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- Arming villagers -

Amar Yumnam *

For once the State Government has shown courage in taking a decision. But the wisdom behind the decision is for the public to debate.

I am talking of the latest policy decision of the State government to arm villagers to fight and ward off insurgents from their vicinity.

Political Quality and Governance: Before we come to the pros and cons of this decision, we must recall the political and governance requirements prerequisites for such a policy to be successful. This recalling is all the more fundamental because the failures of the government so far are mostly in the realm of political and quality of governance than of lack of security forces.

If we are to expect positive returns from a policy of arming citizens to fight against insurgency, we must definitely be sure of the place where the heart of the political class resides. The political class needs to speak only one language and shun double-talk. Well, given the experience with the class so far, this amounts to asking for the moon.

In addition to this the quality of overall governance should be such as to leave no room for suspicion by any about the governmental commitment. Besides, the various wings of the government should display absolute coordination, trust and respect for each other.

I say this fundamentally because we are yet to see any semblance of coordination among the various wings of the State government even in the capital of the State, and not to talk of the far flung villages.

We are witnessing right now the re-digging of roads in the commercial areas of the capital by a department responsible for supply of drinking water while nothing was done while the roads were still dug up and at a time when the roads department are near completion of construction of roads. This is not the kind of approach to be adopted when the government arms villagers against insurgents.

Arming Villagers:

The Pros: The context of the latest decision is recent backlash from the people against the insurgents and disgust with the functioning of the various frontal organizations.

This is exactly the kind of situation where we expect the State government to be much more cautious and tread more carefully than ever before. This being so we need to minutely assess the pros and cons of the move to arm villagers.

It is possible that arming villagers might serve as a deterrent to the movement of the insurgents. It might also serve as providing crucial real time strength to counter the insurgents. It can also serve as establishing a missing link in the intelligence network of the state.

The Cons: While the above pros are objectives attractive enough to go for, the cons are equally scary. For the objectives to be realized, there are so many political-economic conditions to be fulfilled.

First, we hope that we shall not end up with arming as many villagers as possible in as many villages as there are. This would lead to another creation of force who can extract bargains from the state without much accountability.

Secondly, the moment some villagers of a particular village are armed, the relational dynamics between that village and the neighbouring one would necessarily undergo a change. We are not sure if the State government has applied its mind to this issue.

Thirdly, even within a village, despite the salient unity against insurgents, there exists so many intra-village and inter-household conflicts.

When certain members of certain households, and not all the households, are armed, the turns these disagreements can take are yet to be explored. This is particularly creepy because justice as well as felt justice as meted out by the government so far has been a suspect.

Fourthly, there is the possibility of the armed villagers becoming identified targets of the insurgents.

Fifthly, in a way very close to the last reason, it should not be that the arms scattered in the villages become another source of weaponry for the insurgents.

Sixth, there are possibilities of situations where an armed village becomes the target of a concerted attack by the insurgents.

Seventh, the possibility of an armed villager joining the ranks of an insurgent organisation should not be seen as absolutely unlikely. Ideally, the approach of arming villagers as a counter-insurgency move can be successful if we can convert villages into virtual fortress-villages like in an earlier era.

Further, as economist Lionel Robbins says, human ends are unlimited. Once the proximate desire to acquire the capability of fighting against the insurgents has been fulfilled, the buck cannot stop there.

The resultant atmosphere should be dovetailed and fuelled further for a longer term transformation of the concerned villages. This is because fighting insurgents can never be the sole and sustainable reason for a village to exist.

There definitely has to be longer term objectives to pursue for and build on the immediate unity displayed by the villagers.