[Previous entry: "Elements of tribalism exist even in Churches: Imchen(NPN)"] [Next entry: "Nagaland on the verge of disintegration: HM Nagaland Post Richang Imchen,"]

10/02/2011: "Hundreds Go Missing in India's North East Stella Paul Ground report"

Hundreds Go Missing in India's North East Stella Paul Ground report

For records, law and order situation has improved a lot in India's North East region of late. There are fewer killings, fewer attacks and fewer people wounded. Now, just when you are all tempted to say ‘how wonderful!’, comes the news: there are people vanishing, in thousands, every year, all over the region.
Topping the list is Manipur where over 300 people disappear every year. Every morning, as you open a newspaper, you will come across 7-10 faces of the “missing persons”, listed on the last page of the newspaper.

Some will be found eventually; their bodies, often decomposed beyond recognition, are retrieved from remote and isolated locations. Visit the morgue of state capital Imphal and you can see uncovered bodies, lying on the ground, unattended. You can tell that they are victims of extrajudicial killings. Majority of these bodies will never be identified nor claimed by families. They will be hastily examined, and then disposed off by the municipality. They will not be given any names, their stories will not be written, and miniscule records of their passage in the morgue will be kept. In an ultimate denial of their humanity, no religious rituals will be performed.

But, what about those who are not dead? Where do they end up, if not in the morgue?

The answer isn’t difficult to guess: trafficked, to other parts of the country. Yes, human trafficking is growing at an alarming rate all across India and North east is emerging as the greatest source of this trafficked human goods, mostly women and children.

Official data is hardly ever there, but there are indicators to validate such comments. A look at Assam Police’s annual list of missing persons shows up hundreds of images and two third of them belong to young women, between 18-35 of age. And this is just the list of 1 year (2009). How many women have since then gone missing? You can only guess.

Nagaland is no better. In Nagaland, one person goes missing every 3 ½ days. According to a study conducted by a local NGO called Prodigal Home, 68% of them are children, 35% of whom will never be found again.

There is another scary fact about Nagaland: the state has become the main transit point for human trafficking and this is officially validated fact, provided by state police. According to a senior police officer SP Tuensang Roopa, girls from border areas are brought to Nagaland through ‘agents,’ trafficked to other parts of the country. There, they are forced into prostitution. Some are employed as domestic help in individual households.

(There are 3 lakh brothels in India today with 2.5 million prostitutes in about 1100 red light areas, who are also mostly trafficked and forced into prostitution.)
The biggest hurdle in curbing or even tracking this trafficking menace is that half the times missing cases are not registered. Data collection, therefore, is a mission nearly impossible for those wanting to research the issue. Sometimes, one gets suspected and threatened, simply for asking ‘too many questions.’ Community members, including the relatives of the missing persons too go into a shell the moment they see you taking notes.

Is implementation of laws such as Child Labor (Prevention and Regulation) Act, alone the answer to this menace? Or, is this a larger issue of poverty elimination and creation of livelihood opportunities? It’s time to start asking those questions, aloud.

Extortionists are thieves and robbers: Imchen Nagaland Post

Nagaland Home Minister Imkong L.Imchen reiterated that he did not see any difference between “unauthorized collection of taxes” and extortion as it should be considered as extortion.

Imchen was speaking as chief guest at the inaugural session of ‘Public Seminar’ held at Ana Ki conference hall, opposite Tata parking Dimapur.
Imchen said those engaged in “unauthorized collection of taxes in the name of various factions were not Naga nationalists, but were purely criminals and thieves”.

“They are not Naga nationalists under any circumstance, they are robbers”, Imchen declared, adding they did not deserve respect in the society. He said many people have succumbed to their threat and the time has come to uproot the “parasite” of extortion from the society.
Imchen opined that the parasite which has its root in the family and society would be “rooted out once people” when all the organizations come together and raise their voice, instead of depending on the law enforcing agency. He said “unless we come out from this menace, we would be torturing ourselves”.

Imchen said the spectre of extortion has destroyed the image of the Naga society to the outside world and asserted his resolve to shoulder the responsibility to tackle the crime.

On the issue of rape, Imchen described it as an “unimaginable and heinous” crime which did not exist in Naga society but was today happening due to the process of social changes.

The home minister suggested that it would be helpful if the investigating team conduct research on the accused to understand why rape was committed. On the kidnapping front, he said government alone cannot solve the problem, unless the people and those affected person come out and cooperate with the law enforcing agencies.

Further, admitting that criminal activities in Dimapur were almost rampant,Imchen assured his support and assistance to any resolution on tackling crimes as would be passed after the conclusion of Saturday’s seminar.

He also pointed out that simply passing out a resolution and handing it over to the government would be unfruitful, unless people also share the responsibility.

