more than 8 million people in Burma routinely defy this ban and still tune in via short-wave radios. It is the BBC Burmese service’s large audience that prompts Burmese state media to routinely refute its reports.

The estimated audience in Burma, contrary to what The Guardian source’s statement suggests, is in fact quite large when considered as a percentage of Burma’s population. The numbers are however dwarfed in comparison to the BBC’s broadcasts in Hindi and Urdu, directed at India and Pakistan, which have far bigger populations than Burma.

The Southeast Asian Press Alliance’s 2007 report “Foreign Assistance to the Burmese News Media” said in terms of all outlets based outside Burma, the BBC Burmese service probably had a larger audience than any other medium in the Burmese language.

It added that: “Since November 2003, the BBC World Service Trust – the station’s charity arm – has been broadcasting educational soap operas and magazine-style programmes in Burmese that have become very popular.”

Suu Kyi, British opposition, ‘very concerned’ by BBC Burmese cuts

The London Independent newspaper reported that Kyi Win, a lawyer for the detained NLD leader said that Aung San Suu Kyi had “heard that the BBC could be facing some funding problems due to the current economic situation in Britain and the BBC Burmese service might be facing cuts rather than expansion. She is very concerned about the situation as the people in Burma are relying on [the] BBC … for news and information.”

Also, Shadow Foreign Secretary David Miliband agreed with the stance of Win Tin and other Burma watchers when he told The Guardian that ending BBC broadcasts to Burma would play into the hands of the country’s ruling military junta.

“The World Service is a steady, credible voice in parts of the world where the only other messages blend threats and propaganda,” he said. “Scrapping the World Service in Burma would be a gift to the military junta, and an insult to political prisoners locked in Burma’s jail for no crime.”

Burma is the subject of tough Western sanctions, because of its refusal to recognise the last elections in 1990 and the prolonged detention of opposition leader Suu Kyi.

The country will hold its first election in 20 years in November, but pro-democracy parties say that restrictions imposed by the military government will virtually ensure its proxy parties win the poll.

What the Burmese regime has to say about BBC Burmese and the 1988 uprising

New Light of Myanmar Monday, June 13, 2005
However, BBC and VOA purposely breached the journalist ethics and broadcast fabricated instigations to incite uprising and anarchistic acts during the 1988 unrest. With fabricated interviews to fuel the problem, they made attempts to push Myanmar into abyss. Everybody can still remember the skyful of lies made by BBC and VOA at that time.
After the 1988 incidents, in addition to BBC and VOA, new foreign media such as RFA, DVB and other broadcasting stations and foreign periodicals including Shan Thandawsint have been broadcasting slanderous fabrications and instigations without shame in order to disintegrate the Union; disintegrate the national solidarity of Myanmar and perpetrate the loss of her sovereignty.

SPDC denies claims in BBC report on political prisoners

New Light of Myanmar Friday, 13 August, 2004
Those who daren’t show their face – 57
As they are making wicked lies and slanders one after another, the BBC and the VOA [Voice of America] have become skilled in creating fabrication. At 6 a.m. on 26 July 2004, the BBC aired an interview with Ko Teik Naing of the AAPP [Assistance Association for Political Prisoners Burma] concerning the demise of poet U Kyi Tin Oo. The VOA also broadcast an interview with his daughter at 9 p.m. on the same day.
The brief account of the fabrication was that the BBC interviewed the so-called secretary of the AAPP about U Kyi Tin Oo, who was released from jail on 26 March 2004 and who died on 24 July. Teik Naing told the BBC that U Kyi Tin Oo died of hypertension, cardiac disorder and diabetes, which he was suffering from, while serving his jail term. Teik Naing also said that his toe was already decomposed; and that bits of bamboo were found inside his body as he was stabbed and hit with pointed bamboo sticks during the interrogation.
But during the VOA interview, her daughter said that his father was suffering from hypertension since before he was sentenced. She even said that her father underwent medical treatment at Insein Hospital before he was released from prison.
So, it has become quite clear. What the so-called secretary of the AAPP, an organisation that is located at a far corner in a remote border area, said about U Kyi Tin Oo was nothing but lies to make the matter worse. Such a person who is skilled in creating lies and fabricated sad stories will be very rare.
The acts of the expatriates and fugitives of the AAPP and the corrupt politicians from inside the country attacking Myanmar [Burma] and her Government on all fronts to the degree beyond imagination to make political gains were so mean.
Whenever a person dies after he was released from prison for a period of a month or a year or ten years, the AAPP and the corrupt politicians always create a sad story, with fabrications, saying that the said person died of the effects of tortures in the prison or during interrogation or died of a certain illness or diseases due to lack of prison health care services. And if he died in prison, they slander the Government for not releasing him sooner for enabling him to undergo medical treatment in time. In reality, those persons are very pitiful for they are constantly under the influence of the greed to grab power.
Man is not free from death, sufferings and illness. Death may come at any time. So, a prisoner or an ordinary person can die at any time. Moreover, a person can be contracted by some kind of disease while he is in prison or at his house. But a prisoner like U Kyi Tin Oo is sentenced to imprisonment without hard labour. U Kyi Tin Oo was so comfortable in the prison, enjoying sound sleep every night and daily meals served at the right time. The prison doctors provide regular medical check-ups for inmates, and give them medical treatment. If necessary, specialist surgeons make medical check-up on and gave medical treatment to them. The prisoners are even treated at public hospitals outside the prison. So, the accusations that a prisoner is stricken with a certain kind of illness or disease while serving his jail term are just lies. And the liars create the slanderous accusations not because of their goodwill for the prisoners, but just because of their greed to earn dollars.
Than Shwe to visit China Mizzima News

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Burmese strongman and former Senior General Than Shwe is preparing for a five-day state visit to China.

According to the Chinese news service Xinhua, the visit, on which Than Shwe will be accompanied by his wife, is scheduled for September 7 to 11.

Having last visited China in 2003 as chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the upcoming sojourn comes shortly after several senior members of Burma’s armed forces abruptly retired their fatigues and declared themselves civilians in apparent preparation for the country’s November general election.

In recent months China has rampantly increased its investment into Burma, already pumping in over 8 billion dollars during the current fiscal year. The sum is two-thirds Burma’s total investment over the past two decades.

Of the recent infusion of investment, 5 billion dollars is directed at hydropower projects, with the oil and gas sector benefiting from a further 2.15 billion dollars.

Xinhua reports the latest tête-à-tête comes at the behest of an invitation extended to the Burmese leader from Chinese President Hu Jintao.

Than Shwe had also visited China in 1996 as chairman of the State Law and Order Restoration Council, the junta’s precursor to the SPDC.

The last high-level Chinese mission to Burma was led by vice president Xi Jinping in December of last year.

In July of this year Than Shwe travelled to India, where he was feted by Indian leaders and signed several agreements, including economic concessions, aimed at strengthening relations between the two countries.