Terrorism in North-East India
The 1962 war with China, and the War with Pakistan in 1965 coincide with the outbreak of several ethnic insurgencies in North-East India. The Mizos, Manipuris and the Tripuris raised insurgent groups, which began to tread the path of the insurgent Nagas.
In the first stages of these movements, the insurgents avoided soft targets. But as the going got difficult, the Nagas and the Mizos resorted to urban terrorism. Often targets in towns came under attack- the Mizo National Front even eliminated three senior Mizoram police officials in 1975 in their headquarters in Aizwal.
The Manipuri People's Liberation Army and the United National Liberation Front are almost wholly urban guerilla groups, though they maintain jungle bases. The United Liberation Front of Asom also started as a rural-based insurgent group, but soon took to urban terrorism. In recent years, it has raised small hunter-killer units in some Assam cities. These units attack soft targets, even military personnel when they are off duty.
Apart from developing a capacity for urban terrorism signified by the growing use of explosives against soft targets and assassinations, all the insurgent groups in the North-East have now become notorious for systematic extortion.
North-East India is a creation of the Partition of the subcontinent in 1947. Prior to the Partition, there was no concept of a separate North-East region, as every single Province or hill region that now constitutes it was closely linked, for trade, economy, movement and education, to the adjoining areas of the East Bengal or Burma. The Khasi, Jaintia and Garo Hills maintained close relations with Sylhet, the Mizo hills with the Chittagong Hills Tracts and Tripura with Comilla, Noakhali and Sylhet. Parts of the Mizo Hills, Manipur and the Naga hills had direct links with Burma, where many of their ethnic kinsmen lived. The areas of the former North-East Frontier Agency (now Arunachal Pradesh) had close contacts with Tibet and Bhutan. In
In the first stages of these movements, the insurgents avoided soft targets. But as the going got difficult, the Nagas and the Mizos resorted to urban terrorism. Often targets in towns came under attack- the Mizo National Front even eliminated three senior Mizoram police officials in 1975 in their headquarters in Aizwal.
The Manipuri People's Liberation Army and the United National Liberation Front are almost wholly urban guerilla groups, though they maintain jungle bases. The United Liberation Front of Asom also started as a rural-based insurgent group, but soon took to urban terrorism. In recent years, it has raised small hunter-killer units in some Assam cities. These units attack soft targets, even military personnel when they are off duty.
Apart from developing a capacity for urban terrorism signified by the growing use of explosives against soft targets and assassinations, all the insurgent groups in the North-East have now become notorious for systematic extortion.
North-East India is a creation of the Partition of the subcontinent in 1947. Prior to the Partition, there was no concept of a separate North-East region, as every single Province or hill region that now constitutes it was closely linked, for trade, economy, movement and education, to the adjoining areas of the East Bengal or Burma. The Khasi, Jaintia and Garo Hills maintained close relations with Sylhet, the Mizo hills with the Chittagong Hills Tracts and Tripura with Comilla, Noakhali and Sylhet. Parts of the Mizo Hills, Manipur and the Naga hills had direct links with Burma, where many of their ethnic kinsmen lived. The areas of the former North-East Frontier Agency (now Arunachal Pradesh) had close contacts with Tibet and Bhutan. In