In February 2014, the Government of India decided to constitute a committee to study and frame remedial measures to address the concerns of citizens hailing from North East India residing in different parts of the county. This is an initiative to understand the layers of discrimination faced by persons from the North East. Notably, the committee’s focus is discrimination by private actors, i.e. social discrimination.
But what about the discrimination the Union government itself practices against the people of the North East? Surely, rectifying such enduring discrimination should take primacy for Union, if equality and the rule of law is a foundational principle?
Firstly, considering the Union government’s claims of success in containing insurgency, today, six decades after independence, it is surprising that a majority of the North East remains tagged as a ‘disturbed area’ under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA). A colonial legacy, AFSPA has been in force since 1958; initially passed by Parliament to be in force for only 12 months. Over decades of enforcement, it has brutalized the people of the North East, unleashing a steady spate of extrajudicial executions, rewarding murderers in uniform with total impunity.
This Act, and the actions it has continued to unleash, has helped place India second only to Iraq in deaths directly related to conflict and ensured India is counted as one of thirty-one countries with systematic extrajudicial executions. The AFSPA led strategy for the North East has discriminated against ordinary Indian citizens, and reinforced a deep sense of alienation.
Secondly, while it may be trite to state that India’s acclaimed economic growth has not been uniform, it should be noted that the division is not simply along an urban-rural divide. Being bestowed with abundant natural resources and tourism potential has not helped the North East, as it has, as a region, been neglected, poorly governed, and kept conflict-ridden due to antagonistic policies. The result has been mass migration. Youth from the North East that migrate to metros for educational purposes opt for livelihood opportunities in adopted cities, not a return to turbulence.
Development, for the people of North East India, has remained a mythical word. Corrupt regional satraps, the intended beneficiaries, have gobbled up the money lavished by the Union government, money ostensibly meant for region. And, mega-development projects have had little to do with the common people of North East.
For instance, the proposed plan for the construction of 168 mega dams in Arunachal Pradesh has nothing to do with the power needs of the region, which are minimal. With ‘national interest’ at the forefront, masking the construction corruption that awaits its mega-moments, it is the people of North East who will suffer devastating environmental impact. It follows that local citizens have defied such ‘developments’.
Thirdly, consider another form of discrimination practiced – the disowning of people of the North East, if not overtly, then silently.
The recent decision by the Union government to call off a youth exchange programme in China, after being advised by the Chinese government not to include participants from Arunachal Pradesh, deserves attention.
China has been denying visas to Indian citizens whose travel documents show Arunachal Pradesh as their residence. Since 2011, the Chinese embassy started issuing loose paper visas / stapled visas to residents of Arunachal Pradesh seeking to travel to China; these visas are not recognized by the Union of India. This has resulted in continued humiliation and discrimination for the people of Arunachal.
In 2011, athletes found to have ‘stapled visas’ were disallowed from boarding a flight bound to China by the Indian immigration. Arambam K. Techi, Joint Secretary of the Indian Weightlifting Federation, and another weightlifter, lost a valuable opportunity to participate in a weightlifting championship held in Beijing.
In January 2012, Mohonto Panging was denied a visa by the Chinese embassy as he was found to belong to Arunachal Pradesh. However, the Union government did not call off this tour.
In 2013, Maselo Mihu and Sorang Yumi, two teenage archers from Arunachal Pradesh were sent back home by Indian authorities from the Indira Gandhi Airport in New Delhi after they were disallowed from boarding a China bound flight on grounds of possessing stapled visas. On this occasion as well, the Indian government didn’t call off the programme and the rest of the team participated in the event.
The key here is not the foreign policy strategies and rhetoric being adopted – the ‘clear and consistent’ claim on Arunachal Pradesh vs. the nothing but a ‘difference in perception of the Actual Line of Control’. It is the silence of the Indian state on the enduring impact of some of its ordinary citizens. It is the insensitivity of the Indian state to find a working solution, one that insulates its citizens from discrimination, not matter the form in which it may arrive.
Indian citizens of North East India need to be treated by the Union of India as equal citizens in practice. A study of its own discrimination, even now, six decades after independence, is in order. Only then can the right remedies be adopted, and only then can the social discrimination suffered by North Easterners living in different regions of India be fully addressed.
For further information, contact in Hong Kong, Anjuman Ara Begum: india@ahrc.asia
