On December 14,
2016, Security Forces (SFs) killed two cadres of the Independent
faction of United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA-I),
identified as Deep Moran and Noga Moran, during an encounter at
Dharmapur village under Maio Police Station in Changlang District.
SFs also managed to arrest six other ULFA-I cadres, including
two women, during the operation. One AK-47 rifle and one pistol
were recovered from the possession of the arrested militants.
It was suspected that the slain militants were involved in the
ambush
at Pengaree near Digboi in Tinsukia District, Assam, on November
19, 2016, in which three Army personnel were killed.
On July 26, 2016,
personnel of the Assam Rifles (AR) and Assam Police, in a joint
operation, killed a self-styled ‘lance corporal' of ULFA-I, identified
as Bhaity Milli aka Shan Asom in Changlang District. According
to an AR statement, the militant had fired on the person leading
the patrol and tried to escape. The troops retaliated and Milli
was killed in the ensuing gunfight. One revolver along with ammunition
was recovered from his possession.
On July 7, 2016,
AR personnel killed four cadres of the ‘Reformation’ faction of
the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-R), identified
as ‘captain’ Jano Tekwa, ‘sergeant major’ Lombho Pangsa, ‘sergeant’
Tongbai and ‘corporal’ Mankhu Wangsa, during an encounter at the
remote Kheti village near Khonsa in Tirap District. The troops
recovered two AK-47 rifles along with four magazines, one pistol,
live ammunition and documents from the encounter site. NSCN-R
cadres were reportedly engaged in collecting ‘tax’, arms dealing
and drug peddling in Khonsa and villages nearby. The slain militants
were operating from a temporary camp located in the vicinity of
Kheti village, according to an AR statement.
The single incident
in Arunachal Pradesh through 2016 in which SFs’ lost their life
occurred on December 3, 2016. Two AR personnel, including a Junior
Commissioned Officer (JCO), were killed and eight others were
injured when their convoy was ambushed by suspected militants
of the Khaplang faction of National Socialist Council of Nagaland
(NSCN-K)
at Nginu village in Tirap District along the India-Myanmar border.
The State did not
witness a single civilian fatality in 2016.
Thus, according
to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal
(SATP), Arunachal Pradesh recorded a total of nine insurgency/militancy-related
fatalities, including two SF personnel and seven militants in
2016, as against 10 fatalities, including two civilians, four
SF personnel and four militants, through 2015. No fatalities have
yet been registered in the State in 2017 (data till January 15).
Insurgency related violence in Arunachal peaked in 2001, with
63 fatalities, including 40 civilians, 12 SF personnel and 11
militants
Further, incidents
of killing through 2016 stood at four, as against six in 2015.
The State witnessed only one major incident (involving three or
more fatalities) through 2016; the July 7, 2016, Khonsa encounter,
in which four NSCN-R cadres were killed. There was one major in
2015 as well: three Army personnel were killed and another four
were wounded in an ambush when cadres of the Isak-Muivah faction
of National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM)
fired on their convoy at Tupi village, along the Khonsa-Longding
road, in Tirap District on April 2, 2015.
In 2016, fatalities
were reported from two Districts (Changlang and Tirap) as against
three (Changlang, Longding, Tirap) in 2015. While seven militants
(four NSCN-R and three ULFA-I) were killed during 2016, a total
of four militants (three NSCN-K and one unidentified) were killed
in 2015.
Evidently, the
overall security situation in the State has improved further through
2016, primarily due to sustained pressure from SFs who, apart
from neutralising nine militants, arrested at least another 48
belonging to various outfits in 28 separate incidents through
the year. Of the arrested militants, 28 belonged to various Naga
outfits (NSCN-R, 12; NSCN-K, nine; NSCN-IM, six; and National
Socialist Council of Nagaland-Unification (NSCN-U),
1); and 13 militants belonging to the Assam-based ULFA-I. Affiliations
of the remaining seven arrested militants remained unconfirmed.
These were in addition to 21 such arrests in 10 separate incidents
in 2015. Two militants have been arrested so far in 2017(data
till January 15).
Worryingly, however,
extortion and abduction-for-extortion remained a major challenge.
