Insurgents need livelihood after surrender
In January this year, 246 insurgents surrendered in Guwahati before Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, laying down a large number of weapons, ammunition and explosives. Of them, 77 were from the little-known Tiwa Liberation Army, while the rest were from the United Gorkha People’s Organisation. At this surrender ceremony, the CM presented cheques for Rs 1.5 lakh each to 462 former militants who had surrendered earlier on various occasions. Among them were 303 insurgents of the National Liberation Front of Bengalis, 61 of Adivasi Dragon Fighters, 41 of National Santhal Liberation Front, 29 of the United People’s Revolutionary Front and 28 of the Rabha National Liberation Front.
On February 25 last year, 1,040 insurgents from Karbi Anglong district of Assam surrendered before the then CM Sarbananda Sonowal along with 338 weapons, which included eight light machine guns with over 11,200 rounds, 11 M-16 rifles and 58 AK-47 rifles — which could have caused havoc, had they been used. These insurgents were from five groups of Karbi Anglong — the Karbi People’s Liberation Tigers, the United People’s Liberation Army, People’s Democratic Council of Karbi Longri, Karbi Longri NC Hills Liberation Front and the Kuki Liberation Front.
Twenty insurgents, 16 of them from Thadou People’s Liberation Army, two from the United People’s Liberation Army and one each from the People’s Liberation Army and People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak, surrendered before Manipur CM N Biren Singh on March 3, 2021. The latter two were dreaded outfits that carried out a series of attacks on security forces in the 1980s and 1990s. Until about a decade ago, almost 50 insurgent groups were active in Manipur with almost every tribe having an insurgent outfit and the Kuki National Organisation playing the role of an umbrella organisation for 17 splinter groups of the Kuki tribe and seven others under the United People’s Front, also of Kuki tribals.
Thirty Kuki insurgent groups are under the Suspension of Operations (known as SoO in military parlance) pact that was signed between the Centre, the state and the insurgent groups on August 22, 2008. Residing in their designated camps, they are known to indulge in extortion and other anti-social activities as they are not paid their promised stipend regularly, which at times stretches to over two years. There has not been any significant progress in the talks between the Centre and the insurgent groups though AB Mathur was appointed interlocutor over four years ago. The Kuki groups nurture a grouse that the peace talks with the Naga insurgent group, the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isaac-Muivah) is being given greater importance.
Replying to an unstarred question in Parliament on November 26, 2014, the then Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said that 8,119 insurgents of various groups had surrendered before the authorities between 2005 and 2014, the largest — 3,819 — among them being from Assam, while 1,365 surrendered in Tripura and 1,341 in Manipur.
Intensive operations launched by the security forces, comprising the Central Reserve Police Force, Assam Rifles, the state police and the Army led to the killing of 21 insurgents, apart from the arrest of 646 with the seizure of 305 weapons in 2020, says the annual report of the Ministry of Home Affairs. As many as 2,644 insurgents surrendered during that year. This has ameliorated the situation to a great extent. There has been a reduction of 80 per cent in insurgency-related violence as compared to 2014. Casualties of security forces personnel too have dwindled by 75 per cent.
With thousands of insurgents having surrendered in the Northeast over the past decade, there is a need to accelerate the peace talks with some outfits that are overground and also those that are yet to give up their armed struggle.
Under the surrender and rehabilitation scheme of the Central Government that was revised in March 2018, all surrendered insurgents are entitled to get a fixed deposit amount of Rs 4 lakh which they may use as collateral security against bank loan for self-employment, another Rs 6,000 per month as stipend for three years apart from free boarding and lodging at designated rehabilitation camps run by non-government organisations. They would also be provided free vocational training for gainful employment. For the weapons surrendered, they would get additional incentive amount which would vary according to the type of arms and explosives surrendered.
The Northeast offers a rich fare for tourists but unfortunately, it has not seen the kind of footfall that it should attract. Most of these surrendered insurgents can be gainfully employed in tourism and hospitality industry with less expenditure. While most of them can be put through courses on state-specific tourist spots as guides, many could be trained to be drivers to ferry tourists to various tourist spots in the states.
There are several unexplored tourist spots in the Northeast, much of which would be known to the people outside the region. In districts like Tamenglong and Ukhrul in Manipur, there are spots that are not much known to the world. Similarly, places like Sibsagar and Tinsukia in Assam have much to offer. Many books written by British officers who served in these areas are available in libraries. A peek into the history of the Northeast through tourism would go a long way to arouse interest in these states.
Since most insurgents are familiar with the terrain, having spent years in the jungles, their services could be utilised in adventure tourism like hiking and rafting. The Union and state tourism ministries will have to play an active role in involving former insurgents in the tourism sector in a big way. Speedy rehabilitation of insurgents will go a long way to motivate others to come overground and lead a life of comfort and happiness with their families. Delay in rehabilitation could prove counter-productive and discourage other fence-sitters who may want to surrender.
