India’s Brutal Tactics in Suppressing Separatist Movements By Sajjad Shaukat

Posted by aka in Bodoland Liberation Front & ULFA, Independent Mizoram, INDIA SPLITTING INTO 5 NATIONS, India Will Die a Slow Death, Insurgency Movements in India, Kashmir, Rajputstan, SECESSIONIST MOVEMENTS IN INDIA on March 3rd, 2018

India’s Brutal Tactics in Suppressing Separatist Movements

By Sajjad Shaukat

A large number of separatist movements in different parts of India are posing a serious threat to Indian federation, as Indian security forces have badly failed in suppressing these movements through brutal tactics.

In this respect, Naxalites or Maoists is second major freedom movement after that of the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK). Maoists inhabit an area known as the ‘Red Corridor’ that stretches from West Bengal to Karnataka state in the southwest. Indian former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had called Maoist insurrection, “the single biggest internal-security challenge”, whereas, Home Secretary G.K Pillai reiterated the magnitude of this threat, saying that the Maoists want to completely overthrow the Indian state by 2050. Tamil Nadu is another area where separatist movements are haunting the Federation of India. However, in many regions of India, separatist movements or wars of liberation continue unabated.

In this regard, the seven states of Northeastern India, which are called the ‘Seven Sisters’ are ethnically and linguistically different from rest of the country. These states are rocked by a large number of armed and violent rebellions, some seeking separate states, some fighting for autonomy and others demanding complete independence while keeping the entire region in a state of turmoil. These states include Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. These states accuse New Delhi of apathy towards their issues. Illiteracy, poverty and lack of economic opportunities have fueled the natives’ demand for autonomy and independence.

Owing to the political, economic and social injustices, tensions existed between these Northeastern states and the central government as well as amongst their native people and migrants from other parts of India. In late 2013, Indian state governments tried to ease tensions making by promising to raise the living standards of people in these regions. But, in late 2014, tensions again rose, as the Indian rulers launched an atrocious offensive which led to a retaliatory attack on civilians by tribal guerrillas.

Since the secessionist movements started in these states, Indian security forces have used various brutal tactics which brought about untold miseries on the people. In one way or the other, these atrocities still continue in these areas of North East India.

Undoubtedly, these states have witnessed various forms of India’s state terrorism like crackdowns, illegal detentions, massacre, targeted killings, sieges, burning the houses, torture, disappearances, rapes, breaking the legs, molestation of women and killing of persons through fake encounters.

It is notable that in 2015, the then Indian Minister of Home Affairs Rajnath Singh had highlighted his focus to build the capacity of security forces, engaged in fighting uprising and separatism. Indian Central Government finalized the raising of Indian Reserve Police Battalions (IRBPs) in the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) and Naxal/Maoist hit states or Left Wing Extremism (LWE) areas, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Out of the total 25 IRBPs proposed, five were for IOK and 12 for LWE affected states whereas rest of 8, IRBPs for other states. Online reports suggested that IRBPs also include Northeastern states of India.

Now, IRBPs have totally failed in suppressing insurgency and separatist movements in various regions of India, including those of the North East.

It is mentionable that one of the important causes of the disintegration of the former Soviet Union was that its greater defence expenditure exceeded to the maximum, resulting in economic crises inside the country. In this connection, about a prolonged war in Afghanistan, the former President Gorbachev had declared it as the “bleeding wound.” However, the militarization of the Soviet Union failed in controlling the movements of liberation, launched by various ethnic nationalities which were kept under control through the ruthless force. While, learning no lesson from New Delhi’s previous close friend, Indian fundamentalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the BJP extremist party is acting upon the similar policies.

Instead of redressing the grievances of the people by eliminating injustices against them, Indian Government is depending upon ruthless force to crush these secessionist movements through security forces. Therefore, India’s unrealistic counterinsurgency strategy has badly failed.

Nevertheless, poor economic policies, heavy defence spending, neglected social development, growing serpent of radical Hinduism, ancient caste system and divisive/pressure politics are just few triggers of these secessionist movements.

India, instead of addressing actual domestic problems and peoples’ genuine grievances also resorts to blaming its neighbours for fueling these movements. In the pretext, New Delhi is also acting upon war-mongering policy against Pakistan and China.

