NEW DELHI, April 17 ? Alarm bells have been sounded in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) following reports from the region about militant outfits in Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura joining hands. Briefing the members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, Union Home Secretary, Kamal Pande said that the MHA was perturbed over reports that an understanding and nexus was emerging among the militant outfits active in Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura. This was partly on account of the compulsion of these outfits for alternative sanctuaries and camps and partly on account of the their need for weapons and training, he said, assuring that Government had taken note of this development for factoring it into its strategy for the North-east.
Sri Pande claimed that the level of violence in the region had declined, though the internal security situation particularly in Assam, Manipur and Tripura continued to be disturbed. There were also disturbing signs of an upswing in violence in Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh, he informed. During the year 2001, there were 1339 incidents of violence compared to 1963 incidents in 2000. In 2001, 600 civilians and 175 security personnel were killed in terrorist violence as against the figures of 907 civilians and 164 security personnel killed the year before. The number of militants killed last year was 572, while in 2000, 584 were slain. The Union Home Secretary also touched on the trouble that erupted in Manipur last year after extension of the area of the ceasefire that subsequently rescinded. The cause of such unprecedented violence lay in the apprehension in the minds of the people of Manipur that extension of ceasefire to their areas might lead to a territorial division of the state at some point of time in future. In deference to the public sentiments, the Government announced restoration of status quo ante which led to return of normalcy, he claimed.
Significantly, the Union Home Secretary confirmed that ULFA has closed down a few camps in Bhutan. He said according to information, ULFA and NDFB had closed down some of their camps in Bhutan after talks with the Bhutanese Government. He further informed that the Government was in touch with governments of Bhutan and Bangladesh regarding the issues related to militant camps in their territories. As for the Indo-Bangladesh border, the Home Secretary said that the first phase of the border roads and security fencing project was in an advance stage of completion. The entire work is scheduled to be completed by 2007. However, he admitted that the progress of work on the Indo-Bangladesh border remained slow because BSF had certain operational difficulties with the existing design of fencing for the low-lying areas and road alignment in Tripura sector.
He informed that a review committee was constituted and a consultant appointed to review the project with a view to ensuring that security fencing was effective. The Home Secretary revealed that in keeping with the recommendations of the Group of Ministers (GoM) it had been decided to raise 209 battalions including 26 battalions of BSF, 84 of CRPF, 10 of Assam Rifles and nine of ITBP. Besides, 50 India Reserve battalions and 30 battalions of Rashtriya Rifles would be raised in a phased manner by 2004-2005.