Revisiting the Roots Behind the Promulgation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 in North-East India – From a Historical Perspective
by Bhabani Sonowal
This is the first part of a two-part series in which the author explores the socio-legal ramifications of the North-East region of India. The piece delves into the complex factors that compelled the Central Government to enact special laws, examining the region’s unique challenges and the legislative responses designed to address them. – Editors
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| The Beinô River, also known as the Chhimmtuipi River or Kaladan River, is a river in Mizoram, northeastern India. It flows southward through Myanmar. [Photo: DigiLife Siaha/Unsplash] |
The North-East of India, being the most isolated among the Indian states, has a unique geopolitical background. The area comprises eight states and shares most of its international borders. Due to the highly permeable borders and differential treatment meted out by mainstream India, there has always been a tendency among the indigenous tribal peoples residing in those areas to demand a sovereign state. The demand for a sovereign state among the Naga tribes in the hills led to an insurgency movement in the region. The only recourse for the Government to respond to the rebel movement was to deploy the armed forces in the region to contain the militant groups. In this context, this chapter of the thesis discusses the geopolitical history of the North-Eastern states and the creation of eight individual states. Furthermore, it elaborates on the background of insurgency in the region and examines why there was an urgency for the enactment of a new law conferring special powers to the armed forces.
The North-East is a geographical region comprising eight Indian states. These states share a highly permeable international border with China in the north, Myanmar in the east, Bangladesh in the south-west, and Bhutan in the north-west. The region is relatively poor and backward in terms of both industry and communication, with most of its states ranking poorly on India’s human development index. Since colonial times, the North-East region has been isolated and marginalised economically, socially, and politically. As the region is essentially the dwelling place of various tribes with diverse ethnic cultures and heterogeneity, that diversity has often led to conflicts. Although the region is highly penetrable through international borders, it has very slim connection with mainland India.
Barely four per cent of the region is contiguous with the rest of India; the only link to mainstream India is the circuitous Siliguri Corridor, the so-called Chicken’s Neck, a narrow wedge of territory between Nepal and Bangladesh. Defence analysts from India, such as Kanti Bajpai, argue that this region is complex and has always had very complicated relations with New Delhi and the Indian mainstream. Consequently, to reintegrate the region with the mainstream economy, the Central Government of India has maintained a differential policy approach towards the North-Eastern region. This attempt to integrate the region with the mainstream economy through a differential policy has, in a sense, disintegrated the region and widened regional disparity, thereby making it one of the most conflict-prone zones in India..........
Dr. Bhabani Sonowal is an Assistant Professor at the School of Law, Bennett University (The Times Group) in India. She holds a Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (2019) and an LL.M. from the PG Department of Law, Gauhati University, Assam (2014). Her research focuses on victims' rights, victimology, and criminal procedures.
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