It is also speculated that Indian government under the pretext of escalation of tension with China in Doklom region, will increase the number of armed forces in ‘Seven Sister’ regions, as an attempt to neutralize the uprisings there.

Again, it is noteworthy that the escalation of centrifugal tendencies, fostering insurgency and separatist movements in India is mainly due to complete failure of the Indian Government to address the root causes. This situation has a potential to lead to a domino effect in the South Asian region, which will be detrimental to regional security and peace.

It is of particular attention that Indian Minister of External Affairs Jaswant Singh who served the BJP for 30 years was expelled from the party for praising Mohammad Ali Jinnah (Founder of Pakistan) and echoing the pain of the Indian Muslims in his book, “Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence.”

While pointing out the BJP’s attitude towards the minorities, Singh wrote: “Every Muslim that lives in India is a loyal Indian…look into the eyes of Indian Muslims and see the pain.” He warned in his book, if such a policy continued, “India could have the third partition.”

In fact, taking cognizance of the separatist movements in India and New Delhi’s use of brutal force through the military in suppressing them, in one way or the other, Jaswant Singh has shown realistic approach in his book.

Nonetheless, we can conclude that under the mask of democracy and secularism, Indian subsequent regimes dominated by politicians from the Hindi heartland—Hindutva (Hindu nationalism) have used brutal tactics mercilessly in suppressing the separatist movements in various regions, including Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. Under Modi’s extremist regime, these tactics have openly been employed by the Indian security forces. But, like the former Soviet Union, separatist movements which pose a serious threat to Indian federation, will culminate in the disintegration of the Indian union.

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is the author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations

Email: [email protected]

Additional Readings

Khalistan Freedom Movement.
Assam Separatist Movements.
Dravida Nadu.
Indian Occupied Kashmir Liberation Movement
Naxalite–Maoist insurgency.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON SECESSIONIST MOVEMENTS IN INDIA

by

Sardar Zafar Mahmud Khan

HERE IS A LIST OF JUST SOME OF THESE SEPARATIST MOVEMENTS;

1. National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB)

2. United People’s Democratic Solidarity (UPDS)

3. Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO)

4. Bodo Liberation Tiger Force (BLTF)

5. Dima Halim Daogah (DHD)

6. Karbi National Volunteers (KNV)

7. Rabha National Security Force (RNSF)

8. Koch-Rajbongshi Liberation Organisation (KRLO)

9. Hmar People’s Convention- Democracy (HPC-D)

10. Karbi People’s Front (KPF)

11. Tiwa National Revolutionary Force (TNRF)

12. Bircha Commando Force (BCF)

13. Bengali Tiger Force (BTF)
Banner of the UNLF

Banner of the UNLF (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

14. Adivasi Security Force (ASF)

15. All Assam Adivasi Suraksha Samiti (AAASS)

16. Gorkha Tiger Force (GTF)

17. Barak Valley Youth Liberation Front (BVYLF)

18. United Liberation Front of Barak Valley

19. United National Liberation Front (UNLF)

20. People’s Liberation Army (PLA)

21. People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK)

22. The above mentioned three groups now operate from a unified platform,
india kerala boat people

india kerala boat people (Photo credit: FriskoDude)

23. the Manipur People’s Liberation Front (MPLF)

24. Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP)

25. Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL)

26. Manipur Liberation Tiger Army (MLTA)

27. Iripak Kanba Lup (IKL)

28. People’s Republican Army (PRA)

29. Kangleipak Kanba Kanglup (KKK)

30. Kangleipak Liberation Organisation (KLO)

31. Revolutionary Joint Committee (RJC)

32. National Socialist Council of Nagaland — Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM)

33. People’s United Liberation Front (PULF)

34. Kuki National Army (KNA)

35. Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA)

36. Kuki National Organisation (KNO)

37. Kuki Independent Army (KIA)
English: Location of Jammu and Kashmir in India

Kashmiris dont think of themselves as Indians.English: Location of Jammu and Kashmir in India (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

38. Kuki Defence Force (KDF)

39. Kuki International Force (KIF)

40. Kuki National Volunteers (KNV)

41. Kuki Liberation Front (KLF)

42. Kuki Security Force (KSF)

43. Kuki Liberation Army (KLA)

44. Kuki Revolutionary Front (KRF)

45. United Kuki Liberation Front (UKLF)

46. Hmar People’s Convention (HPC)

47. Hmar People’s Convention- Democracy (HPC-D)

48. Hmar Revolutionary Front (HRF)

49. Zomi Revolutionary Army (ZRA)

50. Zomi Revolutionary Volunteers (ZRV)

51. Indigenous People’s Revolutionary Alliance(IRPA)

52. Kom Rem People’s Convention (KRPC)

53. Chin Kuki Revolutionary Front (CKRF)

54. Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC)

