Arunachal anti-dam activists detained, harassed 'violating basic right to protest'

Counterview Desk
Global NGO network, International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL), denouncing what it called the recent "illegal detention of Ebo Mili and Dunge Apang", has said in a statement, their only crime was they stood up against a "destructive" mega-dam in Arunachal Pradesh.
Ebo Mili, human rights lawyer and anti-dam advocate, and Dunge Apang, convenor of the Siang Indigenous Farmers Forum (SIFF), were released after more than 10 hours of detention after signed a bond not to hold future protests and to “keep the peace” related to a case under section 128 of the Indian Civil Defence Code, facing a Rs 50,000 penalty each for any breach of the bond.

Text:

The Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL) denounces the arrest and detention of anti-dam activists Ebo Mili and Dunge Apang last July 8, 2024 by the Arunachal Pradesh Police.
Ebo Mili, human rights lawyer and anti-dam advocate, and Dunge Apang, convenor of the Siang Indigenous Farmers Forum (SIFF), were released after more than 10 hours of detention.
Both were asked to sign a bond not to hold future protests and to “keep the peace” related to a case under section 128 of the Indian Civil Defence Code, facing a Rs 50,000 penalty each for any breach of the bond.
The arrest and detention in Itanagar, capital of Arunachal Pradesh, North East India, was made to “maintain public order”, according to the police, during the visit of India’s Union power minister ML Khattar’s visit and the Memorandums of Agreement (MoAs) signing event of Arunachal Pradesh State with hydropower companies to build large dams.
According to SIFF, the proposed 11,000 MW Upper Siang Multipurpose Storage Project (USMP) “being considered of national importance” does not prioritize “environmental conservation led by community well being and our self-determination” and “long-term sustainability over short-term gains.”
The IPMSDL believes that the detention and harassment of Ebo Mili and Dunge Apang violates their basic freedoms to protest, their democratic rights to express redress, and creates a chilling effect on all citizens.
We echo the call of our members Centre for Research and Advocacy, Manipur (CRA) and Affected Citizens of Teesta (ACT), Sikkim on how this arrest violates their right as Indigenous Peoples rights defenders, and the peoples’ right to self-determined development over their land and resources, and right to free prior and informed consent.
Ebo Mili was earlier subjected to judicial harassment for his protest against large dams in March 2022 and August 2023, continuously criminalized and harassed for his activism, as featured in the IPMSDL Judicial Harassment Tracker.

Damming Arunachal Pradesh and Northeast India

The massive dam and hydropower projects threaten the very life of Indigenous Peoples, their ancestral lands, livelihoods, their culture and history as these rivers form part of the Siang River (as Brahmaputra’s main tributary from Tibet).
Similarly, the delicate ecosystems, wildlife habitats, and biodiversity in the region, with the experiences of landslides and flooding exacerbated by climate change, are now under irreversible and urgent threats impacting the people and their communities.

According to SIFF, communities have been protesting since 2008 against the dam that will submerge the Adi tribe villages. And now, concerns are heightened with the passing of Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act, 2023, which can allow obliterating forests and dam building without any forest clearances.
Approximately 150,000 people, including the indigenous Adi people of Siang and Upper Siang districts, are believed to be wiped out if the USMP pushes through.
Mega dams and large hydropower projects, promoted as sources of renewable, “clean” and “green” energy, must clearly be denounced while peoples rights, lands and resources are casualties of foreign debt, loans and financing.
While community-led, alternative and sustainable sources of energy, community-owned and managed are championed grassroots, the current dominant economic, development and policy systems remain chained to for-profit and corporate investments.
This is evidenced by the social, cultural and environmental costs of large dams in the fragile Himalayan biodiversity with the 1200 MW Teesta III dam disaster in Sikkim, and now the proposed 11,000 MW USMP in Arunachal Pradesh and the proposed 520 MW Teesta IV Hydroelectric Project over the Teesta River.
Way back in August 2023, major central public sector undertakings (CPSUs) were signed with dam builders National Hydroelectric Power Commission (NHPC), Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN), Tehri Hydro Development Corporation (THDCL) and North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO). Thirteen projects were signed.
SJVN has been allotted five projects from Dibang basin: Amulin HEP (420 MW), Emini (500 MW), Mihundon HEP (400 MW), Etalin HEP (3097 MW), Attunli HEP (680 MW). Five projects for NEEPCO are Tato-I HEP (186 MW), Tato-II HEP (700 MW), Naying HEP (1000 MW), Hirong HEP (500 MW) and Heo HEP (240 MW) in the Siang basin. The NHPC will take Kamala HEP (1800 MW) and Subansiri Upper HEP (2000 MW) in the Subansiri basin while THDCL will execute Kalai- II HEP (1200 MW) in Lohit basin.

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