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Assam sets up task force to tackle terror
Guwahati, November 2 “The investigation has acquired a direction and it will take some time to come to a conclusion. Forces within and outside the country had joined hands to trigger the blasts," Gogoi said, while confirming that some arrests had been made in connection with the blasts. He said insurgents and anti-Indian forces operating from the soil of neighbouring Bangladesh had been a major impediment in containing terror. “As long as anti-India forces will get shelter in foreign soil, it will be difficult to prevent terror acts within the country.” The police today arrested two persons identified as Muzzamil Haque and Anwar-ul Haque in Lakhimpur district in north Assam in connection with the blasts and claimed to have recovered a Bangladeshi visa from one of them. Regarding the Army's submission before the Prime Minister here on Saturday that it had prior information about jehadi threat to the state, Gogoi said, "There were intelligence inputs about threat from jehadis, but those were just general inputs. We have to revamp our intelligence gathering system so that more information could be gathered in future.” The Army yesterday briefed the Prime Minister, who was here to take stock of the post-blasts situation, that there were general intelligence about possible jehadi strikes in the state but not related to Thursday's serial blasts. On the basis of the general inputs, the Army had galvanised the operation in the state and killed 25 militants and held 89 of them since August 11 last. These included seven HuJI ultras killed in Dhubri district last month. Gogoi today said his government had been adopting same firm attitude against jehadis or ULFA militants as all the ‘terrorists’ were out to destabilise the country. Gogoi today advocated for tougher laws to deal with terrorism and said the state government on it own was contemplating to enact certain laws to deal with terrorists. Meanwhile, the Central government has announced Rs 3 lakh compensation for those killed in the blast. That will be in addition to Rs 4 lakh already declared by the Assam government. The seriously injured would be provided Rs 50,000 each by both the Centre and the state government, Gogoi said.
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Proposal for mega city policing
New Delhi, November 2 The Union home ministry is considering an early implementation of the scheme conceived with the aim of meeting specific challenges in policing major urban centres and bringing all big cities under its ambit. Sources said to ensure success of the scheme; home minister Shivraj Patil was in favour of increasing the Central allocation for it. Under the scheme, which is being operationalised in seven cities, four metros and Hyderabad, Bangalore and Ahmedabad, the Centre will provide financial assistance to respective state governments to procure modern equipment and upgrade its police infrastructure. Sources said the scheme is intended to curb urban violence, crime and terrorism in the cities, which have crossed population of more than 10 lakh. There are around 35 cities across the country that qualify as mega city and at present
Jaipur, Bhopal, Lucknow, Chandigarh and Kanpur are likely to be brought within the ambit of the scheme.
— PTI
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SIT begins probe into Assam blasts
Guwahati, November 2 Headed by IGP (Special Task Force) R Chandranathan, the SIT started investigations to ascertain the identity of culprits behind the deadly blasts in which 81 people were killed. “Last night, we handed over all the papers and clues ascertained so far to the SIT which has started investigations,” IGP (Law and Order) Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta told the media. Sources in the SIT said the investigations were on to explore the HuJI-ULFA links in the blasts and the authenticity of the SMS sent to a private satellite channel by so-called Islamic Security Force (Indian Mujahideen) claiming responsibility for the bombings. The police said so far five persons had been arrested and several others detained. Meanwhile, principal secretary (Home) Subhas Das said the police had got vital clues during investigations. Refusing to divulge details, Das was hopeful that the police would soon zero in on the culprits responsible for the blasts.
— PTI
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Assam govt had information about strikes: Army
Guwahati, November 2 “The army last month had received certain intelligence inputs by intercepting messages about possible strikes in
Guwahati, Barpeta and Kokrajhar and had accordingly shared it with the government and police machinery,” Army’s Four Corps public relation officer Col Rajesh Kalia told the media here. These informations were given to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday at the high level meeting at Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi airport here by Four Corps GOC Lt Gen B S Jaswal. He, however, clarified that the inputs did not suggest the exact date of strikes and was a general information. “After receiving the inputs, the Army had quickly acted on it and had killed at least 25 militants and arrested 89,” he said. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has admitted that the government had information about possible strikes but did not anticipate violence of a large scale.
— PTI
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