55. Achik National Volunteer Council (ANVC)

56. People’s Liberation Front of Meghalaya (PLF-M)

57. Hajong United Liberation Army (HULA)

58. National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) – NSCN(IM)

59. National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang) – NSCN (K)

60. Naga National Council (Adino) – NNC (Adino)

61. Babbar Khalsa International (BKI)

62. Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF)

63. International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF)

64. Khalistan Commando Force (KCF)

65. All-India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF)

66. Bhindrawala Tigers Force of Khalistan (BTFK)

67. Khalistan Liberation Army (KLA)

68. Khalistan Liberation Front (KLF)

69. Khalistan Armed Force (KAF)

70. Dashmesh Regiment

71. Khalistan Liberation Organisation (KLO)

72. Khalistan National Army (KNA)

73. National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT)

74. All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF)

75. Tripura Liberation Organisation Front (TLOF)

76. United Bengali Liberation Front (UBLF)

77. Tripura Tribal Volunteer Force (TTVF)

78. Tripura Armed Tribal Commando Force (TATCF)

79. Tripura Tribal Democratic Force (TTDF)

80. Tripura Tribal Youth Force (TTYF)

81. Tripura Liberation Force (TLF)

82. Tripura Defence Force (TDF)

83. All Tripura Volunteer Force (ATVF)

84. Tribal Commando Force (TCF)

85. Tripura Tribal Youth Force (TTYF)

86. All Tripura Bharat Suraksha Force (ATBSF)

87. Tripura Tribal Action Committee Force (TTACF) Socialist Democratic

88. Front of Tripura (SDFT)

89. All Tripura National Force (ATNF)

90. Tripura Tribal Sengkrak Force (TTSF)

91. Tiger Commando Force (TCF)

92. Tripura Mukti Police (TMP)

93. Tripura Rajya Raksha Bahini (TRRB)

94. Tripura State Volunteers (TSV)

95. Tripura National Democratic Tribal Force (TNDTF)

96. National Militia of Tripura (NMT)

97. All Tripura Bengali Regiment (ATBR)

98. Bangla Mukti Sena (BMS)

99. All Tripura Liberation Organisation (ATLO)

100. Tripura National Army (TNA)

101. Tripura State Volunteers (TSV)

102. Borok National Council of Tripura (BNCT)

103. Mizoram

104. Bru National Liberation Front

105. Hmar People’s Convention- Democracy (HPC-D)

106. Arunachal Pradesh

107. Arunachal Dragon Force (ADF)

108. Left-wing Extremist groups

109. People’s Guerrilla Army

110. People’s War Group

111. Maoist Communist Centre

112. Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist)

113. Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Janashakti Other Extremist Groups

114. Tamil National Retrieval Troops (TNRT)

67 Secessionist Movements in India, Freedom for Kashmiris, Hindu Indian Army Brutality, Naxalites or Maoists

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Intensive Economic Crisis Threatens India’s Federal Union By Sajjad Shaukat

