Manipur, Nov. 11 -- Traditionally communities in Northeast region of India lived with certain sense of self-sufficiency with some degrees of isolation. This was more pronounced in the mountainous regions, where difficult terrain kept the ethnic communities in isolated pockets. Lack of inter-community organisational engagements and interaction failed to develop a lingua franca for the villages living side by side. The people lived independently and separately with few restricted contacts as well. Diversity per se is not the issue. Trouble lies in the diverse conflicts that have come up in the last few decades. These have emerged not without any substantive reasons.

What was traditionally left to the ethnic communities without intervention...