Skip to main content

"Insurgency in North East India: Strategic Encirclement & The New Concern", Jaideep Saikia - Seminars in Peace and Conflict Studies

Date
Date
Tuesday 8 June 2021, 12 noon (UK)
Location
Zoom

The Centre for Global Security Challenges (CGSC) and School of Politics and International Studies, University of Leeds are delighted to welcome Jaideep Saikia, Guwahati-based author and distinguished expert on terrorism in South Asia, for a “Seminars in Peace and Conflict Studies” guest lecture on Tuesday 8 June, 1200 BST. Zoom link: https://universityofleeds.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYqceitrj4jEtK2XOuLzEYU8nUzBVHx1AdT

 

In this lecture titled "Insurgency in North East India: Strategic Encirclement & The New Concern," Mr Saikia will introduce the security challenges facing the often overlooked Northeast India region, drawing from his own expertise in living, working, writing and advising policymakers and practitioners on counterinsurgency issues in the region. An abstract is provided below:

 

Abstract

 

Surrounded by China, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal, one of the most important reasons for the continuance of insurgency in the North East is the region’s strategic encirclement. This has not only provided insurgencies in the region with a conduit to countries such as China, which had welcomed number of insurgent batches from Nagaland, Manipur and Assam, but also with bases for training, sustenance and launching pads for operations against India. This has been seen in the case of Myanmar, Nepal, Bangladesh and even Bhutan. Therefore, although the primary motivations for the beginning of an insurgency may range from underdevelopment, social alienation and geographical distance, an important factor that allows an insurgency movement to grow is a neighbourhood that is either hostile or indifferent to India’s national security interests.

 

While ethnic insurgencies in the region have declined in recent years, there are fears that radical Islamists will increasingly take their place. Although there is documented evidence of the existence of home-grown varieties of Islamist militancy—particularly in Assam—the trend that is showcasing itself in the region is the ingress of groups such Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh and such other tanzeems from Bangladesh as also groups such as the Popular Front of India from states such as Kerala in South India, the latter seeking to radicalise the minority community in the region alongside efforts by the Jama’at-e-Islami. The stage seems to be set for a concerted, invasive design that has lebensraum, terror and finally Nizam-e-Mustafa as its primary objective.

 

The Indian state has in the past sought to contain ethnic militancies in the North East by taking recourse to a combination of methods. These were primarily a mix of reconciliatory efforts, negotiation, punitive action and dividing belligerent groups. But the entrance of Islamism of the fanatical sort would have to witness a re-calibration exercise by New Delhi in its efforts to offset the sinister designs of Islamist groups such as al-Qaeda and Daesh.

 

This talk will offer an overview of the security issues that the North East—as aforesaid—is faced with, and will also examine the options before the Indian state for combating the unfolding scenario of concern.

Jaideep Saikia is a terrorism and conflict analyst with over two dozen peer reviewed and published papers on security and strategy. He is also the author of several books, including the best selling “Terror Sans Frontiers: Islamist Militancy in North East India,” “Terrorism: Patterns of Internationalization” and “Mind over Matter”. An alumni of Rashtriya Indian Military College, Dehra Dun, St Stephen’s College, Delhi and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, the last of which was as a Ford Fellow, Saikia has also served the Governments of India and Assam in security advisorial capacities, including a stint in the National Security Council Secretariat as an Expert on the North East. He engaged in “Track II Dialogue” with Bangladesh (2007 & 2016), Bhutan (2013), China (2002 & 2014), Japan (2016) and Myanmar (2008 & 2014) and has been an “International Visitor” to the United States in 2003 on the invitation of the US Department of State when he studied “International Crime Issues and Global Cooperation.” Jaideep Saikia was also a State Guest to Pakistan in 1988 on a personal invitation of the then President of Pakistan, Gen. Zia-ul-Haq. He was also a Senior Fellow in the Delhi based Think Tank, “Vivekananda International Foundation” and served under the present National Security Adviser, Ajit K. Doval. Saikia has also authored four anthologies of poetry in English and several of his poems have been translated into Assamese and have been compiled in a compendium titled “Susupti”.

Jaideep Saikia received the Governor of Assam’s “Scroll of Honour” on 9 June 1999 for commendable work for countering insurgency in Assam, Citations from the General Officers Commanding, 3 and 4 Corps in January 2021 for “invaluable and selfless contribution to the nation’s security” and for “stimulating work on a wide spectrum of evolving security paradigm” respectively, a “Scroll of Honour” from the Government of Assam on 18 January 2021 for transcreating Assam’s National Song “O Mur Aapunar Dekh” for the first time into English and the Achiever 2020 Award on 21 April 2021 for Outstanding Contribution to National Security.

Jaideep Saikia’s domain expertise includes a) Insurgency in the North East b) Islamist Terrorism c) Bangladesh d) India-China Boundary [Eastern Sector] e) Counter Radicalisation and e) “India’s National Security Doctrine.”