The Armed Forces Special (Powers) Ordinance, 1942 was first imposed by the British on Indians to suppress the Quit India movement. It was a draconian law most hated by the Indians. Ironically, after her independence, India imposed this draconian law on Nagas formally, in 1958. Preceding AFSPA, series of repressive laws were imposed on Nagas by the Government of India to suppress the Naga independence aspiration. In time, especially after the Sino-India war in 1962, what was aimed at and used it as a mechanism to suppress what they called insurgency and maintain internal disturbances (law and order) slowly evolved into strategic interest. This strategic interest was basically an ambition for territorial annexation by securing the eastern border. The fear of a repeat of 1962 war, when the Chinese army advanced to as far as Tezpur in Assam further augmented the policy.
Keeping in mind strong anti-India sentiment that Nagas harbored and Naga-China connection in mid to late 1960s, Indian strategic planners had miscalculated conclusion that her territorial ambition in Nagaland was achievable only by the use of force, which, her armed forces alone could deliver and thus conditioned as such. Therefore, until such time India is satisfactorily convinced that, she has fully consolidated her territorial ambition and, is free from all external threats from neighbors; AFSPA will stay in Nagaland. Else, if the policy of deploying massive armed forces in Nagaland was solely to suppress Naga nationalism and maintain internal disturbances, logically, AFSPA should have co-terminated with ceasefire agreements in 1975, 1997 or 2001. Those events proved that even with political solution, the possibility of AFSPA’s repeal from Nagaland is doubtful. This is India’s great game politics on Nagas, which, the Indian strategic planners think, is beyond the comprehension of mortal Nagas.
Dr. K. Hoshi
Phek Town.
