Negotiating marginality: women's experience in conflict areas of Assam and Manipur

Mainstream discourse on conflicts has a tendency to uphold state's perspective. Conflicts are often reduced to law and order situation and the solutions sought after are also very much within the militaristic paradigm. The situation is such that counterinsurgency programmes in the region has to be questioned about their affectivity. Women who are one of the most vulnerable communities in any conflict zone are left out from post conflict peace building process. Their experiences are also marginalized. The simmering low intensive disturbances in the region point to the ineffectiveness of counterinsurgency policies. There is a need to change this. While the northeastern region of India comprises a number of matrilineal societies which give good social status to women, being located in conflict regions, they often have to bear the brunt of the increased violence. This paper tries to look at the experience of women in conflict zones of Assam and Manipur. To understand their predicament it starts with looking at women's participation in the Assam Movement and subsequently in ULFA. It tries to draw parallels in terms of their experience. From there the paper moves on to the disturbed state of things in Manipur. In that state this paper picks up the death of Thangjam Manorama and the protest that followed and tries to summarise the experience of women there.