"Centre should rethink policy towards peace process in NE"

The Union government should rethink about its policy toward ongoing peace process in the Northeast, leading think tanks have said.
This was discussed at a program 'Peace Audit:Northeast' organized by The Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS), New Delhi, and the Centre for Development and Peace Studies (CDPS), Guwahati, aiming to audit the multiple peace processes in the region.
Various speakers and participants provided their inputs on why the peace accords signed between various groups and the state have not yielded the desired result.
Gauhati University Political Science department's Associate Professor Dr N G Mahanta spoke on the multiple peace processes within Assam and highlighted the challenges and issues in peace processes on Bodoland, ULFA, Karbi Anglong and North Cachher Hills.

On whether the Centre should have a moratorium on talking to new factions, Mahanta was of the view that "we are winning the battles but not the larger war in achieving positive peace".
The Imphal Free Press Associate Editor and a leading media voice from Manipur, Chitra Ahanthem, underlined the conflict as not only between the State and non-State actors, but also a series of infighting within these groups.

She also highlighted the problem of splinter groups and what generally happens after the government signs a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the parent outfit.
The non-State actors occupying the civilian space and the issue of child soldiers were discussed at the dialogue, which also focused on the issue of taxation by the various non-State actors.

Besides the individual perspectives from the states in the Northeast, the dialogue also focused on new issues with former Assam Chief Secretary H N Das highlighting factors underlying the new demands for statehood in the Northeast.
Prof Monirul Hussain of Gauhati University underlined the growing communal and ethnic divide in a historical perspective and said that unlike the partitions of Punjab and Bengal, the partition of Assam has never been well researched and published.