Guwahati: Former director of the Intelligence Bureau and a member of the National Security Advisary Board, Government of India, P C Haldar on Monday said the presence of Maoists in the Northeast had the potential to create serious “strategic security complications” and urged the security establishments to take the attempts by the Naxals to consolidate themselves in the area seriously while planning a strategy to tackle the red rebels.
Inaugurating a two-day national seminar, titled “Responding to the Maoist Spread in India’s Northeast”, organized by Guwahati based think-tank Centre for Development and Peace Studies, Halder said: “ The northeast region is no stranger to trans-border dimension to its militancy.The possibility of forces inimical to India using Maoists as a pawn would have to be factored in by the security establishment.”
He said, the decision of the Maoists to set up bases in eastern Assam, along the border with Arunachal Pradesh, has assumed added significance because of its proximity to the international border and the traditional routs that insurgent groups in the Northeast have been using to excess its bases in Myanmar.
The Seminar is supported by the British Deputy High Commission, Kolkata.
Halder, who is also Government of India’s peace interlocutor for Assam, described as misconception the belief by many that the Maoists cannot work together with ethnic identity movements or the insurgency by tribal groups Assam.
He also said that “religiosity” of people also does not act as a deterrent against collaborating with the Maoists.
He said an effective anti-Maoist strategy for any government would have to be a combination of security measures and focused development with a mechanism to address the genuine grievances of the people.
“History is replete with instances of tactical alliances forged by groups with other groups having diverse orientation/interests to further their larger goal.”
Earlier, addressing the Seminar, British Deputy High Commissioner to Eastern India, Scott Furssedonn-Wood said India and the UK have been cooperating and working together in a number of fields including in areas of development, conflict prevention and peace. He said India and UK have tremendous potential in furthering trade and business and emphasised that peace and stability as a prerequisite for economic growth.