Posted by atteeq in Sajjad Shaukat Opinion Leader on November 3rd, 2017

Intensive Economic Crisis Threatens India’s Federal Union
By

Sajjad Shaukat

One of the important causes of the disintegration of the former Soviet Union was that its greater
defence expenditure exceeded to the maximum, resulting into economic crisis inside the country.
In this regard, about a prolonged war in Afghanistan, the former President Gorbachev had
declared it as the “bleeding wound.” However, militarization of the Soviet Union failed in
controlling the movements of liberation, launched by various ethnic nationalities.
Learning no lesson from India’s previous close friend-the former Russia, Indian fundamentalist
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leader of the extremist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is acting
upon the similar policies. Modi has remained obstinate in his policies to make India an economic
power, implementing aggressive strategy against Pakistan and China, including other South
Asian countries, increase in defence budget and escalation of arms race which has given a blow
to regional balance of power.
However, intensive economic crisis has started threatening India’s federal union which
comprises 36 states and seven union territories. Acceleration of the economic crisis has not only
increased poverty in India, but also resulted in to multiple problems and crimes which have
exposed the myth of so-called “Incredible India.”
In this respect, India figures among top 10 countries where highest number of rapes are taking
place every year. In 2015, as per National Crimes Record Bureau, 34,651 rape cases were
registered in India. The year also witnessed registration of over 327,000 all sorts of crimes
against women.
The counterfeit drug industry is estimated to be worth $200 billion a year and has been defined
as the “The crime of the 21st century.” India leads the 75% of counterfeit drugs supplied world
over. For Dr Pascoal Carvalho, a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, the figures show
that “India lost three million girls due to female infanticide.”
Indian farmers are paying the price of apathy of Indian government to their sector. Past three
decades have witnessed an alarming increase in the suicides of Indian farmers and farm workers
which stands around 300,000 since 1995.
In this context, a former Manipur state policeman told journalists that he had been involved in
more than 100 extrajudicial executions in the state between 2002 and 2009. The Supreme Court,
hearing a case related to over 1,500 extrajudicial executions in Manipur, ruled that armed forces
personnel should not enjoy “blanket immunity” from trials in civilian courts.
India constitutes 40% of the world’s 800m malnourished population and the highest rate of
underweight children. 17% of India’s total population is undernourished. According to official
statistics, 29% of children below the age of five are underweight in India. How can it be that
close to 60 million Indian children are underweight even though India is a member of the G-20,
the group of the economically most powerful countries in the world?

India has by far the largest electricity access deficit; exceeding 300 million people out of the 1.2
billion people worldwide.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vsZfzCRE28

Besides, India is becoming a nightmare for journalists, lawyers and human Rights activists, as
Hindu extremists under Modi have unleashed terror against them. In the 2017 World Press
Freedom Index, India sank three places to position 136 (least free). The 2017 India Freedom
Report, published in May by media watchdog The Hoot, spoke of “an overall sense of shrinking
liberty not experienced in recent years”. It counted 54 reported attacks on journalists, at least
three cases of television news channels being banned, 45 internet shutdowns and 45 sedition
cases against individuals and groups between January 2016 and April 2017. In October 2016,
“the Kashmir Reader”, a prominent English-language newspaper, was asked to stop publication;
it returned to newsstands in December.
India has become world’s 2nd ‘most racist’ country, which has also exposed the myth of Indian
claim of secular state and the largest democracy.
It is noteworthy, on October 16, 2017, in an article, under the caption, “Sleepless in Modi’s
economy,” which was published by the daily Dawn, Delhi-based Indian journalist Latha Jishnu
wrote, “Who is sleeping well in India in these days of economic gloom and the terrifying spectre
of joblessness that is spreading across the country? It’s an intriguing line of inquiry sparked by
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s astounding response to worries articulated in public by elder
members of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as well as economists and commercial
organisations. There are some people who sleep well only after they spread a feeling of
pessimism. We need to recognise such people…a decline in growth to 5.7 per cent in the last
financial quarter was unwarranted since it had fallen to much lower levels below that during the
previous Congress rule. Modi is right about that. But his response is revealing of the way he and
the BJP regime deal with criticism even within the party…Firstly, it uses fudged facts—the
decline in the growth has been consistent over six quarters—and neatly sidesteps inconvenient
truths (such as the lowering of growth rates by everyone from the IMF to the Reserve Bank of
India). However serious the issue, the doctrine of denial and deflection relies on ad hominem
attacks and uses the abrasive language of the hustings to demolish critics. Above all, the rhetoric
is dangerously delusional and sinks to ludicrous levels as when the BJP party chief claims the dip
in growth rate is due to ‘technical reasons’ without explaining what these could be. As growth
rates dip and industries fold up, unemployment remains a terrifying prospect for young India…
From being the poster boy of the big economies in 2015 when it was the world’s fastest-growing
big economy India is turning into a laggard, problem child whose fundamental deficiencies are
coming into the spotlight. These deficiencies have been made worse by the economic disruption
caused by the chaotic demonetisation exercise last November and the near standstill resulting
from the GST, a poorly planned and implemented national tax system. If one needed a strong
pointer to the consequences one has to look…Modi’s home state Gujarat where entrepreneurs are
pulling the shutters on industry and putting their money into speculative finance…The growth
rate of 5.7 pc in the second quarter of the 2017 financial year is not a bad thing as Modi claims,
but as Yashwant Sinha, a former BJP finance minister, reminded Modi uncomfortably in a recent
newspaper article, the current figures of growth are all based on statistical fudge by changing the
methodology for calculating the GDP. If the earlier method was used, the actual growth rate in
the last quarter would be a mere 3.7pc!

