Assam, please don’t go the Manipur way

Himanta Biswa Sarma

Assam government’s recent decision to issue arms licenses to the indigenous people living in vulnerable and border areas of districts like Dhubri, Barpeta, Goalpara, Morigaon, Nagaon and South Salmara-Mankachar is concerning. Notably, these are districts with a heavy concentration of Bengali Muslims and of these two, South Salmara-Mankachar and Dhubri, border Bangladesh.

While districts like Dhubri, Barpeta, Goalmara and South Salmara-Mankachar fall in the Lower Assam division, districts like Nagaon and Morigaon come under the Central Assam division.

This decision comes at a time when the BJP has been claiming that it has taken significant steps to restore peace in the state, once a victim of insurgency, under ‘double engine governments’ — a reference to the BJP governments at the state and the Centre. These claims aren’t much exaggerated as there have been some significant peace deals with the insurgent groups, like United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) which once was the most dreaded insurgent groups, and the four factions of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB).

The current Himanta Biswa Sarma-led government has also appealed to the ULFA (Independent) led by Paresh Barua to surrender their arms and join the mainstream for the good of the state’s society.

Percolation of Weapons Didn’t Help Manipur

So it is quite surprising that on one side the dispensation is taking action and also appealing to ensure the insurgents surrender their arms to the security forces and join the mainstream, and on the other hand, the same dispensation is taking the decision of arming a section of its population. This decision not only carries security risks but also has the potentiality to deepen the polarisation in an already divided society.

It would be naive to think that the government isn’t unaware of the potential risks this decision carries. That’s the catch. The government took this decision despite there being an example of neighbouring state of Manipur, where the situation deteriorated more after arms went into the hands of the public giving rise to violence amid the ethnic clash between Meiteis and Kuki-Zo people. The administration is yet to retrieve all the stolen weapons as it becomes a difficult task to identify the identities of those carrying those weapons. In Manipur, there have been incidents of violence unleashed with the help of stolen arms and ammunition, making it difficult for the administration to restore peace.

Current Atmosphere Isn’t Ideal

Yet the government has decided to give arms licence to its own people which is really puzzling. Importantly, this decision can also affect the social fabric of those districts. These districts are Muslim majority ones. In the current atmosphere with the rise of religious polarisation aided by the prevailing situation of state politics as well as by the cases of Hindu persecution in neighbouring Bangladesh, local Muslim residents may bear the brunt of new armed vigilantes from the indigenous community, who may get hyperactive after getting the arms license and go berserk without caring about the laws of the state.

At the same time, this has the potentiality to turn into a full-fledged religious riot as extremists within the Muslim community are likely to use such cases of violence to rally the common Muslims to support their extremist agenda. Let’s not forget that extremists sitting in Bangladesh, who now are receiving tacit support from the current interim regime led by   Muhammad Yunus, are only waiting for such a situation to expand their footprint in the state.

Last December, security forces had arrested five terrorists of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) from Kokrajhar and Dhubri implying how extremist forces from across the border are already trying to get their followers active on the ground. So any kind of violence on religious lines will be a boon for these extremists.

ULFA’s Case Isn’t Finished Yet

Apart from this, the state government shouldn’t forget that the Paresh Barua-led ULFA(I) faction, which although weakened, isn’t a dormant group. This insurgent group, banking on the sentiments of “foreigners” dominating the state, will try to attract these indigenous people having arms licenses. If this attempt becomes successful, it will give a new life to insurgency and the state can't afford another insurgency as this will slow down the current pace of progress after witnessing decades of terror and bloodshed due to insurgency.

In addition to this, this decision also has the potential to strengthen the crime syndicates in these vulnerable areas.

State Can’t Abdicate Its Duty

True that the threat of illegal immigration and its impact on the indigenous population in the state is a real issue, and for that the state government needs to be vigilant. It needs to take necessary measures to upgrade the security infrastructure to address this issue. Protecting its own citizens from any kind of internal or external threat is the state's duty. It can’t abdicate its responsibility by giving arms licenses to common people. There is no guarantee that these armed mobs won’t indulge in unnecessary crimes in the name of protecting their community.

One hopes the state’s BJP government led by Himanta Sarma realises this and withdraws this risky decision for the betterment of the state.