Various organizations and unions including police and district administration Saturday participated at the day-long seminar for suggestions to recommend measure to the government of Nagaland for consideration and implementation on curbing increasing social menaces such as rape, extortion and kidnapping in Dimapur, the main commercial hub of Nagaland.

The seminar was conducted under the aegis of Naga Council in coordination with Women Hoho, GB union, DCCI, Tribal Hohos, NMDA, business community, students and all Dimapur Civil Societies.

Topics on evils of rape and extortion, unauthorized taxation/kidnapping/law and order problems in Dimapur were discussed with Dr. PS Lorin, principal Tetso college and president Nagaland College Principal Forum and Liangsi Niumai John, advocate general, secretary Dimapur Naga Women Hoho and Director C-CERP (Environment Care Society) as the resource persons.

Congress MLA, Hewoto Awomi suggested that police in civvies be posted at all strategic places- schools, business establishments, hospital etc- to reduce crimes. He pointed out that the reason behind the increasing kidnappings was due to jealousy among business community.
“We are the patient to all these elements”, Hewoto said.

Hewoto claimed that even ministers, MLAs and church leaders were indulging in extortion in some way or the other adding “ we have to correct ourselves first”.

“Why blame the culprits? We are giving chance to them… we should be ashamed to be called ourselves Christians” he said while pointing to alarming rise of extortions and kidnappings in the society.

Hewoto opined that once society acted in unison, such menaces such as rape, extortions, kidnappings and murder would be reduced.
Leaders from various organizations also expressed their views that the criminals activities which pose threat to the society could be tackled more effectively if only people also took up their own responsibility.

The speakers also expressed similar sentiments that people also should share the responsibility instead of demanding and expecting it to be tackled only by the law enforcement agency.

“Remaining silent would not solve our problems.We have to take to the streets “ one of the speakers said. Around 373 delegates from Naga Council, Naga Women Hoho, Tribal Hohos, GB Union, DCCI, NMDA, DNSU, Business Community (FBO), DMC, FNR, Pastor Fellowship (BPFD), Dimapur Administration, Dimapur Police, ANPSA, DDCF, DPC (print and electronic media), Marwari, Bengali, Muslim and Kachari communities and senior citizens attended the seminar

Cong bosses tread warily - Arunachal leadership row intensifies OUR BUREAU The Telegraph
New Delhi/Guwahati, Oct. 1: The Congress leadership is treading cautiously over the demand for change in leadership in Arunachal Pradesh, with both pro and anti-Jarbom Gamlin camps toughening their stands today.
Indications from both camps also suggested as much, with party insiders referring to the inconclusive meetings chief minister Jarbom Gamlin and Arunachal Pradesh PCC president Nabam Tuki had with Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel in Delhi last night.
Tuki, said to have been ticked off by Patel for rabble-rousing — just like Union home minister P. Chidambaram had subtly criticised Gamlin with his tough talk on the political instability in the state yesterday — told The Telegraph today, “Deliberations are on and there was no decision. It will be taken by the high command.”
The concern stems from a threat by some legislators that they would form a regional party if there were no change of guard.
The insiders said the high command would not take any decision unless it was doubly sure that it was in the best interest of the party and the state. “There is no room for unjustified dissension or incompetence. Chidambaram’s press conference suggested this line of thinking. It may take three to four more days for the picture to become clear,” one of them said.
Both camps, however, appeared pretty sure of winning the day and not leaving the national camp until a decision was taken either way.
There will be no change in leadership, a confident Gamlin, facing his toughest test yet after taking over as chief minister following the death of Dorjee Khandu on April 30 in an air crash, told The Telegraph today.
Gamlin also charged Tuki of engaging in horse-trading, an allegation promptly refuted by an equally confident Tuki. “We have met our leadership individually and in groups to apprise it about the grim situation back home, given the virtual breakdown of governance. And the demand of our legislators and party leaders for change in leadership is being looked into,” he said.
Chowna Mein, a senior minister whose alleged abduction on September 26 from near the chief minister’s official residence had precipitated the controversy, today reiterated that change was inevitable, given the threat to life of even ministers.
Mein’s accusation came at a time when several legislators, ministers and party leaders are already camping in Delhi, demanding Gamlin’s ouster. A beleaguered Gamlin said, “It is all nonsense, this kidnapping charge. He came to my place around 5.30 or 6 in the evening. It was I who dropped him back at his residence in my official car,” he said.
Sources said involvement of NSCN (I-M) rebels in the entire drama, which has derailed governance in the state, was also suspected, as some MLAs were allegedly being threatened to support some faction of the outfit or the other.
Their involvement is also suspected in light of their demand for inclusion of Tirap and Changlang districts in the integrated Naga homeland, Nagalim.
The Naga rebels, however, have strongly refuted the charge about their involvement in Arunachal Pradesh politics.