It further pointed out, “Sinha’s article encapsulates what economists have been pointing out over
the past year. “Private investment,” he says, “has shrunk as never before in two decades,
industrial production has all but collapsed, agriculture is in distress, construction industry, a big
employer of the work force, is in the doldrums, exports have dwindled, sector after sector of the
economy is in distress.…So who is sleeping well in India?…Admittedly, there are deep structure
problems in the economy which have resulted in the economic mess. But what is also undeniable
is that Modi’s capricious economic policies, such as the pointless demonetisation exercise,
coupled with his government’s inability to implement the long planned GST—it has been in the
making for 16 years—have come as severe blows to the economy and the hopes of a
demographically young country. Joblessness is looming large over India keeping awake millions
of desperate young people who are finding jobs disappearing at an alarming rate. In industry
after industry, from banking to capital goods, in premium sectors such as IT, the job losses are of
staggering proportions….For much of this year, farmers have been kept awake by policies that
are positively inimical to their well-being, forcing them to agitate continuously, regardless of the
bullets and indifference they have met with. So while economists, industry experts and
government official slug it over the figures of economic decline and job losses, academics,
parents of the young and society in general are losing sleep over the fallout: the strains on the
social fabric of India which has been rent by Hindutva politics. As violent young men,
presumably of no fixed occupation, roam the streets looking for soft targets to vent their rage,
cattle traders of the minority community and the untouchables of Hindu society have already
seen their livelihood disappear in the name of religion. The official crackdown on abattoirs has
had a serious impact on the economy with export of leather goods, an important foreign
exchange earner, taking a beating.”
It is notable that Indian defence expenditures have no bounds. In the past decade, India has spent
billions of dollars on purchases of arms, planes, radars and ships from the US, Russia, Britain,
Germany, Israel and France including other western countries.
In the recent past, in its report, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)
disclosed that India is the world’s largest recipient of arms.
It is mentionable that India test-fired its longest range surface-to- surface nuclear ballistic missile
Agni-5 on December 26, this year, which is capable of striking a target of more than 5,000 km
away. The missile can carry a nuclear warhead of more than one tone. It can target almost all of
Asia including Pakistan and China and Europe, while, the Agni-6 is reported to be in early stages
of development, with a strike-range of 8,000-10,000 km.
Nevertheless, New Delhi has initiated a deadly arms race and also compelled Islamabad and
Beijing to follow the suit.
While, an estimated 30 major armed insurgency movements are sweeping across India, reflecting
an acute sense of alienation on the part of the people involved. Broadly, these can be divided into
three broad categories; movements for political rights i.e. Assam, Kashmir, South India and
Khalistan, movements for social and economic justice i.e. Maoist (Naxalite) and North-Eastern
states and movements based upon religious grounds like that of Laddakh. Tamil Nadu is another
area where separatist movements are haunting federation of India.

And, illiteracy, poverty and lack of economic opportunities have fueled the natives’ demand for
autonomy and independence.
Notably, Indian Minister of External affairs Jaswant Singh who served the BJP for 30 years was
expelled from the party for praising Mohammad Ali Jinnah (Founder of Pakistan) and echoing
the pain of the Indian Muslims in his book, “Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence.” While
pointing out the BJP’s attitude towards the minorities, Singh wrote: “Every Muslim that lives in
India is a loyal Indian…look into the eyes of Indian Muslims and see the pain.” He warned in his
book, if such a policy continued, “India could have third partition.”
Nonetheless, poor economic policies, heavy defence spending, neglected social development,
growing serpent of radical Hinduism and pressure politics are just few triggers of these
secessionist movements, while Modi’s flawed policies have culminated into intensive economic
crisis which threatens India’s federal union. Consequently, like the former Soviet Union, these
policies will culminate into disintegration of the Indian union.

Acknowledgements -1

67 Secessionist Movements in India, Economic Disaster in India, India Disintegration of India

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