GIVE PEACE A CHANCE

SIGN IN HAFLONG, ASSAM

Guns! Guns! Guns!
There is an abundance of weapons in Assam, not all of them carried by soldiers or the police.  India has a gun culture: you see them carried by security outside banks, by police and soldiers at railway stations, outside supermarkets, at crossroads and at sensitive areas where there may be a risk of terrorist attacks on dams and power stations.  Some of the soldiers look like terrorists themselves with fatigues, masks and automatic weapons.  While videoing some soldiers at a truck stop on the highway, one soldier came towards me and signaled for me to stop.  Probably being a foreigner saved my life; otherwise he might have shot me there.

ASSAM RIFLES STATIONED IN HAFLONG

The situation was the same in Sikkim and I wanted to know why there were so many security problems in these areas bordering China, Pakistan, Myanmar, Bhutan and Nepal.  The Assam Tribune carries the headline Chinese Shadow over Arunachal Projects reporting that because of China’s objection to development works in the state, the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank have withdrawn their funding for the improvement of the infrastructure.  Apparently, China considers Arunachal to be disputed territory, that is, a part of China.

MAP OF ARUNACHAL PRADESH BORDERING WITH CHINA

Another headline reads:  Woman Journalist Attacked in Itanagar.  Tongam Rina, the Associate Editor of Arunachal Times was critically injured when unknown gunmen opened fire when she was entering her office.  Other headlines are:  Manipur on Fire; Naga Peace Talks; Assam Riots.  Obviously – apart from the surfacing of the multiple rape cases all over India – all is not well in the North Eastern states. 

                                       

TONGAM RINA

Having been so close to the political troubles in some of the North Eastern states, in Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh in particular, I wanted to know more about the local troubles caused by tribals as I had seen a few incidents of extortion in Haflong where I’m staying just now: young tribal boys drugged up and menacing scared shopkeepers for money.  So I talked to Tsering Dorje [name changed] from a government office in a village of Assam to find out why these troubles affected the lives of ordinary people and why so little progress was being made.

ONE OF THE MANY WINE SHOPS LINING THE STREET

Tsering looked far too young to have such a senior post in a government office, being responsible for the disbursement of funds to various educational projects in a large district of Assam.  We provide annual school grants and minor repairing grants at the rate of Rs 75,000 [£893] every year, Tsering tells me.  In India, this is a substantial amount for any school to utilise. 

Tsering is highly skilled and knows his remit in detail.  Not only is he responsible for disbursing funds to educational establishments, he also has to verify that the funding has been used correctly.  He therefore has to manage the data using dedicated software as well as travelling around the district to check the veracity of the receipts.  He also has to Place the budget before the Government of Assam…they will take this budget to the central Government, to the Ministry of Human Resource Development and they will formally approve it.

Although Tsering has been in his post for only seven-months, he seems to be highly competent and learning very quickly the challenges of the job.  So far, he says with a forced smile, I don’t see any corruption, but sometimes I get calls from different groups and they are having a ceasefire and already starting a dialogue with the government.  (I suppose that the groups are the armed terrorists.) Sometimes I get calls asking for some money as a help.  But till today I have not provided anything to them as I have already explained to them that I am only a worker out here who is getting only a meagre amount of salary.

Looking downcast, Tsering tells me he has only enough money to look after his extended family.  He tells me there are many groups who are trying to extort money from shopkeepers, government workers and ordinary people.

I got a call from United People Democratic Solidarity movement two-weeks ago.  The area commander wanted Rs 5,000 to help them as their group had an important meeting somewhere and they wanted help from my side.  They told him that every department contributes to their cause.  He says that if he doesn’t give the money they might threaten him.  As an outsider, he does not have any protection from the public.  In his own place, too, there are many groups there.  He knows most of the people from his own village, but they would not have the courage to ask money of him.  But the people from his workplace think he is getting plenty of money.  They see requests for tenders for building works in the newspapers and misconstrue this, thinking that he has access to the funds – in cash.

Tsering told his boss about the demands.  He told me not to stay in the office at night.  They might come at that time.  He says he doesn’t know if anyone else in his office has been approached for money.  If Tsering pays the money, he has no receipt and therefore no guarantee that other groups will not come and demand more money.  I never sit at my table.  It always remains vacant.  Whenever any stranger comes my secretary tells them I am not in and that I’ve gone away on some work.

At the moment I am in Haflong and I'm told by everyone I meet that young groups of boys, tribals in all cases, are demanding money from houses as well as businesses.  For those in government employment, the rate is Rs 10000 per annum [£114 at the current rate of exchange].  This does not exclude the probability of other groups demanding a similar amount.

So this is the situation in one part of  Assam which, according to reports by the autonomous government of the state, is now peaceful and has managed to subdue the tribal groups extorting money from the people.

Tomorrow, I leave for Tripura, another “peaceful” state.  Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh are out for foreigners.