Organised by the North East Policy Alternatives and North East India Political Science Association, the meet was attended by representatives of organisations of Dimasa, Zeme Naga, Hmar, and Kuki communities.
The points of unanimity apart, there were areas of difference as well among the participants. While the lone Hmar representative voiced concern over the ‘neglect’ meted out to the minority groups like the Hmars, a Dimasa member asserted that the Dimasas were far from suppressing others and there was enough accommodation for all the communities in the autonomous council to pursue their aspirations. A Kuki representative, while terming the recent move of the Dimasas to rename the NC Hills district as a major cause of the violence, suggested a bicameral legislature to ensure adequate representation to the diverse groups.
One of the Zeme members held extremist action as the immediate cause of the ongoing cycles of violence and counter-violence. He also felt that there was need for third party intervention in the form of a mediator to ease the escalating tension between the fighting groups.
Earlier, anthropologist Prof AC Bhagawati spoke on the dangers posed by “a few self-seeking individuals” professing to represent ethnic communities and using human emotion to achieve something they feel they deserve but which invariably lead to a situation of unrest and strife.
“Civil society’s role will be of paramount interest in the coming days, as it can start a slower but enduring process of reconciliation and rebuilding bridges,” he said.
Gandhian Natwar Thakkar, while asserting that nothing concrete was ever established by armed struggle, said that the Indian Constitution had enough flexibility to accommodate everyone’s aspirations.
“Violence as the final arbiter has no scope, and whatever little violence occasionally achieves is very fragile and carry in itself the germs of destruction,” he added.
Prof Anuradha Dutta, director, OKD Institute, cautioned against treating the NC Hills violence as a mere law-and-order issue, which she said had more to do with a “crisis of governance, institutional decay and a negative role played by the political parties.” She said that civil society groups and students organisations held hope for the future and must channellize their energy towards bringing back the atmosphere of peace and restoring normalcy.
Former Chief Secretary Dr HN Das summarised insurgency, violence, identity crisis and autonomy as the most pressing concerns afflicting the NC Hills and advocated addressing the issues through development and participatory governance.
Journalist Subir Bhowmik and Samudragupta Kashyap conducted the deliberations. Prof Nani Gopal Mahanta also spoke.