quit notices served to plain dwellers like Bengalis, Assamese, Biharis from the rest of India. Then the ethnic minorities like the Kukis were targeted. Now it is the turn of the natives as the ominous menace has caught up with the Nagas themselves.

Security analyst Vidyarthi Kumar says, “Insurgency and extortion demands have been playing complimentary roles to each other in the North East. The Robin Hood cult had sold so well over the years that once even a former Chief Minister in Nagaland floated his ‘private army’ called the Naga Youth Liberation Front (NYLF) in 1990s”. The organisation came around pledging to root out corruption but in reality concentrated mostly on serving extortion and quit notices to a host of non - Naga officials and others who refused to cough up extortion booty.

What has left the Union Home Ministry baffled is that all this has been going on even as the Centre is in a process of dialogue with the Naga militant groups.

Reports from Nagaland over the last few months say that the lawfully ‘elected’ Nagaland Government under the mercurial NPF leader Neiphio Rio had simply failed to crack down on these. In the process, entrepreneurs both native Nagas and ‘outsiders’ (from plains in India), complain that they are finding it difficult to cope with the situation and at times are even being deprived of a level playing field.

Therefore, not long ago, in what was seen as a bold move, civil society organizations in Dimapur decided to pay only one tax to the different Naga underground factions.

“Irrespective of any sort of justification/s, there shall be only one tax payable to any one faction of UGs,” resolved an emergency meeting of Dimapur-based civil society, frontal organizations, student and youth organizations and business community held under the aegis of the Naga Council.

What is more baffling is that now the militant groups, especially one faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN), have started getting involved in the ‘business syndicate’.

Armed Forces favour political solution in North East: In a major departure from the established policy that the insurgency problem in the North East could be curbed by using force, reportedly the top Assam Rifles and other military officials told the Government of India that the vexed insurgency problems should be solved only through political dialogue. In a recent meeting, they told the top brass in the Home ministry that the security forces could only restrain the activities of militants. It would be wrong to perceive that the insurgency problem could be solved by using force. They also said that the armed forces would welcome any insurgent outfit which was prepared to hold political dialogues within the framework of the Constitution of India. The top military officers, however, did not favour diluting or abrogation of the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) 1958 said all laws were ‘good’ as long as they are not misused.

“From one - time profit oriented extortions and quit notices to non – Nagas, today in Nagaland the groups and cadres have established a monopoly control on the business of most saleable items like chicken, petrol and lately mushrooms,” says an insider.

Apparently it all had started when rebel Naga leader Thuingaleng Muivah gave a free hand to one militant leader who on his part allegedly has monopolized most saleable commodities.

They call it collection of taxes by the underground Governments. In any case, these are illegal and the elected Governments are expected to act against such rackets

This has resulted in some uneven market play even within Nagaland. Thus, for chicken, which is available at a wholesale price of `90 per kg, the same broiler meat is available in the Dimapur area of the State for `130 per kg or more. Moreover, the said ‘NSCN administration’ had last month also listed out 17 petrol pumps in and around the Dimapur - Chumukedema region for selling adulterated fuel and imposed a penalty on them. Protesting against the arbitrary style of functioning of the ‘NSCN administration’ the shutters went down in all 31 fuel depots. This left people anguished and the economy in and around the commercial region of Nagaland bleeding.

Actually there are some basic issues too which have led the Naga militants towards the extortion/tax collection menace from their own brethren.

Even as the Union Home Ministry officials refuse to buy the line, the State Government headed by Rio has argued that no single factor could be attributed for the rise in extortion or the militant groups getting involved in either ‘mushroom mess’ or the business syndicate.

The NPF party has maintained that as the ceasefire in operation between the Government of India and Naga militant groups from 1997 does not have any rehabilitation formula and hence the ‘Naga national workers’ resort to these taxation and business syndicates.
 
 “… the ceasefire does not have any rehabilitation formula or any provision of sustenance for the national (read underground) workers. This has made the national workers (militant cadres) resort to taxation in various forms and the people have been made to suffer by bearing the burden,” the NPF party said in a statement.
 
Predictably, the Congress has refused to buy the line. Expressing solidarity with the aggrieved business community, the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) has expressed solidarity with the Dimapur - based civil society organizations and business community.

The NPCC president, S C Jamir described the last 10 years of the Rio government performance as “chaotic” stating that it is the responsibility of the State to protect its subjects from any form of taxation other than those imposed by legitimate Government apparatus. “This huge people’s outcry is a public no - confidence motion against Rio’s government and any Government worth its salt should hang its head in shame,” the Congress party said in a complaint missive to the Centre.

Need for a crackdown:

Fearing a rise in the extortion racket especially in view of the volatile election season, the Central Home Ministry has directed the Nagaland Government as also the other Northeastern states including Assam and Manipur to undertake a major crackdown against all extortionist groups irrespective of their affiliations.

Taking cognizance of reports of a ‘business syndicate’ being established in Nagaland by one particular faction, the Centre has directed both the States of Manipur and Nagaland to take prompt and firm action against such groups. “They call it collection of taxes by the underground Governments. In any case, these are illegal and the elected Governments are expected to act against such rackets,” intelligence sources said in New Delhi.

The States have been asked to prepare a probable list of groups who are ‘disturbing” the plying of trucks. The Government fears that such a monopoly of underground groups and their respective tribal affiliations could only jeopardize the relations between various ethnic and tribal communities in Nagaland and other parts of the region.

The Centre also directed the Manipur Government to be equally firm with armed groups indulging in rampant extortion in the valley and other pockets of the State.

The Centre has recently got inputs from central security agencies that about 30 militant groups, including major outfits such as the United National Liberation Front (UNLF) and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), were operating in Manipur.

Meanwhile, various other groups of Naga militant outfits such as the National Socialist Council of Nagaland - Isaac Muivah (NSCN-IM) and the NSCN - Khaplang (NSCN-K), the Kuki National Organisation (KNO) and the United People’s Front (UPF) were also operating in Manipur often creating occupational hazards to truckers and other economic activities.

Similarly, the Centre has obtained reports from its agencies and also the State Government that there are as many as eight militant groups including two fundamentalist outfits active in Assam. “Even these Assam - based groups including ULFA are indulging in extortion. We have to urgently put a check on this,” sources said.

The sources said that even fundamentalist groups like the Muslim United Liberation Tigers of Assam (MULTA) with around 150 - armed cadre and Harkat-ul-Muzahideen (HUM) are also getting active and collecting funds.

There are also reports with the Centre that the other terror outfits that are active in the region are the Dima Halim Doaga (Nunisa), the Dima Halim Doaga (Jewel), the Kuki Revolutionary Army, the Peoples Liberation Front, the United Peoples Democratic Solidarity, the Peoples United Liberation Front, the All Adivasi National Liberation Army, and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland.

Swati Deb