Guwahati Nov 13: Call it Militancy, insurgency, rebels groups or factional groups ,everything now seems to be getting into more into business than anything serious and bargaining for peace is what it all supposed to end with, but what eludes the people in general is when will all the peace deals come to an fruitful end.
If experts are to be believed there is a long long way to go and the new groups are more into money business. “They are all bunch of goons, and thus there is no point talking to these factional groups”, said Wasbir Hussain, at a seminar entitled “PEACE- AUDIT, North East”, held in Guwahati recently organized by the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS) in New Delhi and the Centre for Development and Peace Studies (CDPS).Hussain is the executive director of CDPS.
Auditing peace in the North East is not an easy task, however the this seminar was aimed at looking at for positive development related to militancy and peace in this region besides some pros and corns about the defaults of the government while dealing with the militancy issue and their policies. Participants from various departments took part in the seminar; There were Journalists, Security officials, Ex- Army officials, Retd. IAS, University professors and also students.Chitra Ahanthem, Associate Editor with The Imphal Free Press was present of the occasion, Professor Noni Gopal Mahanta, Monirul Hissain, SP (Special Brach) Louis Aind, H N Das, former State Chief Secretary, Assam,Lt Gen AS Lamba etc.
Topics like easy availability of Arms, Peace deals, demand for Seperates States,Autonomous Council, Maoist influence, New arm groups,NSCN,ULFA, Maoist, Factional groups,Taxation by Armed groups etc was discussed in the seminar including the issues of Karbi-anglong and Dima Hasao.
Chitra Ahanthem, Associate Editor with The Imphal Free Press, said that in Manipur the
press has to work under a lot of pressure since there are continuous threats from the many outfits, however now people have started raising voice against militant groups and their activities and in the same the way the press is also fighting back. The resent protest in Dimapur against Taxation by Insurgent organization like the NSCN is a great example of people raising voice against armed groups. In the North East., Added Chitra.(SP News)
