GUWAHATI, Jan 30 — The police and the security forces are fighting insurgency with their hands tied because of the militants’ bases in the neighbouring country, Bhutan, said Minister of State for Home, Pradyut Bordoloi. Talking to The Assam Tribune, Sri Bordoloi said that the militants frequently sneak into their bases in the neighbouring country after each strike, making the task difficult for the security forces. He revealed that Assam has around 265 kms of virtually unprotected border with Bhutan and the need of the hour is to seal the border with effective dominance of security forces. He revealed that a proposal is under process for the deployment of Border Security Force (BSF) along the Assam-Bhutan border and BSF has already carried out a survey in this regard. The State Government, on its part, is putting pressure on the Centre to expedite the process of deployment of BSF along the border, he added.
Commenting on the recent spurt of violence in different parts of the State, Sri Bordoloi said, “When things get tough for the militants, they always try to strike back to assert their presence. Moreover, the militant outfits always try to create disturbance during the Republic Day and Independence Day celebrations. This has been a set pattern in Assam for the last two decades”. Sri Bordoloi said that though the State Government has been appealing to the militants to shun violence and come to the negotiation table for negotiated settlement of the problems, this should not be treated as a weakness of the Government. He asserted that no militant outfit would be allowed to take the law into its own hands. He also asserted that joint operations by the Army, police and central forces were on. “They are all working as a cohensive unit under the Unified Command structure”, he added.
However, Bordoloi expressed concern at the Central Government’s failure to provide adequate forces. He revealed that the State Government had been requesting the Centre to provide additional forces for effective dominance of the vulnerable areas of the State but “so far we have not received favourable response from the Centre to deal with the situation”. On the recent mass killings by National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) militants in Udalguri and Bijni, Sri Bordoloi said the incidents happened because of the unprotected international boundary with Bhutan. He informed that some vulnerable areas along the border had been identified and efforts were on to provide a protective umbrella. However, he admitted that it was not possible to provide security to each and every village.
The Minister revealed that efforts were on to strengthen the Village Defence Organisation to make it more effective. He described the Village Defence Organisation members as “unsung heroes” and said that the organisation was playing a vital role in dealing with insurgency at the grassroot level. He attended a rally of the organisation at Goalpara yesterday and said that the State Government was drawing up a plan to make the organisation more effective. Bordoloi admitted that according to inputs available with the State Government, the militants had set up bases in the neighbouring States of Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya and “we are in touch with the Governments of these States. Assam Government is getting support from the neighbouring State Governments in this regard”.