Northeast India

The internal security situation in India reflected a marked improvement in 2012-2013 relative to previous years. This Issue Brief offers an assessment of the major trends in 2013 for Jammu and Kashmir, the land borders of India, Naxalism, the Northeast, terrorism and radicalism in India. It also offers a prognosis for the year ahead.

• Internal Security Centre
• January 24, 2014
• Issue Brief

The recent violence indicates that armed groups have not disarmed and that state forces are simply unable to keep “extortion” networks in check. While the cease-fire agreement signed in 1997 has been the harbinger of the subsequent peace talks, blatant violations of the agreement by the outfit render the framework of the talks weak and question its effectiveness and legitimacy.

• Namrata Goswami
• January 09, 2014
• IDSA Comments

The importance of the road network in the north-east needs no emphasis. India is now raising the 17 Mountain Corps to augment its strategic strike capability vis-à-vis China. The BRO is the key instrument to realise the road network objective and provide the required logistical capability to this Corps.

• Gautam Sen
• December 16, 2013
• IDSA Comments

The State hardly has any `balance from its current revenues` to take on additional internal security expenditure or fund its own development activities. In this backdrop, the State has perforce to depend on the Centre to maintain a security establishment and sustain it on a long-term basis.

• Gautam Sen
• December 03, 2013
• IDSA Comments

It is well established that the armed ethnic groups in Myanmar act as the interlocking chain for the illegal weapons flow from Yunnan in China via Myanmar to the Northeast India. Reports indicate that the most effective illegal weapons trader in Myanmar is the armed ethnic group, the United Wa State Army (UWSA).

• Namrata Goswami
• November 07, 2013
• IDSA Comments

Gestures for peace talks in Manipur by the government indicate a willingness to engage in dialogue with armed groups, which in itself is a step towards reconciliation. Equally important is to ensure that these gestures are seen as a genuine desire to engage with the real issues.

• Namrata Goswami
• September 23, 2013
• IDSA Comments

Creation of new states is likely to undermine India’s polity and governance and consequently the socio-economic progress. Cost-benefit analysis suggests that only in some respects the newly-created states have performed better.

• Gautam Sen
• September 12, 2013
• IDSA Comments

Delay in coming to an agreement between the government and the major underground outfits is only creating frustration among a large section of the Naga society as well as internecine dissentions among the various factions trying to outbid each other.

• Gautam Sen
• June 10, 2013
• IDSA Comments

State Assembly Elections held in Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura in February 2013 threw up a clear mandate in favour of the ruling (coalition) parties in Tripura and Nagaland, although a fractured one in Meghalaya. Political analysts suggest that these results stand testimony to the people’s desire to maintain the status quo.

• Shristi Pukhrem
• March 22, 2013
• IDSA Comments

The Kuki–Naga conflict, which was mainly fought on land and identity issues, resulted in the uprooting of hundreds of villages, with the loss of more than 1,000 lives and enormous internal displacement. The British colonial policy of governance in the north-east frontier of India and the rise of ethnic nationalism among both the Kukis and Nagas in the post-independence period were the roots of the conflict.

• Thongkholal Haokip
• March 2013
• Strategic Analysis