GUWAHATI, Dec 17 ? GOC 21 Mountain Division, Major Gen Karan Yadava today said that the outlawed ULFA was hitting soft targets, like civilians in public places, as it has lost its capability to carry out bigger subversive operations. ?It is an act out of frustration to gain instant publicity,? the GOC said during an informal chat with the media here today.
Terming the recent orgy of violence indulged in by the ULFA as devoid of any logic, Yadava said that such acts of violence targeting civilians would only serve to alienate the beleaguered ultras further from the people. ?Public support or sympathy for them is already on the wane, and such mindless killings will completely erode whatever is left of their dwindling support base,? he said.
Stressing the need for a political solution for ending militancy permanently, Yadava said that ?a political will is a must for complete elimination of militancy.? He felt that the lure of easy money, gun power and unemployment were the factors sustaining militancy in the region.
Denying that there has been any complacency in the Army during the recent peace initiatives with the ULFA, Yadava said that the Army had been maintaining a strict vigil all along and ?operations are being intensified further now.? ?There has been no complacency whatsoever in the Army. In fact, it is our successful drives against militants in lower Assam areas in the past few months that has kept thing quiet in those areas even today,? he said.
Asked whether the escalation of violence, especially in the heart of the city, amounted to failure of the Army and the Unified Command, the GOC replied in the contrary, saying that throwing a grenade at a market was the easiest thing to do, and the ULFA was resorting to it because it has been incapacitated to indulge in ambush attack.
The GOC also refuted reports that the ULFA was regrouping in Bhutan, and said, ?We have been in constant touch with the Royal Bhutan Army, and no longer are there any permanent camps of the outfit in Bhutan territory.? To a query that the ULFA was shifting some bases to Nepal with support from the Maoist rebels, he said that the possibility was very much there, as following the Bhutan offensive the ultras would definitely be seeking other safer places.
On the ULFA camps in Bangladesh and Myanmar, the GOC said that no unilateral action was possible in any foreign territory. ?As for any joint operation, diplomatic parleys are on with those governments and the next course of action can be decided only at the government level,? he said.