Terrorism in India’s North-East: a Gathering Storm

This comprehensive study of terrorism in India’s NorthEast is the result of the author’s personal experience of combating terrorism in the Naga Hills and the Mizo Hills during his extended tenures in the area, followed by long years of secondary research after his retirement, it is to be noted that the terrorism in the NorthEast is of older vintage as compared to its counterpart in Jammu and Kashmir. Not only the present situation/terrorism and counterterrorism in each of the seven states popularly known Seven Sisters has been discussed but their historical perspective too has been gone into in detail. Ironically, the insurgencyterrorism in the NorthEast can be linked to India’s Independence. In the first flush of glow of the Freedom, every tribe got conscious of their identity and wanted to vigorously preserve it. Most of the tribes wanted a place in the sun through secessionist, or the very least, autonomy movements, which became violent in the course of time. Dealing with the terrorism in the NorthEast is not an easy proposition, given its diversity (ethnic, racial, religious and linguistics), size, history and geography. If India is a microcosmic world, they NorthEast is microcosmic India. Of the 5,653 communities in India, 653 are tribal of which 213 are indigenous to the NorthEast. Democratic India has shown maximum possible accommodation to tribal communities. But it has not been easy dealing with them. Even issues settled decades back threaten to come unstuck. Two apt examples will do. After long and sustained struggle, the Khasis and Garos got Meghalaya, a state of their own and now the Garos want Garoland to be carved out of this small state. Again, the smaller tribes in Mizoram want a Union Territory (UT) of their own within that state. It is no secret that a UT is but penultimate stage on way to demand for a fullfledged state of the Union. All this shows the problems of dealing with terrorism in the NorthEast. All these have been comprehensively covered in the book. Being the first of its kind, gives its wideranging contents and sheer size, it is a unique, multivolume book to hit the market.