Looking East by feeding Myanmar with ephedrine: Connecting Drugs and Peoples
- Part 4 -

Puyam Nongdrei *

Biggest drug haul at Pallel, Manipur (Indian Army colonel among six held) :: 24 February 2013
Pix - Gyanand Naorem

How to Strengthen Our Fight?

India-Myanmar relations have seen improvement since early 1990s. The two countries have signed a number of agreements enhancing their bilateral relations and there are institutionalised mechanisms for holding regular dialogue on a range of issues. There are many things India can do with its economic growth and increasing engagement with neighbouring countries in the South East Asia. Through diplomatic and political contacts New Delhi should emphasise on bilateral and multilateral cooperation on anti-drugs campaign in the region.

During Myanmar President Thein Sein's visit to India from 12-15 October 2011 the two countries agreed to enhance cooperation and coordination between the security forces in tackling insurgency and terrorism. It further underscores the need to strengthen institutional mechanisms for sharing intelligence to combat the menace of insurgency, arms smuggling and drug trafficking. Following this, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh paid a visit to Myanmar from May 27-29, 2012. During this, 12 MoUs and agreements were signed. Fighting against terrorism and insurgency, border management and border security were emphasised but there was no explicit mention of anti-narcotics drugs trafficking cooperation.

When youths in Manipur are facing the wrath of drugs, allowing certain established elements to run the business of ephedrine supply is something which we must not tolerate. Protecting the high-profile individuals from the legal actions will be tantamount to breeding drug barons who control the political-bureaucratic establishments. Their means of earning quick money is nothing but a crime against humanity and we all need to fight against such evil designs by giving the culprits befitting punishment.

Every official visit between China and Myanmar does not end without some deliberation or discussion on controlling drug trafficking. Is there multilateral cooperation among India, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and China? There is need for vocal pressure on Myanmar to act against elements engaging in transnational crimes. In addition, there are regional groupings under which cooperation among countries can be effectively pushed. Unfortunately, the problems created by drugs smuggled into North East India catches little wild attention of New Delhi pundits.

Drugs are posing immense threat to the people of Manipur and other states in the region which affects socio-economic advancement of the people. Increasing reports of poppy plantation in Manipur should be properly studied to address the root cause of such problems before it is too late. Improving the living conditions of the people in the hill districts, strengthening the reach of law enforcement personnel, cooperation of locals and educating the people are necessary steps.

The Government of India has to take up strong measures to control drug trafficking and facilitate involvement of other stakeholders in trans-national forums. What can the United NGOs Mission, Manipur do? What are the steps CADA, AMADA, Meira Paibis and other civil society organizations can take? What are the things we can do by joining hands with UNODC, ASEAN, SAARC and the organizations working for eradication of drugs? We need to have civil society groups networking with the counterparts in Myanmar, Thailand and China to engage in long-term strategy to fight this menace.

As cooperation with Myanmar and other countries and organisations is necessary, let's start with the mode of engagement and different levels of cooperation and coordination that we can think of. First we need participation of the locals represented by civil society groups. They are the grass-root level fighters against drug menace. Other bodies such as Narcotics Control Bureau, the police and security forces are agencies meant to fight against drug trafficking. But at the higher level, New Delhi has to engage with Myanmar and other countries and international organisations so as to control drug smuggling.

We can also think of NGOs which can coordinate and cooperate at different levels to fight against drugs menace in the state and the region as a whole. These NGOs need to coordinate with organisations such as UNDOC and other international bodies fighting against drugs and related problems. Instead of counting the number of drug abusers, HIV infected persons and number of AIDS related deaths in Manipur, we better do some homework in order to establish networks with the organisations fighting against drugs to strengthen our campaign.

As connectivity with ASEAN countries will strengthen further in the near future, there is the need for an advanced academy to train personnel on anti-drugs control, criminal law, criminology, forensic science, foreign languages etc. Specialized training of the police personnel and imparting knowledge to the locals is a necessity. Such an institute can provide the platform to interact with relevant authorities both national and international to deliberate and discuss the issues of transnational security problems such as drugs trafficking and human trafficking. Such an academy in Manipur is the right platform where East Asian, ASEAN and SAARC countries can meet and talk from time to time.

New Delhi should put pressure on Myanmar like China does to act on drugs production and poppy cultivation in Myanmar. The number of drug addicts, HIV/AIDS cases and socio-economic ills created by drugs in the areas bordering Myanmar should be made a core national security issue. Protecting the lives of the people living in the border areas from the menace of drugs and related health issues should get priority. Mechanisms to fight and control transnational crimes should not be restricted to border meeting between the security forces of India and Myanmar.

Checking misuse of pharmaceutical license is very necessary to control the illegal trade of such chemicals which are exported to Myanmar for drugs manufacturing. Illegal supply of such precursor chemicals from pharmaceutical plants in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, UP, Delhi, Gujarat etc has to be stopped from reaching Indo-Myanmar border areas. Another problem is supply of Spasmo Proxyvon (SP) and Nitrosun-10 tablets from mainland India to Manipur for local consumers as such drugs are easily available at cheaper price in such states. New Delhi has got large number of people hailing from north east running this business.

Strengthening anti-drugs cells will help in checking huge consignments reaching the border states of Manipur and Mizoram through air and road transportation networks. Laws enacted to control and regulate the production, distribution and purchase of such chemicals should be strictly enforced. Airports, postal offices, railways and inter-state and intra-state bus stations should have manpower equipped with detective equipments to check drugs smuggling.

Above all these, a cleaner system serving the people to bring progressive changes in our society is very important. In fact, many corrupt individuals have been elected as our representatives who become wealthy through corrupt means. The system does not punish those who are punishable under the law because they are powerful. By electing corrupt individuals we cannot fight against drug menace in Manipur. With the help of the political clout and money power, they are avoiding arrest by sending out scapegoats. It seems laws are less effective against such high-profile individuals well-connected with the powerful leaders.

If the people of Manipur continue to garland the wealthy candidates without questioning the source of income, Manipur will produce more and more politicians who are drug barons. Without changing this trend, nothing can be moved against corruption. Transparency and accountability in the system will just remain a dream. The mentality of 'giving free hands to the corrupt leaders as long as I get something in return' has to go.

Without electing men of vision and integrity, Manipur cannot fight drugs menace. Without attacking the corrupt system, we cannot address the problems that degrade the social life. Running after money, we have simply turned ourselves into street dogs following the ones with a piece of meat or bone. Between corrupt leaders and corrupt people, there can never be mutual respect but mutual suspicion and fear.

Our focus should be winning youths away from drugs to make them face the real world instead of making them rot in a dreamy world by taking drugs like World's Yours (WY) aka ya ba (meaning crazy medicine in Thai language). We should not destroy and let other destroy our society.

Concluded ...