Peter Loren Seton James

Peter Loren Seton James (also known among the Adi as Jam Haap , Jame Sab, and Jame Migom) was a British colonial administrator who served as the last Political Officer of the Abor Hills. He was based at Pasighat in what is now East Siang district, Arunachal Pradesh. He married an Adi woman and remained at the post until September 1948, when he formally transferred the control over to the Government of India.

Administration James was noted in service reports for fluency in the Adi language and familiarity with Adi social customs. His tour diaries record that he stayed with communities during tours rather than maintaining separate camp arrangements.

He was also regarded by contemporaries as knowledgeable in Moshup Abang, which is a genre of Adi oral poetry, and is recorded as having performed as lead performer, in the ponnung ceremonial dance.

The names used for James among Adi communities varied by area and register. Jam Haap was a colloquial form of his surname; Jame Sab incorporated the Hindustani sahab; Jame Migom was used by communities upriver.

His tour diaries from August 1945 to December 1946 are held at the Arunachal Pradesh State Archives in the NEFA Secretariat bundle. His diaries from January to September 1948 are filed under File No. 2043/GA/95/48 at the same repository.

James served at Pasighat through the final years of British administration in the frontier tracts. As independence approached, Moje Riba, a trader from what is now West Siang district, established the Dipa Congress Committee and organised among tribal communities in the valley. The colonial administration arrested Riba and other Congress members, who were then held at Pasighat.

Handover Prior to Indian independence, James actively advocated for the Abor Hills to be administered as a separate Crown Colony, petitioning the Viceroy and Sir Coupland against its integration into India. Although he reasoned that the region should not be merged with India on account of its distinct cultural character, later accounts described that this position of him was personal as he had concerns over the difficulties his wife and children would face in relocating with him to England. :

Legacy James was one of the last of a succession of British officers at Pasighat that dated to the establishment of the post after the Anglo-Abor War of 1911 to 1912.