A great country lives on its frontiers. Areas in the hinterland can always be well looked after. The capital cities can be showpieces. However, when people living in the border areas are happy and the frontiers are secure and well-defended, it shows good governance. The state is then also better prepared to deal with any external threats.
India has 15,106.7 km of land borders with seven countries—China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan, and Afghanistan, and a coastline of 7,516.6 km including the island territories. We may thank some of our neighbours for our problems in the bordering states. Nevertheless, the fact remains that our insensitive attitude toward people living in such areas has either aggravated the existing problems or given rise to new ones.
Ladakh plunged into disorder
The Indian government’s lack of foresight and inept handling has added Ladakh to the litany of our border problems. Here was an area of idyllic beauty, serene atmosphere, simple people, loyal to the core, but on one inauspicious day (24 September), the police opened fire, killing four people and injuring about 80. Why? The protestors had turned violent while demanding statehood and seeking the extension of the Sixth Schedule protection to Ladakh. Sonam Wangchuk, who was on hunger strike for the past 35 days in support of the demands, allegedly made an inflammatory speech. He was arrested and detained under the National Security Act. The peaceful Union Territory suddenly became a troubled spot.
The abrogation of Article 370 on 5 August 5 2019 was actually celebrated by the Buddhists of Ladakh. However, as time passed, there was a sense of disillusionment over the perceived lack of autonomy and absence of safeguards. People became apprehensive that there would be exploitation of Ladakh’s fragile ecology and that the outsiders would be taking over their land and jobs.
Wangchuk voiced concern over the large-scale industrial and tourism projects. According to Chering Dorjay Lakruk, co-chairman of the Apex Body, Leh, the root cause of the recent protests in the Union Territory was a lack of jobs and the local councils becoming “virtually defunct”. These were legitimate concerns and could have been addressed by a sensitive government. Those who oppose the movement say that Ladakh, with a small population of three lakh, cannot be granted statehood. But this was precisely the population of Nagaland when it became a state in 1963.
Wangchuk is being branded anti-national for certain statements attributed to him. The statements may have been objectionable, but let us not have double standards. Thuingaleng Muivah, the rebel Naga leader, said only the other day that “the Naga national flag and Naga national constitution are non-negotiable, whether it is today or tomorrow”. Earlier, in 2020, he said: “The Nagas will co-exist with India sharing sovereign powers… but they will not merge with India.” No legal action was ever taken against Muivah. Wangchuk’s protests, it needs to be emphasised, have mostly been Gandhian in nature: Delhi Chalo in 2023, fast unto death in 2024, and a 35-day hunger strike in 2025.
The government of India must apply the healing touch to Ladakh. It is good that a judicial inquiry has already been ordered into the incident and that dialogue with the Apex Body, Leh, and the Kargil Democratic Alliance is being resumed. Centre would do well to reconsider its attitude toward Wangchuk, revive the defunct hill councils, establish a public service commission, and frame an ecological charter.
Also read: Anger over Wangchuk’s detention wasn’t limited to Ladakh. It spread to Arunachal, Uttarakhand & HP
Manipur continues to burn
Manipur is another state where the situation has gone from bad to worse. Ethnic violence, which broke out on 3 May 2023, has created an irreconcilable divide between the Meiteis and the Kuki-Zo people. It is estimated that 258 people have been killed and more than 60,000 displaced in the internecine conflicts.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the state on 13 September 2025—more than two years after the conflict started. He announced a development package worth over Rs 8,500 crore, but this does not appear to have excited the imagination of the people. The Meiteis are determined to maintain the integrity of the state; the Kuki-Zo, on the other hand, want a separate Union Territory with a legislature. The central government will have to come up with a long-term plan that addresses the concerns of different groups on matters of identity, territorial integrity, regional autonomy, and illegal migration.
Statehood for Jammu and Kashmir
There is dissatisfaction in Jammu and Kashmir as well over the delay in granting statehood. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has been behaving with great dignity while making demands to the central government. The BJP government will be well advised to repose confidence in him. Pakistan, by all indications, is in the process of reverting to its pastime of exporting terror to J&K. Are we ready for Operation Sindoor 2.0 in the near future?
Nagaland – Frame without picture
In Nagaland, the Framework Agreement of 2015 had raised great expectations, but the National Socialist Council of Nagaland’s (Issac-Muivah) insistence on a separate flag and separate Constitution has queered the pitch. RN Ravi, after taking charge as Governor of the state in 2019, was steadily moving toward a resolution of the problem. However, his pragmatic, though hard-line, approach generated fierce opposition, and he was unfortunately moved to Tamil Nadu in 2021.
Mizoram – haven for refugees
The Mizoram government, notwithstanding the Ministry of Home Affairs’ directions to the contrary, has given shelter to about 30,000 Chin refugees from Myanmar since 2021 on grounds of ethnic ties and humanitarian considerations. The government of India’s decision to fence the India-Myanmar border is also being opposed by certain tribal groups of Nagaland, Manipur, and Mizoram, which have trans-border ethnic ties, and also those involved in drug trafficking.
Several frontier states are thus unfortunately not in a peaceful state. China and Pakistan are already fishing in the troubled waters. Bangladesh is reopening old wounds. It looks like Macbeth’s witches are stirring the cauldron to spread conflict and disorder, chanting: “Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and caldron bubble”.
Our internal security policy needs to be recalibrated in the context of the new fault-lines confronting the Indian State.
The writer, a retired Police Chief, was formerly a member of the National Security Advisory Board. He tweets @singh_prakash. Views are personal.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)