The central security force and paramilitary units like Assam Rifles favour strong and friendly relationships with locals in the North.
“The Assam Rifles is investing in building new bonds with the youth of tomorrow by training selected local boys from Oting and nearby areas in Nagaland for various employment opportunities including those for Agniveers,” one source said.
During the last one year, 598 young students and youths were trained in the State and out of them, as many as 39 were selected for Agniveers.
“This year the exams are going on now…and we have trained 320 potential candidates,” the source said.
Oting in the remote Mon district in Nagaland had courted ill fate and controversy in December 2021 when in a botched-up operation, 21 paratroopers from neighbouring Assam had killed innocuous coal mine workers from the hitherto little-known Oting village.
With regard to alleged ‘human rights violations’ by forces during military operations in the North East or in Jammu and Kashmir, the source said, “The directives to us from the Defence Ministry and Army headquarters are clear, even a single instance of human rights violation is totally unacceptable”.
On this backdrop, it is stated that Oting was a “real bad thing to happen” and should be taken as an exception.
“If Oting villagers lament December 4, 2021 incident as a nightmare, for the forces too the agony was deep. A few Assam Rifles jawans wept that night trying to conceal their emotions from senior officers,” the source said.
The Government sources say it is fully committed to uphold human rights at all times. In fact, the source went on to add, respecting human rights for Assam Rifles is not simply a moral and a legal necessity but also a crucial strategic imperative. There is already a policy of ‘Zero Tolerance’ towards any instance of human rights violation.
The Indian Army had established a Human Rights Cell in March 1993 at Army Headquarters, much before the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) was established. Similar cells have also been established at the Command and Corps level in counter-insurgency areas. These cells act as nodal agencies for receiving complaints from various groups or individuals, investigating the veracity of each complaint and taking corrective action where required.
The track record of the Indian Army in Jammu & Kashmir and the North East, where it has been deployed as an aid to the respective State’s and UT administration apparatus for internal security tasks, has also been guided by the “Do’s and Don’ts”.
Of course, the Armed Forces Special Powers Acts empower the Forces to act in some difficult situations. However, sources say there is a robust mechanism also in place for course correction.
The much talked about Oting village now offers a different picture, and there is a “modest” bonhomie between Assam Rifles and the local villagers. The Village Council chairman, Longwang Konyak, also endorses the neo-friendship. But he also says, “Difficult to forget what happened on December 4, 2021. It was a nightmare for us. But I believe in Jesus Christ and so I say, let us forgive and move ahead”.
Official sources say the Assam Rifles, through Military Civic Action Projects under Operation Sadbhavana worth Rs 45 lakh, will be taken up from time to time. “This is inclusive of construction of two reinforced concrete cement reservoirs of 1,50,000 litre capacity for Rs 35 lakh,” says a source adding that a similar quantum of Rs 45-50 lakh development works are planned for the next year as well.
Locals say various development projects are good. But more ought to be done to bridge the gap that got engulfed recently. A source has said that the Assam Rifles choir team has befriended locals and even performed during a Sunday service.
One Naga woman in nearby Wangla village sums up the story of Assam Rifles’ friendship with locals very well. “You must be aware that Indian army people say Assam Rifles are like friends of the hill people. Now these friends are trying to re-establish the bond”.
The Assam Rifles, once titled ‘Friends of the Hill People’, by its history, has never been in search of a township to settle or set up its camps. Rather the townships have most of the time – if not all – have developed around the Assam Rifles camps.
These have been the case in towns like Kohima, Wokha, Mokokchung in Nagaland, Serchip and Aizawl in Mizoram, Shillong in Meghalaya and also several rural hamlets.
Going into certain details, in Kohima for instance Assam Rifles; initially, the 3rd Battalion, 29th Battalion and now the 1st Assam Rifles was set up around the Midland/Daklane areas – not very far from Nagaland Old Secretariat – where the Chief Minister used to sit.
With an Assam Rifles camp in the vicinity, an atmosphere of “security” prevailed in these insurgency-infested towns in the 1960s and 1970s. The fear of insurgents targeting public places even forced a Kohima privately-run cinema to suspend screening films. In search of entertainment, locals would often go to the Assam Rifles compound to watch movies run by generators.
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