This comprehensive study of terrorism in India’s North - East is the result of the author's personal experience of combating terrorism in the Naga Hills and the Mizo Hills during his extended tenures in the area, followed by long years of secondary research after his retirement. It is to be noted that the terrorism in the North - East is of older vintage as compared to its counterpart in Jammu and Kashmir.
Not only the present situation/terrorism and counter - terrorism in each of the Seven states popularly known Seven Sisters has been discussed but their historical perspective too has been gone into in detail.
Ironically, the insurgency-terrorism in the North - East can be linked to India's Independence. In the first flush of glow of the Freedom, every tribe got conscious of their identity and wanted to vigorously preserve it. Most of the tribes wanted a place in the sun through secessionist, or the very least, autonomy movements, which became violent in the course of time.
Dealing with the terrorism in the North-East is not an easy proposition, given its diversity (ethnic, racial, religious and linguistic), size, history and geography. If India is a microcosmic world, the North-East is microcosmic India. Of the 5,653 communities in India, 653 are tribal of which 213 are indigenous to the North-East.
Democratic India has shown maximum possible accommodation to tribal communities. But it has not been easy dealing with them. Even issues settled decades back threaten to come unstuck. Two apt examples will do. After long and sustained struggle, the Khasis and Garos got Meghalaya, a state of their own and now the Garos want Caroland to be carved out of this small state. Again, the smaller tribes in Mizoram want a Union Territory (U T) of their own within that State. It is no secret that a U T is but penultimate stage on way to demand for a full - fledged state of the Union.
All this shows the problems of dealing with terrorism in the North - East. All these have been comprehensively covered in the book.
Being the first of its kind, given its wide-ranging contents and sheer size, it is a unique, multi-volume book to hit the market. |
