Delhi: At a time when the Central government has been emphasizing the Act East Policy, Director General of Assam Rifles Lt Gen PC Nair on Friday said that a peaceful northeast is a strategic necessity for the successful implementation of this much-hyped policy. "A peaceful Northeast is a strategic necessity for India's Act East Policy. To achieve this, sustained efforts towards the signing of peace accordance by other insurgent groups, increased socio-economic development, political settlements, maintaining sanctity of India-Myanmar border, conduct of operations by security forces against proscribed insurgent groups are imperative," said Lt Gen Nair.
Asserting that the strategic location of the northeastern region and its proximity to China, Bangladesh, and Myanmar together with material and moral support by their inimical agencies to insurgent groups have fueled insurgency, Lt Gen Nair said that China's aid to separatist outfits in the northeast has been covert and has undergone a transformation over past decades. "From open to direct support in providing training and material support, the assistance to insurgent groups now seems to have ebbed to a certain level," said Lt Gen Nair. He further said that China's confrontation with India is likely to remain and the northeast region is likely to be the fulcrum for leveraging a favourable outcome in any future conflict.
Emphasizing that India's northeast region is rich in natural resources and biodiversity, Lt Gen Nair said, "this affluence needs to be tapped in order to exploit the huge potential it offers for heralding economic integration and prosperity." Lt Gen Nair was attending a seminar on "Economic growth prerequisite to addressing deeply rooted insurgency in the northeast" in New Delhi. "The economic development of the region would help in generating employment opportunities for the youths of the area, which will guide them on the right path, away from insurgency," said Lt Gen Nair.
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