Good to see that my posting has generated some discussion. But the question is how to translate the discussion into action. All I did is to post a link of an interview in a publication which is generally not accessed by most of the members of this group.
1. On September 28th 2010, Samudra Gupta Kashyap in his article “Arunachal's French connection boosts tourism” published in the Indian Express mentioned: “Manipur last week had some special guests: Ambassadors and senior diplomats of the seven ASEAN countries who not only visited Imphal, the state capital, but also went up to Moreh on the Indo-Myanmar international border. The delegation comprised diplomats from Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and Singapore, who were in the state on the invitation of the Union Ministry for Development of Northeast (DoNER). They discussed issues relating to exploring trade and transit to the northeastern region through Moreh, the eastern tip of the National Highway 39”. http://in.movies.yahoo.com/news/arunachals-french-connection-boosts-tourism.html This was also published in an article in Sangaiexpress “ASEAN diplomats get first hand account of Moreh” http://thesangaiexpress.manipur.us/2010/12/16/fullstory.php%3Fnewsid=15.html I might have missed it, but I am not aware if anybody followed it up and taken action. I am also not aware anybody from the group followed it up. s there anything available on the public domain? But in the meantime the opening of the Stilwell Road progressed further. 2. On 5th July 2011 <http://www.indianexpress.com/columnist/samudraguptakashyap/> Samudra Gupta Kashyap reported in Indian Express “12th Plan will focus on connectivity in Northeast: Montek [Re-open Stilwell Road, says Gogoi] http://www.indianexpress.com/news/reopen-stilwell-road-to-boost-trade/902933/ 3. On 23rd January 2012 Samudra Gupta Kashyap again reported in Indian Express ‘Re-open Stilwell Road to boost trade’ - Arunachal Pradesh Governor J J Singh Sunday urged the Centre to take measures to reopen Stilwell Road to boost the trade with Myanmar. 4. Road to the Future is another article of Samudra Gupta Kashyap published in Indian Express of Apr 08 2012 which mentioned “As dramatic political reforms unveil in Myanmar, the debate on the reopening of the Stilwell Road, which connects India, Myanmar and China, continues. How will the opening up the road affect the countries?” http://cdn.indianexpress.com/news/road-to-the-future/933856/0 All the publications which I came in national and regional media as well as publications by specialists groups are about opening of the Stilwell road not blocking the opening. 5. Ruhee Neog who is a Research Officer with the Nuclear Security Programme at the IPCS 0n 24-04-12 published an article in ISN BLOG. Updated regularly by staff members of the International Relations and Security Network (ISN) and guest contributors, the ISN BLOG provides a platform for exploring and discussing new ideas and hot topics in international relations and security The title of the article is Connecting South Asia: The Stilwell Road & Sub-Regional Networks. http://isnblog.ethz.ch/international-relations/connecting-south-asia-the-stilwell-road-sub-regional-networks The author makes some interesting observations. A few of them are: · However, of late, the momentum for its operationalization has been gathering speed for a variety of reasons, which shall be explored in the paper. The calls for its ‘reopening’ are invariably used in the context of overland, cross-border trade. This however is a fallacy, since the route was never used as a trade conduit. This paper shall therefore refer to the reopening of the ‘route’, or the opening of the road. · In the mobilization of sentiment in favour of its opening, the five Ws have been recurrently posed and often answered: what, where, who, why, when. However, the debate has been unsuccessful in going beyond rhetoric to what is practical and achievable because of an inability to acknowledge three other omniscient questions: How would the task be undertaken? Would any challenges arise in its implementation? Are there alternatives if the agenda for Stilwell cannot be met? · lessons learnt from the border trade conducted at Moreh in Manipur and Tamu in Myanmar, which is currently one of two operational border points in existence. It could provide a blueprint of what not to do if Stilwell Road were to come online at some point in the future, and stress the importance of an all-round conducive environment for the conduct of bilateral relations instead narrowly focusing on mere trade requirements. · Another border point lies at Zowkathar in Mizoram, which connects with Rhi in Myanmar. Recently, the Ministry of Development for the Northeastern Region (DoNER) claimed that regular trade was being conducted through this route. However, despite claims of the existence of a Detailed Project Report (DPR) on the matter, there is little to no information available in the public domain that would enable interested parties to track its progress. Rest you will find in the above link. Wahid Saleh From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Manoj Das Sent: 08 August 2012 14:52 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [FriendsofAssamNE] Re-activating the Stilwell Road Yes.. Arindam is right.. long ago when Dr Arun Sarma was an MP, we used to campaign for the Subansiri Dam project. That time we thought it will mitigate flood, generate electricity, irrigate the river basins bringing in prosperity, wealth, industries, jobs for the people. Now we are getting a dam thats out to inundate the homes of lakhs of people, the electricity generated will be taken out of the region to light the industrial belts of India. So we should be careful in proposing things as end result mayn't be what we aspired for. 'Khal khandi ghoriyal chopay luwa hobo pare'. -MKD On Wed, Aug 8, 2012 at 9:43 AM, Arindam Kataki <[email protected]> wrote: The Stilwell Road is a bad idea because of strategic, commercial and environmental reasons. I'd think twice before building infrastructure that will facilitating the movement of an adversaries goods and military. If a route is provided to China to move goods to South East Asia over land, the entire North East's economy will become dependent on transit trade. Whatever little manufacturing that takes place will disappear. And if you have seen the way the Chinese operate, they will also bring the office peon. It is better to have East/West roads and railway tracks criss-crossing the North East states and beyond into South East Asia. _____ To: [email protected]; [email protected] CC: [email protected] From: [email protected] Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2012 07:04:53 +0530 Subject: [FriendsofAssamNE] Re-activating the Stilwell Road Mr. Saleh: Remember, many called the stilwell road, stillwell's folly. How much it helped to defeat the Japanese is still being debated. For the efforts required to build it, and to mainatin the same, required and would also now require immense amount of resources. I think it would make much more sense to activate the linlk through Moreh in Imphal which is, as such, quite vibrant. Those who sit in delhi and make plans for the NE thinks of the strategic value of the stillwell road by just looking at the map do not ealise that rebuilding the road and maintaining it would be a herculean task. There is an alternate available thorugh Walong if we are so keen on building relationship with China. There are many like samudragupta kashyap who has been pleading for it. Why no body talks about it? Shantikam Hazarika The Stilwell Road, which once connected India to China via Myanmar before falling prey to neglect, is now being restored. Gateway House interviews former Special Director of India's Intelligence Bureau, R. Ravi, to discuss the strategic importance of this road and its relevance to our 'Look-East' policy. It is a long URL. 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