Top police officers look at ‘non-Western’ approach to handle tribal issues

The Internal security conference did not discuss ethnic clashes in Manipur; officers deliberate on radicalisation of youth, port and harbour security and fintech frauds

At a security conference held last week, the top police officers of the country discussed how to study the issues concerning tribals with a “non-Western approach”.

The issues arising from tribal unrest has consistently figured among the top internal security challenges in the country for the past two years at least.

At the National Security Strategies Conference organised by the Intelligence Bureau (IB) on September 13-14, a session was dedicated to “studying tribal issues with non-Western approach”, according to details of the conference accessed by The Hindu.

A senior Government official who participated in the meeting said, “The moot point was adopting a non-colonial approach to handle tribal issues. Since policing is central to the grievances of tribals, examples of how the West treated the indigenous people were cited. Some tribes are labelled habitual criminals, and it was agreed that they should not be stigmatised.”

The British had enacted a law in 1871 in which more than 100 tribal communities were labelled “criminal tribes”. The stigma associated with the tribes continued in most parts of the country post-Independence leading to the repeal of the legislation in 1952. The communities that were notified as ‘criminal’ under the British-era law had become “de-notified”, giving the category its name – De-notified Tribes.

At last year’s conference too, Mr. Shah had urged police officials to prioritise tribal issues and adopt a conciliatory approach while handling them.

The conference, a precursor to the annual Directors-General of Police (DGP) conference chaired by the Prime Minister later this year, had 11 sessions.

Multiple challenges

One of the sessions was on attempts to “radicalise youth through social media”. Another official said the discussion veered around “Islamic and Khalistani radicalisation”.

The other nine sessions pertained to narcotics and precursors trafficking – emerging threats and challenges; security of non-major ports and fishing harbours, fish landing centres and fish landing points; implementing the new major criminal laws: progresses and challenges (two sessions); counter-measures against armed formations and frontal organisations; trends of fintech frauds; exploitation of app ecosystem for criminal activities; and emerging threats from rogue drones and counter-measures.

No session on Manipur

There was no discussion on the ethnic violence in Manipur or challenges on the Bangladesh border due to political changes in the neighbouring country.

A press statement issued by the Home Ministry on September 14 said Mr. Shah asked the police to identify emerging national security challenges such as narcotics, rogue drones and online fraud and tackle them before they became major problems.

Published - September 20, 2024 08:46 pm IST