Traditional Method of Conflict Resolution: In three tribal societies of North East India

Name of book: Traditional Method of Conflict Resolution: In three tribal societies of North East India

Edited by: Alphonsus D’Souza

Published by: North Eastern Social Research Centre

Number of pages: 98

Price: Rs 75

Nestled in the easternmost part of India, the seven states of the Northeast have been amphitheatres of separatist violence and conflicts since the 1950s.

Connected to mainland India by a narrow 22km stretch, also called the chicken’s neck, a relentless isolationist approach to the region in a post-independent scenario, coupled with policies that were not quite cognizant of the ground realities, facilitated feelings of frustration and fear of losing ethnic identities.

Inefficient development initiatives, extended ceasefires with no resolution in sight and surrender and rehabilitation schemes with unproven efficacy have done little to alleviate the existing socio-political mayhem.

The booklet, part of a North Eastern Social Research Centre series on peace initiatives, attempts at an alternative understanding of conflict by examining three communities — Dimasa, Karbi and Lotha Naga — and the traditional methods of conflict resolution in these three indigenous societies.

In the introduction, D’Souza says: “The present study is an effort to look at the situation from the perspective of a common person” — and that is exactly what makes the study interesting.

Refraining from journalistic or social analyses and scholarly commentaries, it provides an objective “insider’s” perspective from communities witness to conflict situations. In doing so, it moves away from the general presumptuous and reductionist view that all the conflicts in the region are purely between the nationalist state or the government and the various insurgent groups, motivated solely by xenophobic intentions.

The sections on origin, history and social organisation of each community highlights not only the misperception in treating the entire Northeast as a homogenised composite entity, but also reinforces the idea that contrary to popular view, these tribes have always resorted to non-violent means of resolving conflicts.

The study gives an illuminating insight into the customary ways of conflict resolution, with emphasis on the welfare of people, as “restorative and reparative”.

The appendix on the chronology of the Karbi-Dimasa conflict, 2006, offers the discerning reader a peek into how ethnic clashes do not necessarily arise from communal hatred and how proactive participation of both communities, especially its youth, in ensuring peace does scale down the colossal loss, if not revert it altogether.

It also looks at how Christianity, modernisation and commodification of land have, in a big way, led to the dilution of tradition in a society in transition.

Brief, concise and crisp, one can treat the book as a starting point of a more nuanced understanding of conflict in this conflict-torn region.

At present, promising political negotiations with various militant outfits, which have opened doors of dialogue, like Ulfa, DHD-J and UPDS, has fuelled hopes of peaceful resolution to decades of violence and strife. Often knowledge of one’s ignorance is the beginning of awareness, as the essay, Dimasa Conflict Management reiterates: “Perhaps they (people of the community) do not understand the reasons or factors that have led to the outbreak of conflicts.”

SUMEELA ADHIKARIYUM

Published on July 15, 2011