Tungshang Ningreichon
The continued and deliberate attempt of the state and its agencies to sabotage people’s efforts for peace and more damagingly the ongoing psychological warfare with various divisive methods like use of propaganda, inciting tribal conflict, creating confusion etc, is incapacitating people’s relationship. It is within these dynamics of conflict and the product of it-militarization that we live that affects every sphere of our lives. The first step that a state undertakes to immobilize a movement is militarizing the zone of conflict. However, militarization as we know and have seen in most of the cases cannot demolish peoples movement and experience have demonstrated that military strength and might of the Indian state used as a means of repression is a futile exercise and not the solution in dealing with peoples issues. The military campaign they have waged actually defeats its sole purpose of suppressing movements, which is aptly demonstrated by the Naga movement that is 58 years old!
Of late we have seen a change in strategy whereby a friendly approach to win the trust and confidence of the people have been adopted by Indian military, adorning themselves with various cheeky names like ‘Saathi Laga Force’, ‘Friends of the Hill people’ and engaging in community developmental works. They can afford to be lavish as the state allots in terms of crores for security expenditure. The largest share of the nation’s budget is on defense. So flattening grounds, constructing bus waiting sheds, distributing red blankets, donating rice mills etc which are faithfully flashed out in the papers is not a big thing for them. Villages, institutions and other beneficiaries after receiving help and assistance remains indebted and obliged to the armies in a way and such position can be exploited to the advantage of the army.
The vulnerability and poverty of the people is also tested when in the name of employment, large number of jobs are created in military while other sectors remains still. Resource and funds are poured in for creating military battalions the recent being the approval by the Ministry of Defence for new battalions in Nagaland (164 Infantry Batallion), Manipur (165 Infantry battalion) and Assam and Tripura (166 Infantry Battalion) which is called “Territorial Armies”! Any sensible being will realize that predicaments will not be solved by giving birth to new military and paramilitary bodies. Rather it appears that the state implicitly still considers peoples issue as ‘law and order problem’ because they cannot think beyond militarization yet even after taking a milestone by initiating peace process with many underground organizations.
Despite the criticisms there will be some who will applaud the greatest achievement of the Indian state in its ability to recruit youths to fight against their own people. Issue of morality, social conscientiousness and principle takes a backseat against economic necessity and pressure. But just as they are able to tailor people to think and act according to their wish there are as many as their products who despise their men in camouflage uniforms. This is not to sound like a jingoist but it is because of the very arrogance and the intimidating ways of the armies in treating people that they are despised. All patience runs amok when one is stripped of fundamental dignity and stopped and checked and frisked four times within a stretch of 82 kilometers in a time span of just 3 hours when they damn well know that nothing really worth their claim ‘for security reasons’ is to be found. Their so called ‘terrorists’, ‘militants’, ‘undergrounds’ do not travel in buses nor will they carry arms and ammunitions in passenger buses. They are too lazy and too clever for that.
Passengers mainly the illiterate villagers become victims of their verbal and physical abuses challenging the very existence and self-esteem of an individual. Many have internalized such acts and they take it as normal routine but this is just not done from any regular point of view, not to talk of the larger human rights issue. They come and occupy our land, use our resources and generously contribute in the depletion of the environment by clearing vast tract of lands for their establishment in most of the cases without compensating.
What is of grave concern lately are the reported cases of armies visiting schools and speaking to the young minds to join the Indian army. What audacity! They speak against the kith and kin of the students as militants and terrorist forgetting that the real terror for the people is them. It is unpardonable that school authorities defy the sanctity of a learning place by allowing military campaign and scandalous that army officials are invited to grace our functions and celebrations. Please leave the young minds to work on their own and don’t militarize it. Allow them to develop at their own without brainwashing them. Militarization faced from our forefathers generation is enough. Please free the young minds and save the future from militarization!
