Covering up Indian Forces’ bloody trails especially Dr. Haralu, the first doctor amongst the Nagas. Did he deserve such a death; Nagas tend to forget the past so quickly, but how many families are still hurting?
KEDI HARALU
Nehru stands out as an icon of nationalism and embodiment of secular ethos of India. Unlike the great Quaid, who succumbed to poor health within a short time after the realization of his dream, Nehru lived a full life and had the opportunity to remain at the helm of Indian affairs for seventeen long years. He is regarded as the Father of Indian Nation, who molded India in the model of the “largest functional democracy of the World”. Manmohan Singh, the incumbent Prime Minister of India is also known to be a moderate unpretentious person, and boasts of being the first Sikh to rise to this eminent tryst with destiny. But what does the aristocratic and idealistic doyen of Indian politics from UP share with a self made Technocrat from a Jhelum village? – an unfathomable tolerance to the spilling of innocent blood by the Indian Armed Forces in the insurgency hit areas of Indian Held Kashmir and the Indian North East. Two documents, published recently, help us comprehend the high political threshold of Indian tolerance for atrocities committed by the Indian Armed Forces. These are the “Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru – 21 June – 31 August 1956” (SWJN) compiled by H.Y. Sharada Prasad, A. K. Damoda and the Amnesty International’s report published in 2005 covering India during the preceding year.
While browsing through SWJN one comes across an interesting (and revealing) communication of Nehru with his Defense Minister, K. N .Katju, concerning human rights violations by the Indian Army. By 1956 the Naga insurgency demanding freedom from India had become highly strident leading to the deployment of Indian Security Forces and the conduct of ham-handed counter insurgency operations in India’s fractured North Eastern Region. The death of a 75 years old medical practitioner, Dr. Haralu, by the Indian Forces, who according to the official version was “accidentally killed... due to mistaken identity”, caused wide scale protests by the local population. The matter came to notice of the Indian Prime Minister known for his “idealism”. It was perhaps this strain of his complex character and personality that caused him to write Katju, on July 24, 1956, warning him of the “limitations of the military approach”. Relating to Dr. Haralu’s tragic death Nehru wrote: “I am much troubled by this occurrence. It has far-reaching political consequences. Apart from this, it brings out some very unpleasant aspects about the behavior of some of our men in our Army, including some officers... An incident like the one resulting in the death of Dr. Haralu and the subsequent attempt to cover this up leaves a bad mark in [Army’s] record”
A follow-up note dated July 25, 1956, which seems straight from the contemporary situation in today’s Assam reads: “In a letter which I have just seen, from the Governor of Assam to the Home Minister, reference is made to information received about our Army burning villages and shooting people, including women, who are running away to the jungles.... Even the houses of certain persons whose loyalty is unquestioned, were burnt by the Army though it was asked to spare these houses.
Certain instances of needless killing of innocent persons are also mentioned”. “There are reports also, which may or may not be true, about cases of rape. Many young Aos signed a pledge with their blood that they would fight on the side of Phizo to the last ditch. In fact, we appear to be succeeding in alienating even those elements among the Nagas who were opposed to Phizo and who wanted to side with us. At the same time, there is no evidence whatever that we have made any marked progress from the purely military point of view. Thus, we appear to be failing both in the military sphereproach.” Three days later he wrote to Katju: “Making every allowance, I think that what our military have done is not satisfactory and I have no intention to hush it up, even in private.”
Nehru’s resolve to expose the highhandedness of the Indian army expressed in the note to Katju notwithstanding, he ultimately chose to throw his lot with the run-amok Indian Army. On August 23, While addressing the Lok Sabha, the contradictions in his personality were at their hypocritical best: “I am not saying that wrong things are not being done there by individuals or groups, whether by civil authorities or by the military. But, I do wish to remove this impression that our Army or anybody else there is just playing fast and loose with lives and with burning of villages and the rest. Apart from our instructions which are very strict, the General Officers Commanding and others have been constantly issuing instructions. Now, it is true that many villages have been burnt there. Our information is that a far greater part of the burning is done by the Naga hostiles.
They themselves do it; that is our difficulty.” Having seen his true face, it is no wonder that Nehru, the great democrat, was the moving spirit behind enactment of Armed Forces Special Powers Act in 1958 which provided unlimited freedom of action and immunity to Indian security forces, employed on counter insurgency operations. The Act empowers the Indian Armed Forces to arrest without warrants and shoot to kill in situation even when their lives are not endangered. With Nehru setting the precedence it falls in the realm of the impossible that lesser mortals like Manmohan will have the motivation and the political will to rein in their Armed Forces. No wonder custodial killings, fake encounters, use of locals as human shields and rape are inescapable realities of life in the IHK and the Indian NE Region Fifty years have passed since Nehru displayed his chameleon like nature but even under the squeaky clean personage of Manmohan Singh, Indian Government’s tolerance threshold for violators of human rights remains unassailable. It should be instructive to read what Amnesty International’s Report for the year 2005 says regarding the immunity under which the Indian Armed Forces operate in the insurgency hit areas. “Members of the security forces continued to enjoy virtual impunity for human rights violations. In April women members of the Association of the Parents of Disappeared Persons were beaten by police when they demonstrated in Srinagar against continuing impunity for those responsible for “disappearances” in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. While the state admitted in 2003 that 3,744 persons had “disappeared” since insurgency began in 1989, human rights activists believed the true figure to be over 8,000. No one had been convicted by the end of 2004,” says the Amnesty report. The report also chronicles the rape and shooting of Manorama Devi, a woman activist in Manipur on 11 July 2004. “Thangjam Manorama died after being arrested under the AFSPA by members of the Assam Rifles in Greater Imphal, Manipur. Her body was found later the same day a few kilometers from her home; it reportedly showed signs of torture and multiple gunshot wounds. There were reports that she had been raped. Her death was followed by protests by community and women’s groups which the security forces tried to suppress by detaining participants and firing on demonstrators, injuring scores of people. A judicial inquiry was ongoing at the end of the year”, points out the report.
From Nehru to Manmohan, Indian Political establishment has steadfastly supported its Army in covering its bloody trails in the IHK and its North Eastern Region. Even Titans like Nehru were not above giving a spin to atrocities perpetrated by its armed forces and presenting them as the handiwork of the locals. Over a period of time, the trend has become part of the Indian politico-military psyche where perpetrators of fake encounters, custodial killings and incidents of rape have no fear of being answerable to any law or authority. But India is paying a heavy price for its insensitivity, though. The resistance to Indian armed forces has become violent by degrees in synchronization with its own atrocities. As it seems, the fires of insurgency are ultimately focusing and in the psychological apathy heat on the Indian Army and the signs of fatigues among Indian rank and file are becoming only too manifest.
Personal Note: Make no mistake. I respect the Indian Army, for I am an Army school product thus I consider myself an Indian, hence voicing my thoughts and beliefs is in a democratic country is not wrong. As a believer I have forgiven all those who were responsible to my Grand dads murder, but the irony of the whole episode was, when this very battalion was posted at Arunachal during the Chinese incursion, none of the stood their ground, but the eldest son of Dr. Haralu was at that time the APO of that very region in Arunachal Pradesh, and heroically stood their ground in the trencher built by the Indian Army.
