The prolonged armed conflict situation in Northeast India appears to have taken a toll of the rank and file of the armed groups, necessitating the unlawful process of recruiting young children and training them to become hardcore cadres, armed to the teeth and not hesitating to kill.
By Salam Rajesh
The disturbing news report of alleged recruitment of children below the age of 15 by armed Kuki groups appeared in last Friday’s (15 November) local newspapers quoting sources from the national capital as was filed by CNN-News 18.
Article 77 of the Geneva Convention of 1949 explicitly cites that the “Recruitment of children under the age of 15 into the armed forces is forbidden”. It, therefore, undermines the nature of warfare launched by the armed Kuki groups in Manipur with specific reference to the past guerilla warfare and currently the open armed conflict in Myanmar where the Three Brotherhood Alliance forces are fighting the military Junta, and wherein Kuki armed groups are reported to be supporting the People’s Defense Force (PDF) which is also in the fray in Myanmar.
This writer is fairly well aware and had personally seen in field where non-state actors, or armed insurgent groups, had deployed child soldiers in their rank and file despite knowing that news filtering out on their recruitment of child soldiers under the age of 15, or 18 as it is, could put them into complicacies.
Manipur has been in the boil since the past five decades when intensified armed conflict between state forces and non-state actors erupted in early 1980. During this period, several ethnicities had emerged with their various agendas of self determination, greater autonomy, separate administration within the Union of India, the call for ‘re-unification’ and lastly, for an independent Christian nation, whatsoever their agendas are.
The prolonged armed conflict situation in the region appears to have taken a toll of the rank and file of the armed groups, necessitating the unlawful process of recruiting young children and training them to become hardcore cadres, armed to the teeth and not hesitating to kill. This was seen in the movie “Killing Fields” where teenage boys and girls were unwillingly drawn into the Khmer Rouge’s horrific bloodbath campaign in Cambodia.
Just like the reign of terror unleashed by the Khmer Rouge, slaying anything that moved and sparing none – men, women and children – some of the viral videos where captured Meitei youths were alleging slain in the most horrific manner while in captivity reflects to some extent the reign of terror in Cambodia in those horrendous days.
Article 132 of the Geneva Convention of 1949 re-emphasizes that “Children, pregnant women, mothers with infants and young children, the wounded and the sick and those who have been interned for a long time are to be released as soon as possible”.
It is rather unfortunate that inspite of such international rules of war in prevalence, the armed Kuki groups who took the six individuals – women and children – from Jiribam into their custody after an undeclared attack on the Jiribam police outpost and nearby settlements, had violated the guidelines of the Geneva Convention outrightly and caused the death of their captives.
Articles 10-11, Articles 13-14 and Article 16 of the Convention specifically stressed that “Attacks are forbidden on civilians and on ‘objects indispensible to civilian’s survival’ such as crops, irrigation systems or drinking water sources, cultural objects, and places of worship”.
It is accepted that none of these guidelines, or the explicit instructions placed under the Geneva Convention for all conflicting parties to follow, is being observed in principle and in practice by the armed groups in the conflict zone within Manipur State.
Around two decades back, on the trail of a trekking expedition south along the flow of the Leimatak River in Henglep subdivision of Churachandpur District, this writer’s team espied upon armed groups based in the area. A young boy definitely under the age of 18 was seen totting a Self-loading Rifle over his shoulder standing sentry. The gun appeared longer than the height of the boy and apparently too heavy for the slender-looking youth. Upon enquiry why he was there, the answer was concerning – the typical reply of frustration with the system and so he decided to join the armed cadres, some of whom were from his village.
The functionality of the system and the will power of the leadership are important in quelling the armed resistances, in whatever form. The frustration with the system is always a major reason why many opt to join the armed groups waging war upon the State, and the nation. It is also a reason why people vent their anger and frustration upon the elected representatives in the State.
This sense of frustration is felt in the manner in which the current ethnic armed conflict is dragging on in the State for more than a year despite the presence of thousands of ‘elite’ troops of the formidable Indian Army, the paramilitary and the State’s own special units. Something is certainly wrong with the system, considering the manner in which the armed forces and the State administration has not been able to tackle the problem soon enough.
The appeal of the people to release the women and children in their custody unharmed have gone unheard by the armed Kuki group, neither respecting the guidelines of the Geneva Convention nor showing any signs of humanism.
The assertion of the Kuki civil societies that the ten armed cadres slain by the Central Reserve Police Force personnel the other day in the wake of the Jiribam encounter are not hardcore militants but ‘simple village volunteers’ armed only with the licensed single-barrel guns, which villagers normally tot around while going for hunting, does not hold water. The viral pictures of the dead showed otherwise, where the dead were heavily armed to the teeth, possessing automatic assault rifles and an RPG.
The rhetoric goes forward and back, whereas, at this point of time the State must draw the attention of the national and international institutions on the very fact that the armed Kuki groups are violating the guidelines of the Geneva Convention of 1949 willfully by resorting to hold innocent women and children as captives in ‘war’ (or armed confrontation), and subsequently slaying them inhumanely.
The State cannot tolerate such violation of the rules of war (or, armed conflict as it is) as laid down by the international convention that seeks humanism in the heat of the armed conflict, and which every country and every armed group must adhere to in principle and in practice.
(Salam Rajesh is an Imphal based media professional, and currently works as an independent researcher and writer on socio-environmental issues. He coordinates campaigns and advocacy for indigenous peoples’ rights.)