Watching over Bangladesh and Nagaland

Bula Devi *

Mass protest rally against illegal taxation by various Naga militants group and Government agencies by the Action Committee Against Unabated Taxation (ACAUT) at Dimapur on 31 October 2013
Pix Courtesy- demotix website/Caisii Mao

New Delhi is keenly watching developments in neighbouring Bangladesh. The elections to be held there on January 5 will have a bearing on the North East. ULFA leader Anup Chetia, the right hand man of Paresh Barua, wants to return home but is unable to. Chetia had sought asylum in Bangladesh but he was not granted. He is languishing in Bangladesh now as a political prisoner.

The recently signed extradition treaty between India and Bangladesh is also not going to open the doors for Chetia as the treaty doesn't apply to political prisoners. This was made amply clear when India's Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and his Bangladesh counterpart Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir signed the extradition treaty agreement in Dhaka in January, 2013.

Had his case been linked to normal extradition, it would have been easy for him to return. But being a political prisoner, his return means a "lot of files have to move," a senior official in the Home ministry said. In other words, bureaucratic hurdles are the reason behind the snail's pace in which his case has so far moved. New Delhi is waiting for the elections in Bangladesh for the Chetia case to pick momentum.

But there is another view on the Chetia case. According to a former official of the Home Ministry, Chetia is perhaps being held back by Bangladesh as a strategy to bargain for Teesta waters.

Developments in Nagaland

New Delhi is also closely monitoring what is going on in Nagaland. Huge banners sprung up about two months back in Nagaland for a rally against the parallel tax structure imposed by underground groups.

While insurgent groups term it taxation, in the eyes of the general public it is extortion from the salaried class, businessmen and contractors by the rebels and that too to fund their own needs.

The taxation structure is a diktat of the NSCN(IM). In one interview, NSCN(IM) general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah had told me that it is not a diktat but a "convention" that was followed earlier and is being practised now.

But, the leadership and its cadres don't realise that the people of Nagaland, who have been fulfilling the group's demands for so long because they fear for their lives, have now gained awareness and see through the ploy.

The simmering anger resulted in a revolt against the group on November 1, 2013 in Dimapur when people came out on the streets under the banner of the Action Committee Against Unabated Taxation to register their protest.

They defied the call given by the group not to participate in the rally. This was unheard of in the entire North East, leave alone Nagaland, because no one ever dared question the NSCN(IM).

The more recent developments at the Mukalini camp is a clear case of empowerment of the Naga civil society. Despite the fact that the Sumi Nagas and NSCN(IM) chairman Isak Chisi Swu belong to the same Sema tribe, it did not deter the Sumi Hoho to reject the NSCN(IM)'s internal punishment for its cadres accused of harassing some Sumi Naga women.

The Mukalini camp in Zunheboto district set the tone when Sumi Nagas attacked the village with every possible weapon and forced the insurgents to flee the camp. "It was because of the Assam Rifles that they (NSCN-IM cadres) got safe passage. Otherwise they would have got lynched," a senior Home Ministry official said.

As the word spread like wildfire, the situation turned so tense that Tangkhul Nagas living in a Tangkhul colony in Dimapur fled with their belongings. It is being said that the Khaplang group is trying to stoke the fire and take advantage of the situation by siding with the people.

Although tribal identity is an important factor in the North East, it does not mean that the attack on Tangkhuls by the Sumis, or Sema Nagas as they are also called, will have any impact on the NSCN(IM) leadership of Isak Chisi Swu, a Sema, and Thuingaleng Muivah, a Tangkhul, according to an official. Their association has stood the test of time and there is no reason to believe that the Mukalini attack will snap this relationship.

There is also no indication of any kind that a Mukalini kind of development will rear its head in Manipur.