According to Arunachal Pradesh Police records, at least 103 cases
of abduction and 80 cases of extortion were registered through
2016 (data till November 31). Reports indicate that different
factions of the NSCN, ULFA-I and the I.K. Songbijit faction of
the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB-IKS)
were responsible for the majority of the reported cases (a large
proportion of such incidents likely go unreported). In a prominent
incident, ULFA-I militants abducted Kuldeep Moran, the son of
Ratneswar Moran, vice-chairman of the Tinsukia zilla parishad
(District Council) in Assam and a local leader of the ruling Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP), from Nampong in Changlang District on August
1, 2016. The militants reportedly demanded INR 10 million in ransom
for his safe release. Interestingly, on August 22, 2016, ULFA-I
released video footage of the abducted Moran making an appeal
to his parents, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and BJP
MLA (Member of Legislative Assembly) from Sadiya Assembly Constituency
in Tinsukia District, Bolin Chetia, to help secure his release.
Moran was eventually released, reportedly without paying the ransom,
on September 9, 2016.
The Union Ministry
of Home Affairs (UMHA), in a notification dated November 4, 2016,
stated: “…further review of the law and order situation in Tirap,
Changlang and Longding Districts of Arunachal Pradesh indicates
that :- 1) security scenario in Tirap, Changlang and Longding
Districts remains vitiated by the spillover of Naga insurgency;
2) Naga UG factions, namely NSCN-K, NSCN-IM, NSCN-R and NSCN-NK
[Neokpao–Khitovi faction of NSCN, also known as NSCN-U] continue
to indulge in extortion, area domination, recruitment of locals,
inter-factional rivalry; 3) NSCN-K in active participation with
ULFA-I, is persisting with its attempt to target Security Forces;
4) NSCN-IM is contriving to dominate areas hitherto occupied by
NSCN-K and is resorting to intimidation and extortion; 5) NSCN-R
is also active in Tirap, Longding and, Changlang Districts and
with its armed cadres has been focusing on recruiting local youth;
6) NSCN-NK has managed to gain a foothold in Longding District
and is engaging in extortion and abduction; 7) ULFA-I has started
indulging in extortion in certain pockets along Arunachal-Assam
boundary. Movement of NDFB-IKS and NDFB-R cadres has also been
reported in these areas for escaping Counter Insurgency operations
and for infiltrating to/from Myanmar. Therefore, Tirap, Changlang
and Longding Districts in Arunachal Pradesh are declared as ‘disturbed
area’ under Section 3 of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act
[AFSPA], 1958, for six months, w.e.f. 4.11.2016, unless withdrawn
earlier.”
Interestingly,
the Union Government had signed a ‘framework
agreement’with NSCN-IM on August 3, 2015,
to find a final solution to the six-decade-old Naga issue. Though
the Government had then stated that it would reach a final settlement
in one year, nothing significant has been achieved so far.
Significantly,
two of the three militancy affected Districts of Arunachal Pradesh
(Changlang and Tirap) share borders with Myanmar, where many of
the major insurgent groups operating in India’s Northeast region
have taken shelter. 520 kilometres of the 1,643 kilometres-long
Indian border with Myanmar pass through Arunachal Pradesh, and
the rest through Manipur (398 kilometres), Nagaland (215 kilometres)
and Mizoram (510 kilometres). The Union Government has so far
sanctioned fencing along just 10 kilometres (all in Manipur).
Only four kilometres of the sanctioned length has been completed
so far and work has been suspended due to protest from the Government
of Manipur. Concerned over reports that the border fencing would
lead to a loss of at least 1,000 square kilometres of Manipur
land, a significant chunk given the fact that the State's total
area is just 22,327 square kilometres, Chief Minister Okram Ibobi
Singh on March 4, 2016, had told the State Assembly, “Manipur
will never compromise on its territory.” He added that, until
and unless all the contested claims are settled permanently, nothing
should be done which may disturb the status quo. Most recently,
the fencing carried out by the Myanmar Government along the India-Myanmar
border in the Pangsa village area of Nagaland’s Tuensang District
had been opposed by Naga groups on the grounds that the “proposed
imaginary International boundary fencing” between India and Myanmar
“will infringe Naga people inhabiting across artificial boundaries
(sic).” It is imperative that India evolves a mechanism
to strengthen its border management in the region.
Though Arunachal
Pradesh has long remained ‘an island of relative peace’ in India’s
troubled Northeast, the State continues to experience threats
of insurgency-related violence as result of the ‘overflow’ of
the insurgencies from neighbouring States and militant sanctuaries
in Myanmar.
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