New Delhi, October 6
In a bid to check the sudden spurt in insurgent-triggered violence in Assam and Nagaland, the Centre today directed immediate dispatch of 30 additional companies of the Central forces to Assam and Nagaland and “agreed in principle” to accede to the request of the Assam Government for the deployment of IAF helicopters for search and counter-insurgency operations in the state.
The Centre also decided to appoint a Central nodal officer for each of the seven North-Eastern states for better security and intelligence coordination and activate the Strategic Group headed by the Chief Secretary of Assam and the Unified Operational Group, headed by a Divisional Commander of the Army in Assam.
A decision to this effect was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who recently paid a two-day visit to Assam and Nagaland to assess the situation after a series of bomb blasts that left over 70 persons dead.
The meeting was attended among others by Army Chief N.C. Vij, Director-Generals of Central para-military forces, Intelligence Bureau Director A.K. Doval, Home Secretary Dhirendera Singh.
As part of the multi-pronged strategy drawn to deal with the explosive situation, the Centre decided to convene a two-day DGPs’ meeting of the North-Eastern states in Guwahati on October 14 and 15 to bridge gaps in coordination between the state police apparatus and intelligence agencies and also maintain and develop further liaison with village defence groups, which are already existing in Assam.
“Since there was more thrust on surveillance and cracking down on insurgent groups which are fomenting trouble, the Centre has agreed to the request of the Assam Government for additional forces and decided in principle to deploy IAF helicopters to track down militants,” Special Secretary (Internal Security) Anil Choudhary said.
The Home Ministry would formally approach the Defence Ministry seeking the services of the IAF for the deployment of its helicopters, he said, adding that this would be in additional to the already existing air support to the BSF’s Air Wing.
The Centre had also directed the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to increase vigilance and deployment all along the railway tracks and stations in Assam and Nagaland and vital installations like oil and gas plants and pipelines, respectively.
In the over two-hour-long meeting it was decided that the deployment of additional forces would be done in a phased manner.
While 30 companies of the Central forces would be made available immediately, some more companies would be committed after the end of the Arunachal Pradesh Assembly poll tomorrow and another 10 to 15 companies after the end of the Maharashtra poll on October 13.
“It is not physically possible for the forces to cover every nook and corner of the troubled states but our thrust is to instill confidence among the people by increasing the presence of security personnel, stepping up vigilance and developing tactical intelligence to pre-empt attacks,” Mr Choudhary said.
On the ongoing investigations, Mr Choudhary said although the investigating agencies had not been able to identify the culprits behind the explosions in Nagaland, “preliminary investigations indicate that it can’t be the handiwork of Naga groups, going by the type of explosives used, but that of the NDFB and ULFA.”
In both explosions, he said adding that “the nature and the target indicate that Naga groups are not behind these
incidents... Nagas had never targeted innocent people, they always attacked security personnel or their rival groups.”
